Difference between revisions of "20220630 Culture 8"
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*[[20220630_Culture_8]] papers 71-80: 71 日语笔译 胡梦琪 Hu Mengqi 202170081633, 72 日语笔译 张白鹭 Zhang Bailu 202170081634, 73 朝鲜语笔译 刘安莉 Liu Anli 202170081635, 74 朝鲜语笔译 王思佳 Wang Sijia 202170081636, 75 朝朝鲜语笔译 徐盖 Xu Gai 202170081638, 76 朝鲜语笔译 徐文慧 Xu Wenhui 202170081639, 77 外国语言文学 Akira Jantarat 202121080009, 78 比较文学与跨文化研究 Mahzad 202021080004, 79 英语语言文学 Mimi 2020GBJ002301 | *[[20220630_Culture_8]] papers 71-80: 71 日语笔译 胡梦琪 Hu Mengqi 202170081633, 72 日语笔译 张白鹭 Zhang Bailu 202170081634, 73 朝鲜语笔译 刘安莉 Liu Anli 202170081635, 74 朝鲜语笔译 王思佳 Wang Sijia 202170081636, 75 朝朝鲜语笔译 徐盖 Xu Gai 202170081638, 76 朝鲜语笔译 徐文慧 Xu Wenhui 202170081639, 77 外国语言文学 Akira Jantarat 202121080009, 78 比较文学与跨文化研究 Mahzad 202021080004, 79 英语语言文学 Mimi 2020GBJ002301 | ||
| − | == | + | ==英语笔译 王亚娟 Wang Yajuan 202170081598== |
| + | <center>'''Filial Piety in China'''</center> | ||
| − | <center> | + | <center>Wang Yajuan</center> |
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===Introduction=== | ===Introduction=== | ||
| − | + | Filial piety has been a tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times and has been passed down from generation to generation. As the core concept and main feature of traditional Chinese ethics, filial piety has long been priority in the traditional Chinese politics and cultures. (Xiao Longhang 2006: 1)China's unique patriarchal social system determines that filial piety goes through a process from a religious ethic of ancestor worship to a family ethic and then to a political ethic. | |
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| − | + | Since the pre-Qin period, monarchs have advocated respect for the elderly and used filial piety to educate the people; thinkers from various periods have put forward their ideas about respect for the elderly and have written books to preach it. In feudal society, when the system was thriving, filial piety was closely linked to politics and became a criterion for selecting talents; in modern society, filial piety has also been given a new meaning in the modern era. (Fan Yan 2016;11) This article will focus on the origin and development of filial piety in China, analyze the cultural values and limitations of filial piety of Chinese filial piety, then briefly compare and analyzes Chinese and western filial piety, finally a brief conclusion about filial piety will be given. | |
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| − | === | + | ===Origin and Basic Meaning of Filial Piety=== |
| − | + | The exact origin of the idea of filial piety is still inconclusive in academic circles. Because in the absence of exact archaeological findings and written records, all conclusions drawn by scholars are only speculations, with imaginary approximations but no factual results. Therefore, the origin can only be explored in the ancient literature. (Wang Xiaohu 2014:3 .) | |
| − | ''' | + | The explanation of filial piety in ''Erya-Shihun''(《尔雅·释训》) is "being nice to parents is filial piety"; the explanation in Relics from South is “The Chinese character ‘孝’(filial piety) is a combination of the Chinese character ‘老’ (old) with the lower right corner omitted, and 子 (son), thus, 孝 means to serve one's parents well, and it means that children respect and support their parents.’’ Today's scholars interpret the Jinwen(金文inscriptions on ancient bronze objects) form of filial piety in much the same way as the above, and the explanation of filial piety in ''the Ci Hai''(《辞海》) is “to be nice to parents well”, which is almost identical to the explanation in the Erya;Tang Yin's ''On the Origin of Characters''《文字源流浅说》 is even more interesting: “Like a '子'(son) walking with his head bearing ‘老’(the old man), showing ‘孝’(filial piety) by the shape of supporting an old man to walk.’’ It can be seen that the ancient form of the character "孝”(filial piety) and the meaning of "nice to parents" match perfectly, so "filial piety" is regarded as a kind of good deed and virtue of children to their parents. (Yang Jianhai 2017:10) |
| − | + | In history, records of "respect olders" first began with Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors:"昔者,有虞氏贵德而尚齿,夏后氏贵爵而尚齿,殷人贵富而尚齿,周人贵亲而尚齿”(From the time of Yu and Shun, although they respected virtuous people, they did not forget to respect older people; in the Xia Dynasty, although they respected people with titles, they did not forget to respect older people; in the Yin Dynasty, although they respected people with money, they did not forget to respect older people; in the Zhou Dynasty, although they respected people with kinship, they did not forget to respect older people.”)and “有虞氏养国老于上庠,养庶老于下庠;夏后氏养国老于东序,养庶老于西......(Fan Yan 2016:11)(In the era of the yu, the retired senior officials were entertained at the upper school and the retired scholars at the lower school; the offspring of Xia entertained the retired senior officials in the east and the old people in the west...) | |
| − | + | From the available information, the Jin dynasty appeared on the "filial piety" records, such as "“天子明哲,观孝与申(神)”(The emperor judged a man's virtue by his filial piety and religious belief) People in Yin Period believed that the ancestors could directly worship God and are the main medium between God and the human world. Since the ancestors were the medium between the human world and the divine world, they naturally became the masters of the earth and thus could bring disasters and blessings. (Yang Jianhai 2017:134)This is the reason why the Yin people attached special importance to heavy burial and had religious worship of their ancestors. | |
