Drama in China

Origin of Chinese Drama: It is the opinion of modern scholars that drama was not native to China, but was introduced, probably in rather an advanced state, by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. During the one-hundred and sixty-eight years of the Kin and Yuen dynasties the most celebrated plays were written. During this period (1200-1368) the style of acting, the subjects to be treated, and the general conduct of the theater were determined. The Chinese stage at the beginning of the twentieth century was practically the same as that of seven hundred years ago.

Famous Chinese Plays:
· The Little Orphan of the House of Tchao
· The Story of the Magic Lute
· The Sorrows of Han

Religious Influence on Chinese Drama: One does not begin to understand the Chinese drama without some knowledge of the religious doctrines and the demonology of the Chinese people. Not only was the stage intercepted by religious rite but it has remained dependent upon Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism for theme and character and symbol.

Superstitions inherited from Buddhist principles frequently denude the stage of mortality and are the playwright's inspiration for extravaganza; he may create a mise en scène in terrestrial immortality and people it with nostalgic gods and provoking genii and find it more absorbing to an audience than the type of play that transpires on an earthly plane and presents the principles of morality that Confucius meditated upon. The playwright may even unite the two--and add a theme from Taoism--in his high romance.

Confucianism is based upon ancestor worship and teaches that the source of morality is in filial piety. Confucianism is so definite a theory of conduct that it cannot be expressed in many symbolic forms such as Buddhism furnishes, but it provides themes for numberless librettos. Buddhism teaches that release from one's present existence is the greatest happiness. The most common form of Buddhist drama is the fantasia or the buffoonery of deity and demon symbols through which Buddha is frequently worshiped. Taoism teaches that contemplation and reason, avoidance of force, and disregard of mere ceremony, are the means of regeneration. It may be said that Confucianism is based upon morality, Buddhism upon idolatry, and Taoism on superstition. Or, in another form, Confucianism deals with the dead past, Buddhism with the changing future, and Taoism with the evils of the present.

During the twelfth century Kaing T'ai Kung deified many soldiers, and in the fourteenth century the first emperor of the Ming dynasty appointed a great number of city gods. It was then only a short step from a "Great man to a little idol" and ultimately to become both a household and a stage deity. There seems a god for every occasion and a dozen needs for his favour every day.

Such fantastic and traditional imagination, and such deification baffle the "barbarian" and disqualify him to accept a stage performance with a tenth part of the intelligence and, in the beginning, almost none of the pleasure he will remark in every Chinese in the audience. But as he continues to study the Chinese drama he will not fail to perceive the virtue--and the attendant weaknesses--of ancestor worship, of the belief in recurrent life, and the earned privileges of another existence, which govern and satisfy the great majority of the Chinese people.

If it seems strange to find dogma in the theatre, the fear of evil demons and the respect for, and placation of, symbols, we have only to recall that doctrines and drama have developed concurrently. Any attempt to separate them might destroy the potency of both; and would certainly rob the Chinese theatre of many of its most popular characters.