Lonely Reverberation

For a long time,tragedy is not independent part in Chinese opera whereas the main topic of western drama all along. The idea that china hasn't tragedy in the strict sense has been being a mainstream in the field of theory. Even there are some articles about tragedy in Chinese opera, the author always state that the argument is not under the narrow definition of tragedy .therefore,Chinese tragedy is not the equal in communicating with western drama.The purpose of this article is to find Chinese tragedy in the the strict sense, in some mature Chinese opera works. To say them tragedy.because the standard is not Chinese but universal, the concept is not extensive but accurate .The protagonists in these works are noble and great, the destiny of them is absolutely in accordence with "valuable things destroyed", the aesthetic perception of these works is obviously majestic. In a word, these Chinese opera works conform to the universal conception of tragedy. I name these works tentatively as "literati's sacrifice" Chinese opera.The first part of this article is to explain some basic concepts like literati, sacrifice and literati's sacrifice and analyse preliminarily the plays and their easthetic perception. The second part probes the cultural and social background of these Chinese opera works, especially the influence of benevolence and righteousness of Confucianism on literati, the explanation of how historical misfortunes of feudal society were condensed into a solemn and stirring subject. The third part mainly introduces another kind of "seclusion" Chinese opera inevitably connected with "literati's sacrifice" Chinese opera. This kind of Chinese opera expresses the literati's sense of loss. They attempted to seek in Buddhism and Taoism or indulged themselves in natural scenery. The forth part firstly narrates the break of "literati'sacrifice" Chinese opera resulted from the booming of fork opera in Qin Dynasty, then analyses the causas of its reviving and changes in aesthetic feature based on Chinese social fluctuation when 19th century was changing into 20th century.In brief, the article is a macroscopic research about Chinese opera. It is an elementary exploraton of genuine tragedy in Chinese opera through analysing historical development of "literati's sacrifice" Chinese opera.