Chinese drama:

1. In contrast to the West, spoken-word drama was created by young writers

with little training or resources. Spoken-drama was an iconoclast statement.
2. Spoken-drama had competition from developed (and well-entrenched)
traditional Chinse theater i.e. opera. Traditional theater held a wide range of
emotions into music and had conventional role categories. Had popular
stories. However, this theater was experiencing a decline in creativity.
Spoken-word drama combined traditional theater with western dramas.
3. Many spoken-word dramatists thought the traditional theaters lack of
creativity caused China to become the sick man of Asia (battle between
new and old)
4. Hu Shih: The Greatest Event in Life (1919) was a famous spoken-word drama.
- First serious theoretical dramatist
- First artists to incorporate realism i.e. creating individualism and
organizing time into an economical set of periods.
5. Chinese had been exposed to dramatic ideas previously like Uncle Toms
Cabin. This connected politics and theater. The government did not like these
political ideas, and banned those types of plays. As a result, the only dramas
around were commercial and were scoffed at by intellectuals.
6. Into the 1920s, realism combined with entertainment in plays like
Oppression.
7. It was difficult to help the uneducated masses understand realism.
- With the populist era (wartime), propaganda and more attention to
educating peasants helped realism expand.
8. Maoist theater in 1940s: drama characterized by a communal experience
with archetypal characters reflecting key turning points in history. This type of
theater focused on rhetoric as opposed to spectacle, and was widespread
during the 40s.
9. Social Realism in 1950s: came from Soviets.
- Like Maos drama, but focused more on realism. Still had archetypes trying
to fulfill political agenda.
- Not successful with peasants
- Also focused on female liberation
- Rural collectivization prior to great leap forward
10.1966-1976, cultural revolution purged traditional theater and spoken drama.
New dramas promoted themes of class struggle. Dramas only focused on
those with typical class status i.e. workers and peasants.
11.Into 1970s, social realism and Maoist drama started to reemerge, focusing on
those who werent part of the typical class system.
12.Russian writing had the single biggest influence on Chinese drama than any
other foreign source.
13.Taiwan: very different ideas from mainland. Focuses on theme of uncertainty
i.e. economic and political.

Popular Chinese Literature and Performing Arts:

Model Opera as Model:
1. Performing arts change as Chinese society changes
2. Peking opera changes were rapid, starting in 1949 and reaching its peak in
the 1960s
3. Chinese opera has over 350 forms, each with their own forms and styles
- Most have historical settings (before 1911)
- Forms differ in makeup, costumes, gestures, dialects, and music.
4. In western opera there is a composer, in Chinese opera, the music is pre-
existing. Used by scriptwriter (chooses style of music)
5. Regional styles developed after 17th century, but since then have interacted
and evolved within each other. Peking opera is most popular style.
- Peking opera is a combination of several regional styles.
6. People have tried to reform Chinese opera in many ways
- Added western styles
- Mei Lanfang added sophistication
7. Yanggeju: after Maos Yanan forum was a type of opera in the 1940s that
focused on folk material for the masses. Very political.
8. The communist government tried very hard to reform Peking opera into a
more political form.
- They banned many operas that were reactionary
9. In 1957, the bans were relaxed (Hundred flowers movement) and people
enjoyed it more.
10.1958: opera was supposed to walk on two leg
- To show compromise
- These operas were not very popular and troupes avoided them after 1963
during Chinas economic decline
11.In 1964, the government regained restrictions, and many operas were harshly
renounced.
12.In 1976, after the gang of 4 died (they were big supporters of model opera for
political purposes), model opera went out of style.
13.With contemporary model opera, there were many technical problems i.e.
translating from mandarin into Cantonese.
- The opera Shajiabang was translated into sagabong, but was not very
successful because the translation was artificial and awkward. (rest of
article kind of compares these two)
14.Modes of speech delivery:
- Jingbai (natural speech)
- Yunbai (declamatory speech): delivered in an artificial manner with more
drawn out rhythm
15.Percussion music:
- Accompanies every kind of stage movement
- Drum
- Clappers
- Gongs
- Cymbals
- Woodblocks (canto opera)
- In Shajiabang, the percussion instruments are taken over by string and
wind instruments. With regard to percussion music, sagabong nad
shajiabang are simiar.
16.Tunes (peking):
 - Two families: xipi, erhuang.
- Tunes differ in temp, rhythm, and melodic detail
17.Tunes (Canto):
- More tunes than Peking
- Two families: bongji, yiwong.
18.There are a bunch of song notes on in the article that depict the tune of
different styles.
19.In Chinese vocal music, tones play a critical role. Melodic contour.
20.There are a lot of pictures that describe the tones. Not sure how to discuss
them without images. P158. In the translation of Shajiabang to Cantonese,
the tones were very important because some rules have to be broken.
21.Model operas meant to convey political messages, but also adhere to highest
aesthetic standards.
22.Although rarely heard or seen today, model operas had a huge influence on
Chinese music today.