A Study Of The Gods In The Palace Celebration Dramas Of The Ming Dynasty

Royal celebration dramas in Ming Dynasty,which are,performing at the party,are written by seignior and Musical House,for blessing holiday,celebrating birthday,viewing flower.In the existing twenty-eight royal celebration dramas,twenty-six appear gods.The gods are not only existing widely,but also have a rich variety.This thesis treats the gods in royal celebration dramas as object of study.At the basis of reading the dramas,the paper classifies the golds.In addition,the thesis studies the gods' structure function in form and dramatic as well as beliefs in content.The first chapter classifies the gods in Ming Dynasty' royal celebration dramas.The criterion for the classification of gods are their functions in the celebration dramas.According to the criterion,gods can be generally classified into four categories:bureaucratic gods,auspicious gods,dramatic gods,and gods for viewing flowers.The first section is to sort out the bureaucratic gods,which are divided into supreme gods,organizational and leading gods,communication gods and attendants gods.The second section is to sort out the auspicious meaning of deities,which is divided into dedicated celebration gods and the exorcism and praying gods.The third section is about the gods adding to the fun of enjoying flowers,mainly the flowers and plants gods in Zhu Youdun's dramas.The fourth section is about the dramatic gods,including the funny gods and the fighting gods.The features of funny gods includes two points:the appearance of pairs and nonexistent.The fighting gods usually be divided into two opposing factions and have powerful powers.The second chapter is about the gods and dramas' structures.One of its structural functions is introducing the topic and tying for gods' acts through gods'mouth.This structural function has two situations:one is breaking the topic and tying for gods' acts at the same time,the other is breaking the topic first and then tying.Moreover,the gods' narration is another important aspect with respect to structures.The narration of gods have a style of keeping up appearance and lavishness,just like Han Da Fu.The narration reflects the ruling class's confidence and proud after the great unity of Han nationality.The gods' repetition in dramas emphasize the royal celebration dramas' auspicious implies.Feast is a long tradition in Chinese Literature,and sixteen out of twenty-six royal celebration dramas which are researched appears feast.Feasts have functions of tying for gods'acts and creating busy scenes.The describe of gods' process to feast add tension and ornamental value.The gods attend the feast represent they accept the ruling class.The content of the third chapter is about gods' dramatics.Firstly,the dramatic is embodied in the gods' deregulation.One of it is the funny gods steal things and offend superordinate gods.The other is the funny gods are greedy while they are gods.Offending high-ranking gods is farce's tradition.The greediness of funny gods is reflected in that they can think of eating whenever and wherever they want,and the food they want is not nobiliary.Secondly,the dramatic is embodied in the gods'debate and fight.In Tang and Song Dynasties,farce used arguments to add drama.The fighting methods of gods in the Ming Dynasty royal celebration plays is mainly in the form of spells,battles and magic weapons.The content of the fourth chapter is the beliefs embodied by gods.The gods in royal celebration dramas embody the belief of 'Immortal Longevity'.The phenomenon that gods who symbolize or in charge of life span and longevous people who become gods exist widely reflects this belief.The ruling class's wish of enjoying the honor and wealth forever is the cause of the belief of 'Immortal Longevity' in dramas.Secondly,royal celebration dramas in Ming Dynasty reflect Zhong Kui belief.Zhu Youdun's "Fu,Lu,Shou Samsung Celebrate the Festival" and"Qing Feng Nian Wu Gui Nao Zhong Kui" both have Zhong Kui's appearance but their characteristics are different.The reason is that with the development of Zhong Kui stories in the Ming and Qing dynasties,the beliefs decreased while the literariness and interestingness increased.Therefore,the image of Zhong Kui in"Qing Feng Nian Wu Gui Nao Zhong Kui",written in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,is more life-like than that in "Fu,Lu,Shou Samsung Celebrate theFesteval" that written in the early Ming Dynasty.In addition,the belief of the six gods in the family house appeared in the Ming Dynasty royal celebration dramas.The six gods are folk gods that originated from the official sacrifice.One of the reason is that it is inappropriate that the official sacrifice gods appear in the dramas,the other is the folk belief influences the official society.