The Tentative Research Into The Singing Theory Of The Ming And The Qing Dynasty

This thesis discusses the achievements of some importance made in the singing theory of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty, with the purpose of making a tentative but still comprehensive research into the achievements in the regions where the Han nationality live in compact communities, so as to discuss and analyze the historical outlook of the singing theory of that period as well as its historical value not only to the past, but also to the present. This thesis gives priority to singing rather than performing when discussing the art of singing in the performance.The thesis is made up of four parts, which include thirteen chapters. It carries out the research by means of historical proofs, documents, investigation, comparison etc.. The Theory of Developing Stage shows that the singing theory of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty experienced a development of some fluctuation within the historical development of the social political system and the art of singing. The Theory of Focus argues that some of the problems in the studies of the singing theory of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty showed a deep insight into the fundamental theoretical problems of singing, and that nowadays their essence in theory still guide the art of singing. The Theory of Structure forms a structure made up of three parts. The first part, concerned with various forms of art, focuses on the theory of drama singing, including poetry singing, folk songs and folk arts so as to show the singing theory of art of performance at that time. The second part discusses the content of the theory of that time, which was about sound-producing skills, the way to articulate words, the style and charms of the works, and the special style of performance. It can be concluded from the content that the theory of that time attached great importance to practice, and therefore was colorful as well as practical. The third part shows that these theories became embodied in books, articles as well as in comments, thus to form singing theories of various forms. And the Theory of Features shows the three features of the singing theory of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty: 1) it was unprecedented in scale, in profusion and in depth, 2) it had the scholars and artists as its subjects of creation, and 3) it developed what is useful in the tradition, discarded the useless but made renovation at the same time.The singing theory of the Ming and the Qing Dynasty developed in number in complexity and in depth, which is the miniature of the development of ancient theoretical research in to the art of singing.