Study Of Early China National Opera Performance Art (1949-1966),

Since opera entered China at the beginning of the20century, folk opera hadn’t formed its features untilthe primary stage of new China (1949-1966) and it has become a special kind with the most mass basis andthe highest light among China’s operas today. It adhered to the highest principle of localization during thiscomplicated historical period but had more striking feature in absorbing the essence of dramas and inborrowing the beneficial experience of the western world: with folk style singing as its center, to seekbalance between singing and acting and to combine fully between depicting feelings and depicting true life.Most of the classic and revelatory folk operas and acting and directing models appeared in this period,which are popular even in modern times. Its hard work of exploration has left valuable experiences to latergenerations and also left some thought-provoking problems. These are just the goal of this thesis to seek.This thesis starts with the combing of the development of the folk opera acting art in the early days ofnew China. Then it studies the cases of typical acting experts. Lastly, it interprets those folk operastheoretically.With the White Haired Girl as its official version and legitimate precursor, Chinese folk operas stick tothe quality of folk guidance and makes untiring efforts to explore. It has experienced three stages: XiaoErhei’s marriage was the accumulating stage, Red Guard on Honghu Lake was the prosperous stage andSister Jiang was the peak time. They brought forth such famous actresses as Guo Langying, Wang Yuzhenand Wan Fuxiang and became popular immediately among the audience at that time.The case study expounds the working experiences and practices of each of the above artists andpeople’s comments on them from the relationship between viewing and acting. It lays emphasis onexploring the portrait of the characters’ personality and figures and thus excavates and clears up theirdistinguishing acting skills and artistic styles.Through analysis and summarization, it can be seen that the special aesthetic quality of the folk opera inacting rooted in the rich soil of folk songs, plays and other art forms. The diversity of its source and theinclusiveness makes it much opener and richer. It is the continuous combination and integration of nutrientthat makes folk opera have infinite artistic charm and era feature. With regard to its special artistic idea, thisthesis makes relative aesthetic reflections, including its nationalism, the sense of the times, the dramaticperformance of the characters’ personality, the distribution of the part and the corresponding typification inacting, the phenomenon of women being stronger than men and so on. These are the main content of thelast part of this thesis.Facing today’s challenge of cultural diversity, Chinese opera can make ceaseless innovations onlythrough all-embracing. Looking back on the “lost paradise” of the folk opera at the beginning of new China,rational reflection will make us stick to humanistic concern better in creation, while Chinese opera will winthe people again. This is the surplus part of this thesis.