Opera Ecology And The Construction Of The College

The Chinese opera and drama,usually regarded as "the aesthetic home" for the Chinese people,is the invaluable treasure in the traditional Chinese nation's cultural reservoir.In the course of thousands of years' inheritance and development,the Chinese opera and drama,deeply rooted in and nourished by the fertile soil of folk art,has been marked by a prosperous and glorious history,and favored by general public,social reformers and government policy makers as well.However,with the development of the times and vicissitudes in society,Chinese opera and drama has gradually become "marginal".We,nevertheless,should situate it in the development of the present drama objectively,build the confidence in revitalizing the drama,and find a direction and destination for it in the practice.Throughout the development of traditional Chinese opera and drama in contemporary era,its tidings and ebbing contour the literary ecology in certain periods.At the same time,its development is closely related to the organization and development of the opera performance groups.To a great extent,the survival of the opera directly affects the development of the opera troupes.This dissertation attempts to relate the development of contemporary opera ecology with the reform and development of Shandong opera troupes,revealing the inner relationship between the opera ecology,the administration of the traditional troupes and the development of traditional opera,and exploring the approach to revitalize Shandong opera and even Chinese opera.This dissertation is divided into seven sections,which are listed as follows:Opening with the discussion of the important value inhered in the opera itself,the irreplaceable position in Chinese culture,and the reality and predicament of Chinese opera,the introductory part raises the question of how to find strategies in developing the Chinese opera and to consolidate the opera troupes by combining opera and its cultural ecology.By combing and analyzing of the present situation of the research,the orientation of this topic is determined and the significance of this research expounded in this part.Chapter One mainly focuses on the definition of relevant concepts and the introduction and mapping of the cultural ecology and performance groups in New China which is directly inherited from the Liberated Areas,First of all,it is necessary to define and discern as various and tangled definitions as "the contemporary Shandong opera","the opera groups" and "the opera ecology".The "opera" and "the opera ecology" in particular require detailed analyzing,which fuse singing,reading,performing,and martial arts into one comprehensive staged performance,characteristic with musicality,performativity,theatricality and aestheticity.Featured by unique ways of speaking,singing,staging,as well as unusual rhythms,formulas,virtuality in performing,the Chinese opera is thus suffused with a unique artistic charm.The opera ecology is a generalization of the literary ecology in the opera,that is to say,a field that conditions the development of the opera,which consists of both intra-and extra-opera factors.On the other hand,the influence of internal factors plays vital role in the development of traditional Chinese opera ecology.On the other,external factors,such as politics,economy and culture cannot be ignored as well.Hence,The external ecology of the Chinese opera is the focus of this research for two reasons.Firstly,for contemporary China,especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China and the period before the reform and opening up.politics is the core element and the most important part in the opera ecology.Secondly,the establishment of the cultural ecology and opera groups in the Liberated Areas has foreseen and prepared the ecology of Chinese opera,the organization of the troupes and the reform of Chinese opera for those in New China.Chapter Two discusses the development of the opera ecology and the construction and development of Shandong opera troupes in the so called "Seventeen Years Period" at the beginning of New China.After its founding,New China was circumvented by a structured,politicized,monistic cultural ecology.In the implementation of reforming the Chinese opera and under the guidance of the"Double Hundred Policy"(Shuang Bai Fang zhen),the development of Shandong opera before 1957 has achieved very good results.The opera ecology in later"Seventeen Years"(after 1957),in spite of ups and downs,had made certain development,also suffered a great impact,and finally resulted in declination and loss of an open and prosperous cultural ecology with the denouncement of "Li Hui Niang"and "Hai Rui Ba Guan"."Seventeen Years" is the most successful period of Shandong opera troupes,during which a large number of provincial,city and county troupes and folk troupes have been set up and have developed by leaps and bounds.They not only expanded in scale,but also compiled many opera repertoire that became classic,among which "Li Er Sao Remarried," "Sun An Dong Ben" and other works,both imbued with ideological and artistic values,are emblematic of the operas in this period.Chapter Three analyzes the cultural ecology during the Cultural Revolution and the living situation of Shandong opera troupes during the period.As a special period,the Cultural Revolution on the one impelled the nationwide movement of the "Great Revolution","Great Critique",with a large number of artists and writers suffering personal persecution,and art troupe activities shrunk or even literally stopped.On the other hand,with special advantages,some people in the authorities appropriated good plays from others,concocted a "Model Operas" which forced their way into the stages across the country,resulting in the grotesque scene of "800 million of people in the country seeing only the Eight Operas" and other operas withering accordingly.The abnormal cultural ecology has inflicted great damage to the development of Chinese opera troupes.During the Seventeen Years,the opera troupes newly built were forced to dismiss,or transform.In those desolate years,Shandong's modern Peking opera"Assault White tiger group" became a "model opera",and "Hong Sao" was specially treated due to its efforts to become a model one.Therefore,Shandong's local opera witnessed the bleakness during the "Cultural Revolution",but had one harvest at least.Chapter Four delineates the changes in Chinese opera ecology and the growth of Shandong opera troupes since the Reform and Opening Up.The Chinese opera ecology is characterized by a certain complexity.The deepening of reform and opening up brought the impact of the cultural market in the context of marketization on one hand,and the reform of the internal management system on the other,resulting in great labor pains and trouble and crisis for Chinese opera practitioners.At the turn of the 21st century,the deepening reformation of the cultural system,promotion of national literature and art.especially adhering the inheritance and development of the opera,the protection of the intangible cultural heritage,all provide an impetus for the Chinese opera and troupes to advance at a greater pace.During this period,Shandong opera troupes mainly focus on reforming the performing arts groups,going to the market,preparing and performing high-quality opera works,to explore the path of the development of the opera.Shandong created a number of opera boutique performances,with "Ku Cai Hua" and "Mending Sky" as the representative works.The fifth chapter discusses the refomation of current state-owned art troupes and cultural system and development in the new discourse of contemporary literary(drama)ecology.In terms of the cultural system,new ideas and theories were put forward on building socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the Communist Party's 18th Congress,which aims to deepen the cultural restructuring and set out a more clear and scientific goal for the new period.Deepening cultural innovation and cultural restructuring may start from improving the following five aspects:macro-cultural management system,micro-operational mechanism in cultural production,the ownership of cultural industries with the public ownership as the mainstay and other forms as complementary,modern cultural market system,cultural innovation.As an important part of the cultural system,reforming opera troupes needs satisfy not only the requirements of cultural restructuring process,but also the special requirements of opera troupes in their reform and development.Centered around the key idioms of"consolidating,improving,breaking,and expanding",the reform of opera troupes should focus on promoting governance capacity,improving production and management system and regulating policymaking system.On the basis of the study of the external ecology of the contemporary opera,the conclusion goes back to the "micro-ecology" of the development of the opera and discusses the construction and optimization of the opera ecology.It is concluded that helping the opera to live popularly,developing the opera market,promoting the"youthfulness" of traditional opera and giving full play to theatrical criticism,are viable routes to optimize the Chinese opera ecology and promote the development of Chinese opera.