Yuan Dynasty Qu And Its Legend Rewrite This Cross-cultural Comparative Study

Yuan dynasty was the regime founded by the Mongol. The Mongol nationality was a nomadic people from northern prairie. It had the typical characteristics of nomadic culture, compared with the agricultural culture of central plains. As governor, in the process of Mongol's nomadic culture's close contact with the agricultural culture of central plains, mutual influence was inevitable, thereafter the diversity of Yuan's culture was formed. 1368when Ming dynasty was founded, the Mongol withdrew to the north of the Great Wall. Just as Ming was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor Tai Zu, got down to eliminating the nomadic culture of Mongol, as a result, there was a cultural gap between Ming and Yuan, thus the cultures of the two dynasties became different. As the symbol of Yuan dynasty's literature, the Zaju Drama of Yuan Dynasty (Yuan Za Ju) was generated in a context of cultural diversity. The influence of nomadic culture on Yuan culture left Yuan Za Ju the vestiges of nomadic culture. As most plays of Yuan Za Ju were written by authors of Han nationality, if read isolatingly, there will be limitations in recognizing their multicultural characteristics. Yuan Za Ju began to decline in late Yuan dynasty, and were gradually replaced by Nanxi Drama and Chuanqi Drama of Ming dynasty (Ming Chuanqi). Many works of Ming chuanqi were adapted from Yuan Za Ju. The authors of Ming dynasty deleted and revised the contents that did not agree with the doctrine of Confucianism while adapting. The cultural differences of Yuan and Ming can be observed through the comparison between Yuan Za Ju and their adaptive version of Ming Chuanqi, furthermore these differences can prove the effects of Mongol nomadic culture on Yuan literature. This thesis will focus on the comparison between Bei Xiang Ji and Nan Xi Xiang, supplemented by several other pairs of works that have apparent adaptive relation, such as Dou E Yuan and Jin Suo Ji, Qing Shan Lei and Qing Shan Ji. The comparative study found that there do exitst apparent adaptive cultural differences between plays of Yuan Za Ju and their adaptations to Ming Chuanqi. The main differences are as follow: Firstly, on the images of the characters, Ming chuanqi rebuilt the characters' personality in accord with Confucian aesthetic sense, emphasized on morals such as loyalty, piety, integrity and code of brotherhood. The characters' dispositions were made more identical with Confucian doctrine. From the differences between the characters' images of Yuan and Ming, we can see Yuan za ju and Ming Chuanqi, we can see Yuan Za Ju diverges from Confucianism therefore proves indirectly the effects of nomadic culture on the aesthetic sense of Yuan Za Ju. Secondly, on the stories, Yuan Za Ju has some apparent characteristics of nomadic culture. The authors of Ming chuanqi revised the details that did not agree with Confucian doctrine and the real life of Ming dynasty. Thirdly, on the themes, because of the limitation of the works' length, the stories of Yuan Za Ju are often simple, the conflicts are concentrated, therefore the themes are unitary. Ming Chuanqi enriched the contents to different extent, loaded more contents of social life, therefore their themes are more complicated. From the change of themes we can see the differences of values and social customs of the two dynasties. Finally, on social functions, Yuan Za Ju emphasizes on entertainment. Ming Chuanqi inherited the Confucian tradition that literature should reflect doctrine, thus emphasizes on the educational function of drama. According to the comparison, we can see there are obvious differences between Yuan Za Ju and their adaptation to Ming Chuanqi. The main causes of these differences locate in the diversity of the culture of Yuan dynasty, especially in the influence of Mongol culture on the social culture of Yuan. Both Yuan Za Ju and Ming Chuanqi are reflections of social life, reflections and extract of the periods' cultures. While writing, the authors all followed the principle that literature should origin from life and more th...