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| − | + | After King Wu of Zhou pacified the world, he redistributed the world and restored the social orders, therefore, Zhou Dynasty not only inherited the traditions of the previous dynasties, but also created customs and festivals to honor and respect the elderly. For example, the "乡饮酒(country drinking ceremony)" was a unique form of village gathering in the Zhou Dynasty, where the younger generation expressed their respect to their elders by making a toast. During the banquet, ancient songs or chapters from ''the Book of Songs''(《诗经》) were played to praise the virtue and prestige of the elderly. (Fan Yan 2016:11) | |
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| − | + | Filial piety in the sense of ethical norms is not fully highlighted until Confucius: "“夫孝,天之经也,地之义也,民之行也。”(Filial piety, like the operation of heaven, is eternal and unchanging; like the natural growth of all things on earth, it is natural and justified, and is the natural behavior of the people.)and “天地之性,人为贵。人之行,莫大于孝。”"The nature of heaven is valued by man. The conduct of man is no greater than filial piety." Mencius inherited this view and proposed, "“事孰为大?事亲为大“(What is the greatest thing to do? To serve one's parents is the greatest) (Fan Yan 2016:11). Confucianism believes that filial piety and respect for one's elders is a natural and righteous thing to do, and it is the foundation of one's life. | |
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| − | + | Confucianism has laid the foundation for the most influential part of filial piety in Chinese people for more than two thousand years because Confucian sages, represented by Confucius, completed the transformation of filial piety from religion to philosophy, from "pursuing filial piety" to "nurturing filial piety" during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. As we all know, Confucius created a philosophical system with "benevolence" as the core concept, reinterpreting the Western Zhou "rites" from the viewpoint of "doctrine of benevolence". He also believes that filial piety is no longer due to the external pressure of society and the constraints of gods, but is an emotional demand and moral consciousness from people's heart and he also combined "filial piety" with "rites", saying that one should treat one's parents and elders with "生,事之以礼;死,葬之以礼,祭之以礼’’ (Yang Jianhai 2017:135)(rites in life, rites in burial, and rites in sacrifice) . | |
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| − | + | ===Evolution of the Meaning of Filial Piety=== | |
| − | + | After the formation of filial piety in the time of Confucius, it continued to develop. | |
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| − | + | 1.The Han and Wei And Jin Period | |
| − | === | + | During the Han Dynasty, there was a more obvious trend of expanding the idea of filial piety, and after the adoption of Dong Zhongshu's proposal of “罢黜百家,独尊儒术(dismissing the hundred schools and respecting only Confucianism)”, the Han Emperor began to promote Confucianism. The idea of "filial piety" was closely related to social politics, and during the Western Han Dynasty, the implementation of filial piety was encouraged through the establishment of an official for filial piety, and the old caring was established as a system, which had extremely severe legal penalties for those who were not provided for their parents - would to be beheaded.(Ma Yaobin 2017:101)Through such external coercive norms, instead of focusing on the internalization of the idea from the heart, the idea of filial piety was heavily colored by politics, making the people's filial behavior more formal. |
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| + | From the beginning, the rulers of the Wei and Jin periods advocated the rule of the state by filial piety as the basis of governance and he sets an example for all his subjects by serving his own mother personally. The rulers of the Wei and Jin dynasties attached great importance to ''the Classic of Filial Piety'', not only having the great scholars teach it, but also made notes themselves. When the emperor lectured on ''The Classic of Filial Piety''(《孝经》), he had to be accompanied by important ministers, and there was a clear division of labor, including lecturing, reading, reading and extracting sentences. (Fan Yan 2016:12) | ||
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| + | 2.The Tang Dynasty, Song and Yuan Dynasty | ||
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| + | In the Tang dynasty, although filial piety was still not given much attention, the ethics of filial piety was still enriched and developed by the royal family out of the need to rule. First, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang twice annotated ''The Classic of Filial Piety''(《孝经》), which became the common version used today; second, The Classic of Filial Piety became a compulsory subject for the imperial examinations; third, ''Tang Code''(《唐律疏议》), which is the highest legislative achievement of the Chinese legal system, pays special attention to filial piety, in which there are 58 articles that can reflect "filial piety".(Yang Zhigang 2012:262) | ||
