A Study Of The Difference Of Focus About The Society In Yuan Drama And Ming Legend

In the ancient Chinese drama history the drama writing in Yuan and Ming Dynasties have accomplished a great achievement. Since the renewal of the academic study in the Chinese mainland in the beginning of the 1980s, the research about the Yuan Drama and Ming Legend has already achieved a splendid success. Some critics adopted the comparative approach to study the Yuan Drama and Ming Legend; others made a comparison between the Ming Legend and the South Drama. But the systematic study of the difference of focus concerning the society in Yuan Drama and Ming Legend is relatively scarce. Based on this kind of situation, the present study about this perceptive proves interesting and worthy. This thesis will dedicate to analyze and study the difference of focus about the society in Yuan Drama and Ming Legend.The Yuan Dynasty is the first united feudal Dynasty established by the minority nationality. The rulers of this period neglected the importance of the culture and education, and adopted the extreme national discrimination policy. The social status of the intellectual in Yuan Dynasty, especially the intellectual of the Han nationality dropped greatly. They cannot obtain the higher social status by the feudal imperial examination. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty and the renewal of the importance of the Han nationality and the Confucianism, the social status of the intellectual in Ming Dynasty was greatly improved in comparison with the intellectual in Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty lots of officials and the celebrities were involved in the drama writing. Among them there were First-Degree Scholars, Imperial Scholars, and even dukes of the royal family. They abandoned the concept that considering the drama was base and began to emphasize the drama writing. The conception about the drama began to take a new shape. In brief, the social status of the Ming dramatists was higher than the dramatists in Yuan Dynasty. This is the chapter one.In the chapter two the works of the Yuan Drama and Ming Legend are to be discussed. In Yuan Dynasty drama writing was prosperous. Plenty of intellectuals of Han nationality, for lack of chance into the official world and lower social status, entered the field of drama and dedicated their effort and talent to the drama writing. Consequently abundant drama appeared on the stage. The later appeared Ming Legend which was developed from the South Drama of the Yuan Dynasty was the main body of the Ming drama. The development and prosperity of the Ming Legend created another high point in the ancient Chinese drama history. Among the various and plentiful works of the Yuan Drama and Ming Legend, the Yuan Drama put emphasis on the lower society, whereas, the Ming Legend emphasizes the events happened in the court.The third chapter discusses about the difference of the focus concerning the society in Yuan Drama and Ming Legend. The Yuan Drama put emphasis on the life, encounter, suffering of the common people and discloses the corruption of the feudal legal system and expresses the longing for the upright officials. In these dramas the ideals and hopes of the common people is mirrored and the main protagonists are the common people. In contrast the Ming Legend are concerned about the struggle between the loyal and treacherous parties in the upper official stage and the whole national situation faced with the problems inside and invasion outside. They expose the crime done by the treacherous party to the nation and the people and consciously preach the words and deeds of the men of virtue. Plenty of upper-class personage are depicted in the drama. In conclusion, there is the obvious difference of focus in Yuan drama and Ming Legend.The last chapter is the conclusion. The difference of social status and living environment of the dramatist in Yuan and Ming Dynasties result the difference of focus in their dramas. The dramas of these two great periods are all caring about the society and longing for an ideal one. Nevertheless, the Yuan dramatists, because of the lower social status, touch on the life of the lower-class people and are concerned about their suffering and happiness rather than the whole country. While the Ming dramatist having a higher social status put attention to the management of the government, the future and the possible development of the nation rather than the common people. This is the obvious difference of focus concerning the society in the drama of these two great dynasties.