| When the god dramas blossomed in Yuan Dynasty, they exist as the form of Zaju, and express the Taoism's thought about inaction and eremite. The god dramas in early days of Ming Dynasty, basically inherit the characteristics of composing in Yuan Dynasty. Most of them are Zaju. They perform Dutuo Operas and subduing ghosts' dramas, and advocate the doctrines of cultivation and utility, and be hoped to be helpful for the officials' governance. The god dramas in the middle and later period of the Ming Dynasty begin appearing as the form of Chuanqi, not only there are Taoism's immortals, magic and fairyland, but also there are concepts of Karma and transmigration of Buddhism in the dramas, and still including of Confucianism ethic standards, the thought of the convergence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism gradually came into being. If we found that the Daoism god dramas are so popular in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, we couldn't separate it from the Yuan and Ming royal's religion. But in Ojng Dynasty, Kangxi and Qianlong were two emperors who highly praise Confucianism. They thought that Taoism just numb the people's mind, and it was helpless for administering a state, and only Confucianism political ideal and ethic standards are useful for benefiting the people, running and stabilizing a country. In addition, two emperors attached great importance to Confucianists, especially the Kangxi emperor expressed special cherishing, respecting, esteeming and tolerant feeling to them. Because of the Qianlong emperor's great loving to dramas, the dramas in court which begin to developing from the Kangxi period get an unprecedented development, particularly, there are more than fifty god dramas between the Jieling Operas which are used in court's festivals, and the Qingshang, Qingshou and Xiqing Operas which are just enjoyed by The royals. In order to manifest the blossom and developed of culture and economy in the Qjanlong period, the imperial literati still composed a new form of drama, called Liantai Big Opera. There are many actors in this kind of dramas. And their performance is exquisite and complicate, stage properties are designed distinctively, and scales are very huge, so they seems bustling and excited, but their contents usually appear poor and void. Being parallel with that is the god dramas which be composed by civil literati group, and they are divided into nineteen Dutuo Operas, sixty-nine dramas about love story, seventeen dramas about fights between honest and treacherous people, nine subduing ghosts dramas, and another three anonymous persons' Qingshang Operas. Dutuo Operas and the dramas about love story inherit the characteristics of the god dramas in Yuan and Ming Dynasties in categories, but there are evolvements in figures, plots and creative ideas. The dramas about fights between honest and treacherous people are creative form.The notion of civil literati had obviously changed in Kang and Qian period. They were full of expectation for the officials. So Confucianism became the centre of the contents in the god dramas. Although part of these dramas mainstream the creative ideas like conforming heart, making up for the regret, and manifesting the concepts of Karma and transmigration, their finally purposes are going to combine education with recreation. The civil literati shouldered the traditional literati's responsibilities of making the entire world good, and hoped the god dramas be benefit for people's life and world. The figure system is different from former. First, although the immortals still come from Taoism system, they have obvious moral cultivation of Confucianism. Moreover, they are very different from the immortals'figure in Yuan god dramas who don't eat any foods in common people's world, avoid the reality, and aspire after hermit man's life style. They participate actively in and recognize the reality life, and help the protagonists of the dramas to realize their Confucianism politic ideals of their own accord. They recognize that it is literati's proper channels to obtain official career and rank, it is their loving to their country, and it is their honesty to their sovereigns. The immortals comply with Confucianism's though like Mercy, Loyalty, Courtesy, Wisdom and Credit. So, all the worthy progeny, righteous husbands, faithful wives, honest servants, and honest ministers are the right persons they will help. Secondly, the female figures in the god dramas of the Kang and Qian period directly opposite from that in the past god dramas who pursue their love boldly. They hold their ground on Confucianism marriage ethic standards, and even encourage and uphold polygamy that one man with two wives. They are honest and virtuous, and express idealized female figures in traditional society. Finally, scholars are favourites of the immortals in the god dramas of the Kang and Qian period, their official career and marriage are all paid great attention by the immortals. From this point of view, the scholars in the god dramas are still idealized figures. Because although the Kang and Qian emperors gave special courteous reception to them in the real life, the defects in the imperial examination were already very obvious, many brilliant scholars had the experiences of meeting with setbacks again and again in the imperial examinations. But in the god dramas, all the protagonists can be helped bypass the single-plank bridge by the immortals, and get the chances to meet with the emperors face to face, and get the great courteous reception. Their talent is appreciated by the emperors. At last, they obtain the official career and rank. This is obviously just an ideal of scholars in the real life. About artistic expression, the god dramas of the Kang and Qian period assimilate the artistic sediment of the god dramas of Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and go still one step further to give full play to expressions of the transmutation between beauty and ugliness, and imaginative dreamland. Therefore, the dramas are more and more complicated and lively, odd and fluctuate, but the gist is clear-cut. It caters to the people's interesting. |
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