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| + | During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the traditional idea of filial piety in China was to a certain extent alienated, for example, the filial sons and acts of filial piety in the book ''24 Stories of Filial Piety''(《二十四孝》) which was written in the Yuan Dynasty, could find their prototypes in the Song Dynasty. ''24 Stories of Filial Piety'' was collected by Guo Juijing of the Yuan Dynasty, with many versions and mostly similar contents, recording the stories of twenty-four filial sons from the ancient times to the Tang and Song dynasties, such as Zhongyu "carrying rice for a hundred miles" and Wang Bao "hearing the thunder and weeping at the grave" and so on,which all reflect the deepest concern and respect of children for their parents, and even after their parents have passed away, they are still able to respect and raise their parents. . (Ma Yaobin 2017:101) However, there are also some foolish acts of filial piety, such as Guo Ju's "burying his son for his mother"and Wang Xiang's "lying on ice for seeking carp for mother", which are either the loss of basic humanity or foolishness, and are not worth promoting. | ||
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| + | 3.The Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty | ||
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| + | During the Ming Dynasty, against the backdrop pf reinforced centralization of power and people’s confined minds, filial piety was advocated in a perverse way, and it was the darkest period of feudal culture. Luo Lun said in the Outline of Principle of Feudal Moral Conduct(《扶植纲常疏》): "孝者,天之经也,地之义也。国而非此不可以为国,家而非此不可以为家。’’(Filial piety is unalterable principle. Without it, the country can not be the country and home can not be home ) (Xiao Longhang 2006:9)There were many loyal subjects and many filial sons in the Ming Dynasty, but many of them were foolishly loyal and blind filial people under the dark rituals,which had a profound influence on later generations. | ||
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| + | The Qing dynasty, as a foreign regime, after entering the country to inherit the great unity, continuously learn the Han culture and also with the power of "filial piety" to rule, and the Kangxi emperor placed emphasis on the three principles and the five rules in which the "filial piety" was put in the first place. He believed that to rule the world, the emperor should respect the rule of filial piety. At the same time, the folk power also spared no effort to promote and publicize filial piety with the help of popular teaching materials, such as ''The Hundred Filial Piety Charts''(《百孝图》), which were widely disseminated until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republican period. (Yang Jianhai 2017:137) | ||
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| + | 4.In Modern Times | ||
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| + | In modern times, new reform and revolutionary forces have become increasingly critical of traditional filial piety, and南京临时政府《临时约法》( ''the Provisional Treaty'' enacted by the Nanjing Provisional Government) , completely ousting Confucianism, which had ruled China for a long time, making democratic thought the mainstream ideology of the democratic revolution. (Li Renjun 2010:42) | ||
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| + | The New Culture Movement (新文化运动)made an unprecedented rethinking of filial piety. In his essay ''Speaking of Filial Piety''(《说孝》), Wu Yu pointed out that "the original meaning of filial piety is to gratitude." It is a social virtue for children to care for their parents, but it is wrong to derive other morals from it while Chen Duxiu believed that the adverse effect of the patriarchal system, with its emphasis on filial piety was to exacerbate social inequality." Lu Xun, who was a master of ideas in establishing a new type of ethical relationship between parents and children during the New Culture Movement, believed that love and respect was the cornerstone of establishing a new type ideology between families, "To expand this love, one must understand and take the child as the principal; secondly to guide instead of commanding or chastising; and third, to liberate, so that the child becomes an independent person." (Xiao Qunzhong 2001:124) | ||
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| + | In short, during the New Culture Movement, these thoughts about the establishment of a new ethic of father-child relationship, which was consistent with the slogan of "democracy, science, advocating new morality and opposing old morality"at that time. (Li Renjun 2010:43)This new concept of "freedom and equality" also laid the ideological foundation for the establishment of new relations in modern times. | ||
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| + | 5.In Contemporary Times | ||
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| + | In contemporary times, people have begun to adhere to the Marxist and rethink the current development of filial piety and its practice in our country. In recent years, when the song "《常回家看看》''Come home often''" has entered thousands of households, filial piety has once again become a hot topic. People are beginning to rethink the idea of filial piety in the context of the new era, and general public is focusing more on the concern and reflection on parents' emotions. (Ma Yaobin 2017:102) | ||
