Yisushe And Xi’an City Culture In Republic Of China

In the late Qing Dynasty, Liang Qichao and Chen Duxiu proposed a literary revolution, in which the Chinese traditional opera acted as the closest cultural art form of the lower classes was valued. In Early Republic of China, leaded by the intellectuals in Xi’an, the establishment of the first modern reforming Qinqiang theatrical troupes – Yisushe had begun, thereby improving customs, enhancing the status of actors, updating the organizational structures, culture systems, operating systems and network of relationships, meanwhile affecting other theatrical troupes in the city. At the same time, the deepening of the Xi’an’s modernization process, expanded the development of Yisushe: it strengthened interactions with local newspapers and the media, actively participated in social activities, brought the Chinese traditional opera into city culture and became the mainstream, and formed close ties with drama, movies and other recreational organizations later.Xi’an’s political, economic and urban construction development showed multi-stage phasic development in Republic of China, laid the foundation of city cultural development. Xi’an, as the inland city located in the northwest, suffered political instability and frequent disasters before the 1930 s. With the establishment of the provisional capital position and the Longhai Railway in Baoji to Tongguan section in 1930 s, Xi’an’s economic status gradually became prominent, city’s industrial and commercial organizations developed, a large influx of migrants flowed into the city, urban construction and function zoning became increasingly clear, and also led to another round of prosperity in urban culture. In this process, resorted to its geographical advantages and excellent facilities, Yisushe got a lot of popularity with drama, film, and other new forms of folk culture.From the early foundation in Republic of China, Yisushe continued its development after the establishment of the Republic, in addition to the development of the city, there are several factors supported their long-term operation: First, the nature of its social education institutions was recognized by the government, and its social status was different from other social cultural groups; Secondly, the operator’s networks covered the political, military and cultural figures in local field as well as the outside field, showing a tendency of dependent on the military and political forces; once again, due to limited urban scale of Xi’an, the cultural traditions influenced the choices of the general public, therefore Qingqiang opera became an important part of modern urban culture of Xi’an and maintained a strong vitality.By combing through the development process and characteristics of Yisushe, we may examine the development of the cultural characteristics of Xi’an from three perspectives: First is the formation of leading intellectuals of specialized cultural groups; Second is the close relationship of cultural groups with local military and political forces; the third is the complex picture of the transition in city culture. This characteristics also shows that the inland city cultural inheritance can advance with the times, and with drama, film and other new art forms, as long as we retain the use of their original cultural resources, and strengthen the lead of mass media to the consumption orientation. This also brings some enlightenment for us to prosper the market of socialist culture and inject new vigor into traditional opera.