Research On Yang Enshou

Yang Enshou (1835-1891), named Hechou, as known as Penghai, Tanyuan, coming from Changsha, Hunan province, is a well-known drama writer and drama theorist of late Qing dynasty. Living in a society of rapid changes and revolution, Yang Enshou has very typical life experiences, friendship and ideas, that can clearly reflects general living condition of a large number of middle-lower class scholars failed in Imperial Examination several times, coming from Hunan province in late Qing dynasty. Yang enshou achieved in drama writing and drama theories. His dramas Is characterized by focus plot of story, opera elements of civil, and the use of moveable scenery, showing the characteristics of the creation in the modern times. His drama theory is a combination of good qualities of Li Yu’s theory of music and Research’s theory of drama, a conclusion of drama works of Qing dynasty, and a instruction on study of Wu Mei’s drama theory. This article mainly studies Yang Enshou’s biography and his drama, which contains five chapters, besides a preface and a conclusion.The first chapter systemizes Yang Enshou’s ground and life experience. The first section analyzes Yang Enshou’s family containing the influence of his family tradition "starting from being staff of officials", the impact of his father’s failures in Imperial Examination, the affect of his older brother, Yang Tongshou’s experience gaining position by making achievement in the war. Meanwhile, the author analyzes Yang Enshou’s family financial situation because Yang Enshou was dependent on his family’s support as he attended Imperial Examinations time after time and then he was to be a candidate for an official vacancy. The second section is about Yang Enshou’s life. He finally worked as an official as a result of the accumulation of contact with upper officials and gentry in Changsha by his outstanding literary talent although he got through the Country’s Examination six times at his youth. Then he gave up examination and hesitated to make a choice whether making money by being a candidate or being a subordinate at his middle age, which resulted as a waste of time. In the rest of his life, he returned home, became a famous gentleman in Changsha, but strongly with a desire to leave a good reputation forever by his works. Yang Enshou had a typical life experience which we can conclude a life pattern of scholars, bored in Hunan province, failed in Imperial Examination in Qing dynasty. The third Section studies Yang Enshou’s experience in official circle.Chapter two is about Yang Enshou’s activities in making friends. The author discusses this from different aspects by three groups of diverse characters getting along with Yang Enshou. The first section tried to find out how Yang Enshou being an official, through the process of contacting with upper officials and gentry by his stand-out literature talent, which focuses on the relationship with Zhang Zimu and Huang Runchang. Yang Enshou went to be a subordinate and made friends with upper gentry with the aim that to be success in examination and change his living condition, which was a tragedy and he did well without bribery.The second section is about Yang Enshou’s friendship with Wang Xianqian, Wang Kaiyun, and Guo Songtao. Yang Enshou had a good relationship with Wang Xianqian in his early time, but kept at a distance in his later years for their gap of social status, personal interest. However, he was in contact with Wang Kaiyun for his all life although they were not bosom friend. They were friends just because of traditional code of conduct. Yang Enshou and Guo Songtao are member of "jiulaohui" established by Changsha’s gentry when Yang came back to hometown at his later years. They were close friends there while they were not bosom friends in their early life. The changes between close friends reflect the rules that people choose their friends always think a lot including social status, common interest, time and space. The third section analyzes the relationship between Yang Enshou and his employers, mainly concentrate on Wei Jingyu,Yang Tongshou,Liu Yuetong, and Du Ruilian, from which we can know Yang Enshou’s official career.In the third chapter, the author tells us Yang Enshou’s ideas and writing by studying Yang Enshou’s poems and essays. The first section aims at analyzing Yang Enshou’s policy ideas and reformation ideas through studing his essay about policy. We can conclude the feature of Yang Enshou’s policy ideas that is being good to our country and citizens, taking all elements into consideration and adjusting measures to local conditions after we read Yang Enshou’s three advice towards fighting salt between Sichuan and Huai. instating soldiers from Hunan province and setting border defense. Buy comparing the attitudes of Yang Enshou to trains and ships, we can find his value standard that is whether what we study was suitable to china, not blindly positive or negative, which was close to the fact truth accorc g to scholars’ attitude to Reformation in late Qing dynasty. The second section summarizes Yang Enshou’s literary thought and literature writing. The second section summarizes Yang Enshou’s literary thought and literary writing. The author gets the character of Yang Enshou’s literary thought by a research on his papers, letters and other materials, a character of Yang Enshou’s literary writing involved in various fields by a study on his works for a brief. His content and style of poems and essays are analyzed as well. The third section is about the literary intercourse between Yang Enshou and Pei Wenji, a ambassador from Vietnam. The communication between them provides us a comprehensive and detailed case about cultural exchanges between China and Vietnam, from which we can know the specific details and characteristics of Vietnam’s ambassador’s visit to China. The history of cultural exchanges is formed by cases including one of Yang Enshou vividly.The forth chapter is about Yang Enshou’s drama writing. Section One is a brief scan of his drama content and structure according to which still can be seen now, whose name was "tan yuan, six songs","shuangqingying". The author searches the reason why Yang Enshou gave up drama writing, a pursuit to be written in the history book,"wenyuanzhuan". Section two tries to discuss the theme of his drama——the work of "recognition of loyalty "has the tendency to hate the peasant uprising, which we think is connected to his family environment and the general sense of pride brought by the success of Hunan’s army. These work, however, are positive in calling for loyal to save the rough and hard political situation. Three plays written in the first year of Guangxu completely shows the hesitation of mind when he was faced to the choice alter attending examination, being a candidate and being a underling. The third forth and fifth sections analysis Yang Enshou’s drama art. The structure of truth and illusion makes the play a heart-striking impression. The art of play-in-play makes the play a complex of local opera performance factors absorbed from the floral drama and extensive use of moveable scenery, making it even more worth watching, which can effectively attract viewers. In addition, the changes of stage scenes and the humorous satirical skills used in drama make the essay a breakthrough that not only can be read but be played vividly. What’s more, Yang canceled the opening by secondary roles, replaced another structure called "po ti", which is a great breakthrough and a innovation.The fifth chapter is about Yang Enshou’s drama theory, witten in a book called "Essays on Drama",that can be divided into three parts-drama ontology, drama history and drama criticism. The first section parts drama ontology into music body, the rhythm and tracing point by summing. Meanwhile, the analysis of thinking high of subject and depict. The second section compares the Yang Enshou’s drama theory and Li Yu’s, by studying his criticism on Li Yu’s drama. His view of thinking highly of the stage and words is a development and rectify of Li Yu’s views. The third section regards Yang Enshou’s point of drama history a conclusion of drama of Qing dynasty. In the research of drama history, Yang Enshou studied the drama material in works about drama theory, notes and comment, in the influence of school of research whose representative was Jiao Xun. In the critic of works, Yang Enshou comments all representatives and plays of the early, middle and late Qing dynasty, briefly outlines the history of the Qing dynasty in the creation. In addition, Yang Enshou save a lot of valuable historical drama when he collected of conscious a lager number of legendary works of Qing dynasty. The forth section is a brief comments on the meaning of the history of Yang Enshou’s drama writing, which was on the order of Li Yu’s theory of drama and school of research’s,and a inspire of Mr. Wu Mei’s comprehensive summary of traditional drama, with distinctive features of the modernization in drama.