Research On Shanghai Drama Market From The Perspective Of "Liyuan Bulletin"

"Liyuan Bulletin" was founded on September 5,1928,and closed on December 31,1931,with a total of 396 issues.Based on the historical materials of opera in Liyuan Bulletin,this paper explores the Shanghai theater market in the 1920 s and 1930 s,and discusses how newspapers and journals participated in opera practice and theoretical criticism,and how they influenced the development of Shanghai-style Peking opera.The Liyuan Bulletin is the official newspaper of the Shanghai Drama Federation.It aims to carry forward the tradition of the drama industry and reform the dross of the drama industry.Newspapers and periodicals are mainly composed of opera advertisements,opera news,opera criticism and opera literature.There are regular contributors,such as newspaper celebrity Sun Yusheng,Shanghai-style master Zhou Xinfang,reform pioneer Ouyang Yuqian,and national drama advocate Tian Han,etc.They have contributed trendy drama concepts and advanced reform ideas to the Liyuan Bulletin.The prosperity of modern theaters means a complete change in the relationship between viewing and performing operas.Centered on theaters,the Shanghai theater market has formed a huge commercial space.In the 1930 s,Gangs,especially the one named “Qing”,took control of the management of the theater,the operation mode was sole proprietorship and monopoly.The theater adopted a series of modern management systems,the most representative of which were Tianchan Stage,Rongji Grand Stage,Common stage,Samsung stage.They have adopted different marketing methods to make the Shanghai theater market prosperous,such as the excellent cast of the Tianchan stage,the powerful celebrity strategy of the Rongji stage,the advanced stage set of the common stage,and the complete theater facilities of the Samsung stage.Newspapers and theaters have a very close relationship,and they promote each other.The Liyuan Bulletin is a witness to the prosperity of new theaters.At the same time,the prosperity of theaters promotes the development of opera advertisements,thus providing conditions for the survival of newspapers and periodicals.The 1930 s was a mature and prosperous period for Shanghai-style Peking Opera.The Shanghai theater market was dominated by traditional operas.Each theater had a fixed cast of actors,each of whom worked independently and competed to rehearse new plays,gradually forming a unique cultural brand.Such as Tianchan’s "Fengshen Bang",Dan Gui’s "Opening the World",Rong Ji’s "Sun Pang Fighting Wisdom",etc.At the same time,with the development of Liantai’s original drama,a twist in the backdrop has become a fixed form of expression on the Peking Opera stage,and it has also become the most distinctive form of Shanghai-style Peking Opera specialty.The movement of famous actors to the south has greatly promoted the exchange and integration of opera between Beijing and the sea.Beijing famous actors such as Mei Lanfang and Cheng Yanqiu broke through the traditional opera performance form and choreographed new songs and dances.This kind of performance has both traditional aesthetic style and modern business sense was all the rage in Shanghai.The criticism of opera in Liyuan Bulletin focuses on two aspects: art itself and improvement of opera.Focusing on the opera itself,drama critics showed great importance to the script,and made a dialectical analysis of the singer and the narration,it is believed that both are important performance elements of the opera,and one should not ignore the other.The discussion of old and new dramas has been further developed.Opera critics unanimously believe that old dramas should be improved in terms of theme selection,script creation,performance methods,costumes,etc.and should not imitate Western dramas,but create National drama.In general,the study of opera data in Liyuan Bulletin is of profound significance for further understanding of the Shanghai theater market around the 1930s.