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| + | ===Influence of Filial Piety on China=== | ||
| + | Filial piety has a long history as a traditional Chinese ethical culture and has a universal influence in society. Its strong power has played a great role in consolidating the centralized rule of feudal dynasties and stability of civil families in successive generations. (Li Renjun 2010:45) However, many of these views are feudal dregs that are having a negative impact on society. | ||
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| + | 1.Negative Influence | ||
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| + | In our history, the concept of filial piety has had many shortcomings. | ||
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| + | (1)Fool the People | ||
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| + | Traditional filial piety emphasizes the "three principles and five rules" to fool the people, just as Confucius said: "民可使由之,不可使知之"(With the people, we can only make them do what we want them to do, not why they want to do it). By propagating the idea of loyalty and filial piety and polarizing it, the people were made obedient and the ministers were made loyal, not thinking of rebellion and rarely rebelling. Wu Yu points out that “China has been turned into a big factory for the production of obedient people. Such is the great role of the word filial piety!" (Zhao Qing, Zheng Cheng 1985) | ||
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| + | (2)Inequality | ||
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| + | The relationship between ruler and subject, father and son in traditional filial piety and the resulting hierarchical concept lead to the inequality between people. Although it involves the idea of respecting the old and loving the young, it is always the "elders" that is absolutely dominant. (Xiao Longhang 2006:29) | ||
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| + | (3)Feudalism | ||
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| + | Filial piety that has been transformed by the ruling class and used to rule the people, should be criticized and discarded. The meaning and role of filial piety has been mystified, and myths and legends about filial piety being able to sense heavenly things have spread throughout the world. (Li Chunhua, Yu Dahai 2006:26) As a result, there were some extreme cases and some people did inhumane things, such as hurting themselves to benefit one's parents and kill one's son to support his mother, thus exerting a bad impact on history. | ||
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| + | (4)Conservativeness | ||
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| + | Persevere and unity can be said to be the basic spirit of Chinese filial piety. Filial piety emphasizes respect for ancestors and treating parents well, "三年无改于父道”(He didn't change his father's ways for three years), and respect and obedience to their parents and ancestors,and if not, they are regarded as "rebellious sons" and "black sheep" and are severely reprimanded. Moreover, it is very conservative and unequal, as the sons identify with their fathers and submit to them. (Xiao Qunzhong 2001;42 ) | ||
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| + | 2.Positive Influence | ||
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| + | Despite the many shortcomings of filial piety, we cannot deny the positive role it has played in our country's history: | ||
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| + | (1)Shaping the Character of People. | ||
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| + | Filial piety is the basis for establishing one's character. Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty said, "治身莫先于孝”(There is no better way to sahp one's character than by filial piety.) "夫孝,始于事亲,中于事君,终于立身”(Filial piety begins with serving one's relatives and ends with serving the king,Finally, it is the foundation of shaping one’s mind.)" The scope of falial piety no longer limited to the family, but a social cause. (Xiao Longhang 2006:28)The responsibility to parents and family constitutes an inexhaustible motivation for the ancient people to build their career and dedicate themselves to the country and the nation, which promotes social progress. | ||
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| + | (2)Promote Family Harmony | ||
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| + | Filial piety, that is the core foundation of family harmony. Our parents are the source of our life. The affection between children and parents is deepest, and filial piety is the fundamental of being a human being. "睦于父母之党,可谓孝矣”If you are good to your parents, you can be considered filial" (Shen Shanhong 19895 ). Being filial to parents is conducive to improving family relations, creating a sense of wholeness and harmony in the family, and promoting the development of all members of the family. | ||
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| + | (3)Enriching Chinese Culture | ||
