China's Ancient Drama and China's Traditional Cultural Spirit

China people first came into contact with western drama, and some diplomats went to the west. They watch the performances of western dramas either out of diplomatic etiquette or out of curiosity. Obviously, they are very novel and most interested in this: first, they talk about the beauty of western theater architecture, "more magnificent than palaces"; Secondly, I am surprised at the noble status of western artists. The so-called "British vulgar performers are artists, not as low as China's actors", "the voice of actors is so heavy that they compete with princes"; The third is to lament the realistic scenery of western drama. "If the audience experiences the scene, it is suspected that it is not a person"; Fourth, attach importance to or exaggerate the social function of western drama. Take France as an example. It is said that after the German war, France was defeated, so it collected huge sums of money to build a theater to "encourage Chinese people to take revenge bravely."

Later, with the opening of coastal ports in China, some western missionaries and foreign nationals poured into China, and Shanghai became their main gathering place. Here, they entertain themselves by performing some western dramas. 1866, foreigners founded the first western-style theater in Shanghai-Lanxin Grand Theatre. It is run by foreigners, and plays edited and performed by amateur troupe ADC are regularly staged.

Some China people who have studied abroad or are interested in western drama often visit Lanxin Grand Theatre. They were lucky enough to watch western dramas in China, and gradually got a more specific understanding of this new artistic style.

It should be pointed out that at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, when a large number of western dramas flooded into China, China's traditional operas were also experiencing the impact of the trend of change. At that time, some people in the field of traditional Chinese opera were very dissatisfied that the old dramas could not reflect the reality of China society. So a wave of opera improvement was set off, and "current affairs new drama" came into being.

To improve the reference of China's traditional opera is the western realistic drama in the eyes of China people. At that time, the famous opera artist Wang Xiaonong (1858- 19 18) created and adapted many operas, satirizing the corruption of the Qing government and advocating "political reform". In the performance of current events in this new drama, the lines of life, Dan, net, end and ugliness are not clearly divided, and the stage scenery tends to be realistic. So, we saw the people of that era, wearing yellow jackets with flowers and feathers on the river, shuttling on the stage with realistic scenery. Even some foreign stories have been made into new dramas on current affairs, and some "foreigners" in suits and ties are allowed to perform the routine actions of China opera. For example, the drama "Poland's subjugation" only adds some dialogue and reduces some singing.

In China, another force to promote the reform of traditional Chinese opera comes from the new school. At that time, some schools imitated western students' plays, and used holidays to let students hold drama benefit performances aimed at praising God or disaster relief. Obviously, it is not easy for students to master the difficult China Opera Kung Fu, while western drama expresses its meaning through dialogue and action, which is easy for them to imitate. Therefore, it is reasonable for them to give up opera and adopt western drama in their performances.

1899, China students from St. John's College wrote and performed a new drama "The Ugly History of Officialdom". The play describes a rich man from the countryside visiting an aristocratic family in the city. When he saw the luxurious scene, he was at a loss and made many jokes, which greatly humiliated him. After returning to China, this man decided to be an official and actually donated a county magistrate. Although he also learned some official etiquette, he will not end the case. Later, he was finally dismissed, and his official clothes were stripped off on the spot, but what was revealed inside was the peasant's homespun clothes.

This drama is "neither a player nor a worker", and its performance method is very different from traditional opera, but some plots draw lessons from traditional opera. The development of students' performance activities broke the limitation of China people's traditional consciousness that performance is a cheap occupation, and laid the foundation for the later performances of foreign students and literati. In addition, this kind of performance, with actors from China, attracts most ordinary people in China, which makes western drama no longer exclusive to a few foreigners, but gradually moves towards the folk in China. Therefore, students are regarded as pioneers of China's early dramas.