The Study Of Gao Lian And The Jade Hairpin

The Jade Hairpin is not only a personal work branded by Gao Lian, but also a legend opera which embody the character of that time.Gao Lian was the son of a merchant, under the influence of his father who was a good merchant and desired to lead a scholar-bureaucrat's life, he started to learn literature and consider himself as a scholar-bureaucrat. Through his life, he undertook a lot of literature activity in order to get rid of the feeling of merchant. Influenced by the late Ming dynasty society and the culture of scholar-bureaucrat, Gao Lian wrote many different books, such as The Jade Hairpin. And lots of them are all new plots that Gao adapted from original version of The Jade Hairpin. These sections also could be found out similar experiences from his family, sociality, feelings and hobbies. That is to say, Gao Lian joined his own experience into the work when he wrote this Chuanqi opera.And we can find a lot of evidences which imitate other works from the work the Jade Hairpin, especially from The West Chamber and Praying to the Moon. It is calculated that before Gao Lian, Wei Liangfu had changed KunShan Tune , Liang Chenyu had also finished the Story of Wash Yarn , and most of the opera writer were discussing the question of which is best, the West Chamber, Praying to the Moon or the Pipa, on the other side, after Gao Lian , the Four Dreams of Linchuan by Tang Xianzu, the Southern Opera's Tune by Shen Jing were published. That is to say, the age of prosperity did not arrive. In this period, the technique of opera writing is not mature yet, most writers were looking for the reference works which can help them to compose. Then the discussion about the West Chamber, Praying to the Moon or the Pipa is just the question of which to learn under this background. The Jade Hairpin is more mature than other productions in this special age. The meaning of the Jade Hairpin was to offer a transitionary phase which can embody the process for themes of opera, fabric, technique and so on. It also supplies a clear development direction, and offers evidence for the phenomenon of imitation in the creating opera. "Imitate the West Chamber, Praying to the Moon to describe feeling and scenery", The Jade Hairpin is influenced by the West Chamber in many aspects such as description of characters, design of sections. Free love becomes the popular theme afterwards. Otherwise the Jade Hairpin imitates technical methods of Praying to the Moon in structure arrangement like tragicomedy etc. We can say the Jade Hairpin get the spirit of the West Chamber, and gain the technique of Praying to the Moon.We cannot deny that the Jade Hairpin has own special creation in this imitation process. Some plots all exceed the original, and they all receive special artistic effect. These are important reasons to get so long the art life for the Jade Hairpin.