The Adaptation Of The Storytelling Of The Sui And Tang Dynasties

Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties written by Chu Renhuo,a famous scholar in Qing Dynasty,records the historical stories lasting for more than 180 years from the establishment of Sui dynasty by Yang Jian,Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty,to the death of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.It epitomizes the series novels of Sui and Qing dynasties.As a desk novel,Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties spreads widely among the common people largely because of the storytelling adaptation from the novel.This paper targets at research on the storytelling adaptation of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties to explore the artistic law of the storytelling adaptation and the reasons for the law and so as to provide useful references for making various folk arts and film and television adaptations including storytelling.This paper divides into six parts.The introduction part summarizes the research status of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties in academic circle and further explains the cause of the selection of the subject and the research method.Chapter one analyzes the creation of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties.From the process of creating the novel,Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties is a cumulative novel from the source of folk talking and singing literature,the compilations of the historiographers,and creations by the scholars.The sequels of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties complete the series stories of Sui and Tang dynasties and have had effects on the later storytelling adaptations.Then the author combs the storytelling adaptation conditions of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties.The storytelling of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties has a long history and it can be dated from Ming and Qing Dynasties.With the constant improvement by the storytelling artists like Pin Zhengsan and Shuang Houping who lived in late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China,the storytelling adaptations of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties characterize more plentiful contents and more distinctive figures.Along with the new communication means springing up after liberation,a lot of storytelling artists who are good at telling stories of Sui and Tang dynasties have come forth and made great contribution to the propagation of stories of Sui and Tang dynasties.Chapter two and Chapter three are the core parts of this paper.Chapter two discusses the characteristics of the storytelling adaptation of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties from the aspects of figures and themes and particularly focuses on the interpretation of the keynote thoughts of the storytelling of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties.Compared with the source text,the storytelling shows more distinctive emotional tendency and ideological inclination bydifferent levels of integration and disposition on the different figures.In consequence,there is a great change in both themes from the multi-theme in the source text to the single theme in the storytelling.The keynote thoughts become more concise,concentrated and distinctive and focus on showing the legendary experiences of the heroes and revealing the theme of “rebellion resulting from oppression by the government officials”.Chapter three discusses the characteristics of the storytelling adaptation of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties from the aspects of plots,languages and live performances and particularly focuses on analyzing the artistry used in the storytelling of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties.As for plots,the storytelling of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties constructs plots mainly on the basis of the legendary experiences of figures.By the means of dissecting the source story framework,highlighting the legendary experiences of the heroes and keeping the suspense of the stories,the plots become more exciting and thrilling so as to express the keynote thoughts and meet the mental expectations of the audience.As for languages,the storytelling of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties has the characteristics of colloquial language styles,diversified types of language and comedic language skills.These characteristics are widely different from the novel of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties written by the scholars.As for live performances,the storytelling is of its unique artistic form.This paper explains the excellent artistry of the storytelling of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties from both storytelling skill and acting skill.Chapter four systematically discusses the reasons for the storytelling adaptations of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties and its artistic laws from three perspectives of the source text,the storyteller and the audience.From the perspective of the source text,the abundant content and diversified themes of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties provide more possibilities for elucidation and adaptation of multiple dimensions.In addition,many heroes in the novel are only minor characters,so there are left enough spaces to adapt these minor characters.From the perspective of the storyteller,the storytelling adaptation takes comprehensive considerations of the social benefit,economic benefit and the audience market.From the perspective of the audience,the storytelling can meet the audience's psychological demands,aesthetic needs and value pursuits.The people's historical identity and the intrinsic education function of the storytelling enhance its popularity.The conclusion tells that the storytelling adaptations of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties provide useful references for inheriting and developing the tradition of folk art forms and also give splendid examples of how the classic masterpieces march towards the public and the market.For this reason,to further explore the storytelling adaptation of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties and its artistic laws has its profound practical significance and theoretical value.