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| + | As traditional Chinese culture dominated by Confucian culture, with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism interlinked, filial piety is the mainstream of Confucianism, and also is found in Shi and Tao, and has contributed to the development of Shi and Tao culture. The Buddhist scriptures such as ''The Anthology of Hong Ming''(《弘明集》) and the Taoist scriptures such as ''Scripture of the Great Peace''(《太平经》)are also rich in filial thoughts. (Xiao Long Hang 2006:33)In addition, with the passage of time, filial piety gradually integrated into the fields of philosophy, literature, art, and folklore, playing an expanding role for the national culture. | ||
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| + | (4)Maintaining Social Stability | ||
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| + | “其为人也孝弟,而好犯上者鲜矣。不好犯上,而好作乱者,未之有也。”(It is rare to see the kind of person who is filial to his parents and loves his brother but likes to offend his superiors; it is even more rare to see the kind of person who does not like to offend his superiors but likes to rebel.)"“事亲者,居上不骄,为下不乱。”(Ning Yegao 1995)反之,“居上而骄,为下而乱则刑,在丑而争则兵。“(He who serves his parents is not proud when he is in a higher position, not disruptive when he is in a lower position, and not contentious when he is among the people. If you are proud in a higher position, you will perish; if you are disorderly in a lower position, you will be punished; if you are angry among the people, you will be attacked.)This kind of conduct, which has been honored for thousands of years, does have a deep meaning and a realistic role. Moreover, the value of filial piety does not lie only in loving one's relatives, as filial piety begins with loving one's parents and then moves on to love people and love society. Therefore, filial piety is conducive to social harmony. | ||
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| + | ===Comparison between Chinese and Western Filial Piety=== | ||
| + | Filial piety in both China and the West emerged with family, and its initial meaning is basically the same: filial to parents. (Lian Luxia 2012:) However, Chinese and Western filial piety are based on different geographical, political, economic, and cultural conditions, which influence the differences in the Chinese and Western understanding of the meaning of filial piety. | ||
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| + | (1) Differences in the Objects | ||
| + | In the feudal society, parents had absolute authority. After entering feudal society, Chinese filial piety culture developed from respect for parents at the family level to loyalty to the ruler at the social level. By promoting filial culture, feudal rulers were able to achieve their political indoctrination and feudal rule. In an environment that preached the combination of loyalty and filial piety, and the integration of family and ruling (Li Xiang, 2010:52), filial piety was even bound to people as a code of conduct in ancient patriarchal societies. | ||
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| + | In the West, the meaningful of filial culture at the social level is not significant, and its mainly refers to respect for parents. Unlike China, however, respect does not mean absolute obedience, and the West attaches more importance to the personal independence between parents and children, and it is more often reflected in the religious sphere. (Huang Shujuan 2021:190) | ||
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| + | (2)Differences Between Chinese and Western Family Ethics | ||
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| + | Confucius said, "事父母几谏,见志不从,又敬不违,劳而不怨。(Serve your parents, and if they are wrong, politely advise them. If you express your own opinion and your parents are unwilling to listen to it, you should still be respectful to them and not disobey them, and work for them without resentment.)" Chinese feudal society took filial piety as the fundamental of feudal rule. Influenced by Confucianism, parents and elders had absolute authority in the family, and filial piety was reflected in the attitude and behavior of children toward their parents. | ||
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| + | The West pursues equality and believes that all men are born equal, and that the relationship between children and parents is also equal. According to Rousseau, "The most primitive society, the only natural society, is the family; the son is dependent on the father only when his protection is needed, and once this need ceases, the natural union breaks down. Each becomes equally independent of the other." (Hu Yuanjiang, Chen Haitao, 2007:48) | ||
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| + | All in all, the differences between Chinese and Western attitudes to filial piety exist objectively, so in the face of this difference, one cannot simply judge it by good or bad and the two cultures in different countries are valuable treasures for all mankind. (Lian Lu Xia 2012:203) Today, the Chinese and Western cultures of filial piety are influencing each other and learning from each other because Chinese culture of filial piety shines with the light of humanity, while Western pension system is conducive to economic development. With the continuous development of globalization, western societies can learn from Chinese love and care for the elderly while in the face of social problems such as population aging, there should be more equal between Chinese elders and youngers. | ||
| − | + | ===Conclusion=== | |
