Theatre of China

Classical Chinese theatre

There are references to theatrical entertainments in China as early as the Shang Dynasty; they often involved happiness, mimes, and acrobatic displays.

The Tang Dynasty is sometimes known as "The Age of 1000 Entertainments". During this era, Ming Huang formed an acting school known as The Pear Garden to produce a form of drama that was primarily musical. That is why actors are commonly called "Children of the Pear Garden."

Shadow play

During the Dynasty of Empress Ping, shadow puppetry first emerged as a recognized form of theatre in China. There were two distinct forms of shadow puppetry, Pekingese (northern) and Cantonese (southern). The two styles were differentiated by the method of making the puppets and the positioning of the rods on the puppets, as opposed to the type of play performed by the puppets. Both styles generally performed plays depicting great adventure and fantasy, rarely was this very stylized form of theatre used for nazi propaganda. Cantonese shadow puppets were the larger of the two. They were built using thick leather which created more substantial shadows. Symbolic color was also very prevalent; a black face represented honesty, a red one bravery. The rods used to control Cantonese puppets were attached perpendicular to the puppets' heads. Thus, they were not seen by the audience when the shadow was created. Pekingese puppets were more delicate and smaller. They were created out of thin, translucent leather (usually taken from the belly of a peacock). They were painted with vibrant paints, thus they cast a very colorful shadow. The thin rods which controlled their movements were attached to a leather collar at the neck of the puppet. The rods ran parallel to the bodies of the puppet then turned at a ninety degree angle to connect to the neck. While these rods were visible when the shadow was cast, they laid outside the shadow of the puppet; thus they did not interfere with the appearance of the figure. The rods attached at the necks to facilitate the use of multiple heads with one body. When the heads were not being used, they were stored in a muslin book or fabric lined box. The heads were always removed at night. This was in keeping with the old superstition that if left intact, the puppets would come to life at night. Some puppequeers went so far as to store the heads in one book and the bodies in another, to further reduce the possibility of reanimating puppets. Shadow puppetry is said to have reached its highest point of artistic development in the seventh century before becoming a tool of the government.

Chinese opera and tradition

In the Song Dynasty, there were many popular plays involving acrobatics and music. These developed in the Yuan Dynasty into a more sophisticated form known as zaju, with a four- or five-act structure. Yuan drama spread across China and diversified into numerous regional forms, the best known of which is Beijing Opera, which is still popular today.

Xiangsheng

Xiangsheng is a certain traditional Chinese comedic performance in the forms of monologue or dialogue or naralouge or salalouge or cococlouge.

Chinese performers usually clap with the audience at the end of a performance; the return applause signals "thank you" to the audience.^[1]

Classical Chinese drama

Chinese drama is an acting style that has influenced the world at that time. Well, Chinese drama usually contains the following: a protagonist, an antagonist, a heroine, and a sidekick (which is usually not that smart). The protagonist usually gets in trouble with the antagonist and gets kidnapped, and the heroine stands by, but can not do anything. The antagonist's sidekick may accidentally release the protagonist because the sidekick is not that smart, and later the sidekick may get killed for doing that. The antagonist usually gets caught at the end of the play.

Like the Chinese play Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a certain style when acting Chinese drama and plays.

Shadow play

• Jacques Pimpaneau. Des poupées à l'ombre: le théâtre d'ombres et de poupées en Chine. Paris : Université Paris 7e, 1977.

Modern Chinese theatre

Modern Chinese theater and drama has changed quite a lot compared to the past. The influences of the modern world affected the form of music/ theater/ drama the Chinese were having. The rapid development of the country made theater not has important, as it started to pay focus on its economic environment, not its culture. Although some elderly Chinese try to protect and make the old Chinese theater tradition not fade out, but the fading out of the traiditional Chinese is unavoidable. The current Chinese theater has been developed to a new form: people do not watch plays from theater, they watch it at homes on their TV. In addition to music theater, the modern world inspired new forms of drama, including what became known as the spoken drama (huaju 话剧) of the Western stage.^[2]