A Comparative Study Of The Opera Works Between Tang Ying And Jiang Shiquan

Tang Ying and Jiang Shiquan, two of the three masters of Kun Opera in the middle of Qing Dynasty, play important roles in the history of Qing opera. The same historical background, different family life, life experiences and aesthetic pursuit are all make their creation in opera show differences as well as similarities. The thesis makes a comparative analysis of the two masters in opera creation. It is divided into five chapters. Chapter One introduces the research background and provides literature review mainly in terms of their thoughts, arts, contribution and life experiences. Based on previous studies of the two masters, the research aim is proposed. Chapter Two is the basis for the following discussion and is composed of two sections. Section One analyses the lyrics written by Tang Ying, which has enriched the understanding of his life experience. What's more, the author tries to explore the civilian awareness in his spiritual life in the light of his experiences and reflections on life. The second section probes into the reasons of theirclose relationship despite the great difference in age. The two have much in common in temperament, hobbies, opinion—especially in the understanding of opera.Chapter Three sorts out the opera thought of the two masters in terms of the viewpoint of moral function of opera, concerns for the people's livelihood, and ways of political probity. The author finds out that in their works both express their deep concern for the society. However, differences in life experience and background knowledge result in differences in the way of the achievement of such concern:Tang Ying attach more importance to the lower social classes and aims at waking them up and lower-level officials remodeling, while Jiang Shiquan lays much emphasis on the construction of the upper class and criticizes the whole official circle and the entire civil service exam systems. Besides, according to their different moral requirements for the females, the author examines their distinct attitude in love and marriage opera: as for Tang Ying, emotion exists in reason, while for Jiang Shiquan, reason exists in emotion. Chapter Four analyzes the artistic characteristics of the opera works of the two masters. They both put much attention to the localization of the Tune of the opera, popularization of the lyrics, and the music on stage. To achieving this, each employs similar even the same opera factors, which embodies the impact of environment and culture, and most importantly the influence of Tang Ying on Jiang Shiquan owing to the particular fate. However, There are varing degrees of their writing practices, which reflects their differences in literary personality and in the aesthetic pursuit.The concluding part of the thesis describes the contribution made by Tang Ying on Kun opera. In this part, folk characteristics of Tang Ying's works are highlighted in terms of the thought and art: true reflections of the civil society and the thinking of the common people; the absorption of non-opera factors to cater to popular aesthetic taste. The decline of Kun Opera right results from the lacking of such folk characteristics, which confirms the role of Tang Ying played in the history of Chinese opera.