| + | Filial piety has profoundly influenced the habits, psychological qualities and national spirit of our nation. According to Mr. Wei Yingmin, "filial piety is not only applicable to one society, one class or one era, but it is super-class or cross-era, and it is applicable in several eras" (He Naichuan 2002). | ||
| − | + | In the study of filial piety culture in China, we analyze the history of filial piety as well as its values and drawbacks. We can have a clearer understanding of filial piety, and then better take its essence and remove its dross. Traditional culture is to be traced and analyzed in order to inherit and innovate. | |
| − | + | Filial piety is not only an ethical requirement, but also a tool of the feudal rulers in history and in recent times, people have gained a deeper understanding of filial piety through the inheritance and renewal of traditional culture. Respect for elders is a need for human development, and traditional culture plays an important role in maintaining family relationships. At present, China vigorously promotes the core values of socialism, and a harmonious and stable society needs filial piety to play its positive role, so under the new situation, it is the mission to inherit and carry forward the reasonable part of traditional culture and actively explore a new way to deal with filial culture. | |
| − | + | ===Terms and Expressions=== | |
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===Questions=== | ===Questions=== | ||
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===Answers=== | ===Answers=== | ||
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| − | == | + | ==英语笔译 肖冬晴 Xiao Dongqing 202170081599== |
| − | <center> | + | <center>'''On Verbal Humour in Chinese Sketch Comedy from the Perspective of Violating Cooperative Principle'''</center> |
| − | <center> | + | <center>Xiao Dongqing</center> |
===Abstract=== | ===Abstract=== | ||
| − | + | As a common linguistic phenomenon, verbal humour is an important part of our daily communication. Grice’s cooperative principle is one of the major principle of pragmatics which is ubiquitous in people’s daily conversations. Therefore, it could provide a new perspective from which we analyse verbal humour. Chinese sketch comedy, also known as Chinese Xiaopin, is an art commonly performed by a group of comic actors or comedians presenting a series of short, amusing scenes called “sketches”. This thesis intends to work out the mechanisms of verbal humour in Chines sketch comedy from the perspective of violation of cooperative principle. It reveals in this special art form the violation of quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim as well as the manner maxim in the process of analysing and proves that the violation of cooperative principle could avoid taking verbal humour at face value and arouse deeper thinking about this topic. | |
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===Key words=== | ===Key words=== | ||
| − | + | Verbal humour; Chinese sketch comedy; cooperative principle | |
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| + | ===Introduction=== | ||
| + | Humour plays an important role in people’s daily conversations. As a kind of lubricant of verbal communication, it creates an easy and comfortable environment, provides a happy and relaxing atmosphere and helps bring interlocutors closer. Researches and studies on this topic at home and abroad could date back to as early as the 4th century B.C. when the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan composed “There in front of me remains nothing but vastness and silence(眴兮杳杳,孔静幽默)” in his masterpiece ''The Nine Elegies'', meaning vastness. | ||
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| + | However, the “humour” this paper talks about is the one transliterated by Lin Yutang. At home, researches on humour have greatly progress since the 1980s. Li Lanping (2002) believes that there are intrinsic connections between the principles in pragmatics and the triggering of humour. She discussed the relationship between the two parts under the guidance of the basic principles of pragmatics and the theory of conversational implicature. Yang Ting (2020), on the other hand, analysed the linguistic phenomenon of humour to further decipher the mechanism of it from the perspective of phonetics, semantics, pragmatics, contexts, figures of speech and logic of languages respectively. Ge Lingling (2011) focused on the translation of humour texts from the perspective of verbal humour so as to figure out the translation pattern of texts of this kind. | ||
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| + | Abroad, researches on humour are multidisciplinary, involving anthropology, psychology, sociology, linguistics, semiotics and artificial intelligence which are ultimately centred on superiority theory, release theory and incongruity theory. For instance, Charles Gruner explained that wonder is an essential element of humour and that there is always a “winner” and a “loser” in humourous contexts. Freud the representative figure of release theory analysed the mechanism of humour from the perspective of psychoanalysis and divided jokes into intentional ones and unintentional ones(Cai Hui, Yin Xing, 2005:5). Kant was said to be the first to denote humour from the perspective of incongruity theory who pointed out that humour comes from a sudden twist from expectation and the inaccessibility of it(Cai Hui, Yin Xing, 2005:5). | ||
