A Study Of Xu Zhiheng,a Drama Writer In Late Qing Dynasty And Early Republic Of China

Republic of China,in terms of its creation and theoretical research of drama,was a culmination with fruitful achievements of research in the history of Chinese traditional opera.As a famous dramatist in late Qing Dynasty and ROC and a professor teaching Chinese traditional opera in Peking University,Xu Zhizheng was born in Panyu,Guangdong Province.His ancestor was in Renhe(a county in Zhejing Province)with superior family.Then his ancestors emigrated to Panyu after one being a staff.Xu's grandpa was respected,and he had successional talented descendant with high reputation.Xu was under the supervision of Kang Youwei when Xu studied in Guangya College.He was enrolled into the Imperial College as a Fubang student(????)in 1903,and then studied abroad in Japan.After returning to China,Xu went to Beijing around 1913 and lived in Xiancheng Hall,hoping to make some achievements.Xu acquainted with many literati,and often made poems with them.However,his ambitions had not being realized in Beijing,which made him fall into despair.Fortunately,Xu made much progress after meeting with Wu Mei.Then,he not only wrote Introduction to Chinese Traditional Drama in order to complemented Wu's Guquchentan,but also wrote a drama Nishangyan for popular actress Liu Xikui.Wu recommended Xu to teach in Peking University to fill up his vacancy before he left to Nanjing University.This become Xu's turning point in his life.Xu wrote a series of events focusing on famous actress Liu Xiniang in Nichangyan by devoting himself,Liu Xikui,and Wu Mei into his writing.In the viewpoint of material selection,Nishangyan is novel.It followed the regulation of drama creation and incorporated the real social phenomenon,which is distinctive and impressive.In the viewpoint of layout,Xu arranged plots masterly.By applying“one theme with two clues”(“????”),he let people in the two clues to be dependent and interactive to proceed the development of plots,along with inserting appropriate connective scenes.In the viewpoint of characters,all these had their own characteristics in Xu's drama.Even though two had same identity,their locution and values differed from each other,as well as their different lyrics paralleling with characters'images which made goodness and beauty correspond with evil and ugly.Xu taught The History of Drama,Rhythm,Composition,Methods of Composition,Methods of Writing Song Poem et al.At the same time,he rearranged teaching materials and published them such as Rhythm(named as Brief History of Chinese Music later),Sources of Chinese Traditional Drama,Composition,Selection of Drama,Methods of Composition,Song Poem and Selection.He also published his own works Shoubai Poam.Among them,Rhythm and Sources of Chinese Traditional Drama illustrated the history of Chinese Traditional Drama as the sources(sings and dances),development(melody in Sui and Tang Dynasty),mature periods(drama in Song,Jin,Yuan Dynasty),popularity(Ming and Qing Dynasty)in terms of the development of drama,and induced records from ancient literature,corrected their mistakes,and made textual research where there were suspicions.Composition,Methods of Composition,and Basic Knowledge of Composition and Rhythm were theories of drama composition,in which Xu analyzed drama composition detailedly in terms of comprehensive layouts,tunes and the name of tunes,sentence patterns.Some theories were proposed by Xu as follows: scenes should be displayed according to joys and sorrows;tunes and the name of tunes should be selected according to lyrics and atmosphere but not rigidly or casually;lyrics should be composed in accordance with tone patterns after the comprehensive layout was arranged well,and lyrics also should be harmonious with rhythm on the basis of right rhythm.More than that,Xu concluded skills of composition of Santao,Zaju,Chuanqi,and noticed the places that should be paid attention to facilitate beginners about regulations of compositions.Xu was interested in collection and copy,and named his items as “copy ones of Yinliuzhai”.As most of Xu's collection and copy were rare or single,some of which were even rarely seen in terms of their names.“Copy ones of Yinliuzhai” was famous in the domain of drama collectors during Republic of China.There are 43 sets of “copy ones of Yinliuzhai” we can gather currently,most of which have prefaces and postscripts contain Xu's comments on drama,words on sources of collection,verification of composers and their time,and error correction former people made,which benefits popularity and research of drama much.Among them,four compositions were revised,including revising Yanzhiji,Yumeiting,Chisu in Yanyunting,supplementing Guiyuan into Legend of Jubaopen.Overall,as one of outstanding researchers on drama of late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,Xu should be paid attention by academy.His viewpoints were filled with advance,therefore we can also detect the research methods and the development of drama of late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,which would much benefit current research on drama.