(1634-2015)

The operatic genre of Diaoqiang was born in the Ming period as a hybrid of the vocal styles of the north and the south. The diaoqiang repertory can be divided into three main categories: the traditional, the topical, and the Monk Mulian series. One of the characteristics of diaoqiang music is the chorus and the refrain. Some of its traditional repertory still retains the ancient presentation format of singing with percussion accompaniment only and without the use of wind and string instruments, with chorus to back up the actors’ singing. The percussionists provide the chorus or ?back up? singing. It has a history of over six hundred years, with operatic troupes and societies of diaoqiang found all over the cities of Zhejiang during its heyday. By the turn of the 20 th Century, it went into decline, and such operas could only be found in the area of Xinchang. How to preserve this "traditional performing" has become a top priority.Eric Hobsbawm mentioned that many "traditions" originated recently and were linked with meaningful history in the book named of "The Invention of Tradition". While the contemporary Xi-qu researchers describe the traditional xi-qu, they should not take the tradition during the long period as the same, we should take the tradition from time to time to review the process. This thesis does not written in a macro vision like the former thesises, but this is written about ’Diaoqiang’ at Xin-chang County in Zhe-jiang province. The thesis tries to observe, record and interpret the inheritance and the development of ’Diaoqiang’ from 1634 till now, which is different from overview in the past.The thesis does not overthrow the former researches, not deny the former opinions, and not dig the NEW history of ’Diaoqiang’ in one’s opinion. The thesis appeals to interpret and discuss it from ’back to the tradition’ with the current historical materials and the on-site fieldwork. The thesis wants to arouse the researchers to use the word of ’tradition’ not just the opposite of word ’modern,’ but the evaluated process of different periods.The thesis analyzes the regional relationship and folk beliefs, which is the background of ’Diaoqiang.’The thesis observes the local history of Xin-chang and Shao-xing, and discusses the influence of religion xi-qu from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism to ’Diao opera.’ And investigates the origin of ’Diaoqiang.’ There are three possible origins, which are the ’nan qiang bei diao’, ’Yu-yao opera’ and ’Yi-yang opera’, which are debated since 1950’s. In this chapter, the logic and the contradiction of the dissertation are disserted separately. This thesis describes the interaction of ’Diaoqiang’ with ’Xuan Juan’ and ’Kun opera’ during the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, which made ?Diaoqiang?, flourished at Qing dynasty. Emperor Qianlong went to the south and set up the stages, which helped the ’hua bu luan tan’ took shape and influenced ’Diao opera’ at the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty. And explore the reason that ’Diaoqiang’ declined at last at the end of Qing Dynasty and early China.The thesis takes the boundary from 1950’s to 21 th century. It startedfrom the consolidation of the troupe of ’Diao opera’ from 1950’s to 1960’s, the changes of arts caused by Cultural Revolution in 1970’s, losing the audience seriously at 1980’s, and the researchers of ’Diao opera’ worked on it in 1990’s to make it survive again. And discusses the list of the ’Intangible Cultural Heritage’ by the government, which includes the activities by contemporary government and the enterprise. The performers of ’Diao opera’ are consciously inherited and cultivated since the 7th year of the ’Diao opera’ class in 2007, which attracted more participants involved in it. And the Chinese Opera Festival which held in Hong Kong invited the troupe of ’Diao opera’ to sort out the old plays at 2013. They invested to reorganize the plays, and tried hard to make it influential and walked out of Xin-chang.The thesis will put forward for the development of the transfer and development of the proposal, hoping to get more people for the tune of the attention.