Han Drama Study

Chinese ancient drama reached its maturity in Song, Yuan, contemporary scholars also pay much more attention on this period of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties However, dramas before this period have seldom been specially studied, except for Tang Xi Nong by Professor Ren Erbei. Drama in Han Dynasty is of the unfavored kind. I assume that there are three reasons: one is lacking in material; second, these limited materials are dispersed in various ancient documents, Third, dramas in Han Dynasty was no more than some elements of entertainment, it requires our conjectures and imaginations that will make the analysis complicated. Of the research outcome of drama in Han Dynasty we find out four shortages: 1.it has no enough material. More material in some commonly found ancient books are still waiting to be used. 2. Research scope is narrow. More drama related elements should be analyzed.3. On the relation between drama in Han Dynasty and dramas in prior dynasties, more elaborations on the development process and causes are needed. 4.Due to the deficiency of relevant material, the research work is going too far or not going far enough. The above mentioned shortages directly resulted in our incomplete knowledge of drama in Han Dynasty and failure to judge its historical contributions and position.This thesis aims to solve these deficiencies by means of:Collect and analyze as much material as possible, in doing so to go nearer to comprehensive understanding of drama in Han Dynasty; Trace back the history of drama in Han Dynasty on how it emerged and developed; Find out the elements that influenced the formation of drama in Han Dynasty. Methodologically, this thesis follows the order of firstly analyze the core concept of"drama"literally, critically and historically, then based on this analysis of drama's denotative, connotative meanings, development orbit and kernel characteristics, we will carry on the discussions on various forms of drama in Han Dynasty, and the interactive communication between drama in Han Dynasty and western dramas.Compared with Xianqin arts, drama in Han Dynasty has greater achievement in fields of many kinds of entertainment form, song and dance drama and Comedian clown, etc. The most fundamental developments are: military oriented activities of Xianqin period have transformed into entertainments; And religious activities of Xianqin period have begun shifted to be entertaining. During the 4 centuries of unified Han Dynasty, flourishing arts and vigorous communication with foreign countries influence drama in Han Dynasty profoundly. Hereafter drama in Han Dynasty was embedded with the features of age and shed light on later development of Chinese drama. Though drama in Han Dynasty was not rip, what can not be denied is that it carried within itself the seeds of Tang drama, Song drama, Yuan drama and served to form a connecting link between the proceeding and the following.