Folk Tale, Newspaper Report And Entertaining Script

This essay is a discussion of the story of Yang Naiwu and Xiaobaicai as a folk story, a newspaper publication and a script in entertaining operas and movies to show the connection between the story structure and social ideologies as well as a demonstration on the knowledge structure of Chinese intellectuals. The circulation of the story started with rumours and gossip firstly where it happens and then went on by two paths:one is by the literary sketches of the intellectuals and the other is in the report in the newspaper. After it got blended into the context of modern city, operas and movies appeared based on this story. This article presents the versions of different forms in a view to sketch out the changes of social ideologies. The main body is divided into3parts, each presenting an observation on a different media of story telling. The first part discusses the story of Yang Naiwu and Xiaobaicai recorded in the literary sketches by traditional Chinese intellectuals in line with the mentality and methods of Propp when he was doing his analysis on magic stories. The plots and characterizations in different versions of sketch are compared. As a main type of literature in ancient China, the literary sketch is one of the main media for intellectuals to inherit the traditional records of the past and keep track of contemporary knowledge contained in various types of folk stories and legends to pass on folk culture. This part presents a discussion on the records in4sketches as a reflection on the mental traits and social consciousness of people groups, especially of intellectuals. The purpose of the record is not so much in seeking the truth as in adapting the story to the thinking patterns at that time so that the contemporaries would be able to appreciate it. The second part is a discussion on the report in Shun Pao combined with its urban background. The purpose is to look into the changes in social thoughts and social communication behind. With the experience of investigative report in previous coverages, Shun Pao reported this case by dividing the report into facts and comments. The former came from the’fangyuan’(reporter) and personal acquaintances of editors, while the latter were made by editors. This part is interested in how these two different types of report came into being under what circumstances and influences as well as the changes traditional intelletuals has gone through in their thoughts and social status. It has set a perfect stage for intellectuals to perform their political criticism about legal systems in the traditional background. The last part is illustrated by the example of the drama and movies made on this story. Due to the time remoteness and lack of materials on the early drama and movie products about this story, the script for Soochow lyrics Yang Naiwu has been chosen as an available verson for the analysis. The adaptations in the drama were made to expose the dark side and degenerations of the legal system and official circles in ancient China. With respect to the story itself, human sympathies were added into the plot as one of the key elements for the development of the script. The first movie based on the story was published in1930in Shanghai. The essay makes observations on the advertisement on the movie in Shun Pao. It was a time when the Chinese movie industry was being dominated by works featuring bizarre or novelty elements without the participation of the intellectuals. It was also the case with the movie of Yang Naiwu and Xiaobaicai as the emphasis on the odd and comical elements in the advertisement. The case of Yang Naiwu and Xiaobaicai finds its.way into the general heads after three stages of adaptation and polish, while no one can ever find the real truth after all these alterations in which everyone has something of their own to say. Yet the purpose of people’s attention and moulding plays an important role in the perspective and recognition of the story. It is a standpoint for the discussion in the essay that people depend on the time and place to gain and process their knowledge.