Study On Development And Evolution Of Chaozhou Opera In Thailand

Chaozhou Opera in China inherits characteristics of Chinese traditional culture andregional culture, not merely has it high artistic value, but it’s deeply loved both byChinese people and Thai people. Chaozhou Opera is an important medium for externalculture communication and internal emotional communication of two countries. FromChaozhou opera first in Thailand around the seventeenth century to now, it has a historyof more than300years. Chaozhou Opera is a result of emotional and culturalcommunication that witnesses and affects the communication of folk art and culture forboth countries.The study on development and evolution of Chaozhou Opera in Thailand is alwaysa public concern for related scholars both from China and Thailand. For the impedimentfrom language and culture differences, further study on this part is scarce. This paperbased on previous studies, discusses the development of Chaozhou Opera in Thailandand it’s propound influences from various aspects by combining the research methodswith folklore studies, traditional opera studies, communication studies and historicalphilology.This paper on development and evolution of Chaozhou Opera in Thailand studymainly has four parts. The first part begins with the relative summaries of ChaozhouOpera of China and major plays of Thailand, combining with folklore theory andtraditional opera theory. Based on this research, it will analyze the backgrounds whichChaozhou Opera introduced into Thailand, from history background, geographybackground and cultural background. The second part will include three aspects toanalyze the development and evolution of Chaozhou Opera according to its historydevelopment. First, proof that Chouzhou Opera first into Thailand with historicalresearch as its research start. Then, it will analyze two high tides of Chouzhou Opera inThailand which were in the1920s-1930s and the1930s-1920s. It will make conclusionsthat the encouraging policies from the government, a great amount of Chouzhou peoplemoving to Thailand have a close relation to the development of Chaozhou Opera.Finally, this part will discuss the changes of audience entertainment, governmentpolicies and people-to-people contacts have a great influence to the rise and decline ofChaozhou Opera in Thailand. In the third part, the influences of Chaozhou Opera inThailand are also investigated. It will discuss the influences of Chaozhou Opera from aspects of Thai opera, Thai culture and the cultural communication of both China andThailand. It is Chaozhou Opera that contributes to a friendly relationship of bothcountries. Part four, conclusion and expectation. It will make conclusions for the studyand will based on international communication barrier of Chinese opera give ownsuggestions to the development of Chaozhou Opera in Thailand.