| − | + | There are studies concentrating on the mechanism of humour in comedy. For example, Dang Fengxiao and Cheng Xiongyong(2021) studied on the humourous language in sketch comedy from the perspective of speech act theory while Wei Ya'e studied the sketch comedy presented by Mahua Funage using logic rules. Looking across the border, Adesoye Ronke Eunice (2018) investigated humour and how it is achieved using phonological processes. Parashar Poorva and Tewari Paul (2020) analysed the humour in The Lonely Island and tried to work out its essence as well as how absurdism and stupid comedy provides insight into millennial and internet psychology. Alex Clayton (2020) studied humour from the perspective of rhetoric through vivid, highly readable analyses of individual sketches. | |
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| − | + | From all the above, it’s clear that the studies on humour are basically centred around linguistics, literature and figures of speech while researches abroad are involved with more disciplines ranging from anthropology to AI. What’s worth mentioning is that although humour was first brought forward in China, researches on this topic went through a far longer history in the west which could date back to the ancient Greek times. Meanwhile, researches on verbal humour in Chinese sketches are rare. Therefore, it’s necessary to work further on this subject. This thesis will adopt the cooperative principle to analyse the relationship between verbal humour in Chinese sketches and the violation of the principle in which the theoretical basis of cooperative theory, its classification as well as the detailed analysis of its four kinds of violation in Chinese sketch comedy will be covered. | |
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| − | === | + | ===Cooperative Principle=== |
| − | + | Conversational implicature as the core principle of pragmatics theory was first proposed by Oxford philosopher Herbert Paul Grice. Grice noticed that in daily conversations people do not say thing directly but tend to imply them. He believes that there is some regularity in conversation. “Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. They are characteristically, to some degree at least, cooperative efforts; and each participant recognizes in them, to some extent, a common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepted direction.”(Herbert Paul Grice, 1975:45) In other words, we seem to follow some principle like the following: “make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”(ibid.) And this principle is known as COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE, or CP for short. | |
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| − | + | To further specify the CP, Grice introduced four key categories of maxims, namely quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim, each of which contains several specific maxims and sub-maxims. In simple terms, quantity maxim is to be informative, quality maxim is to be truthful, relation maxim is to be relevant and manner maxim is to be clear. These describe specific rational principles observed by people who follow the cooperative principle in pursuit of effective communication. Therefore, applying the maxims is a way to explain the link between utterances and what is understood from them. | |
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| − | + | Yet the use of terms such as “principle” and “maxims” does not mean that the CP and its maxims will be followed everywhere. Despite the wide use of CP in daily conversations, people would more often than not violate these principles in actual communication. When basic communication is interfered, it’s common for people to notice the violation of CP. As a result, the hearer has to make efforts to figure out the implicature so as to understand what the speaker means. Conversational implicature, in fact, is the direct cause of humour. Speaker only violates CP to achieve a sense of humour when the hearer manages to interpret the conversational implicatures under the surface and enjoys the pleasure brought by humour. | |
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| − | + | ===Chinese Sketch Comedy=== | |
| − | + | Chinese sketch comedy first gained popularity after the Spring Festival Gala in 1984 when comedian Chen Peisi presented “eating noodles” on stage with his partner Zhu Shimao. Since then, this art form embodying acting and setting on stage sprung up like mushrooms across China and underwent refinement after years of development. Famous sketch comedians include Chen Peisi, Zhao Benshan, Fan Wei, Guo Da, Pan Changjiang, Song Dandan and so forth. The advent of the millennial witnessed the flourishing of this artistic form in which passionate performances of the younger generation, with Shen Teng, Ma Li, and Jia Ling taking the lead, engaged with great enthusiasm and produced a series of humourous yet educational works. | |
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| − | + | '''3.1 Historical origin''' | |
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| + | Chinese Sketch comedy got its name from art schools and performing groups. In the performing art community, the single or group performance which creates a simple scene through body and language is dubbed as “sketch comedy”, an event originally adopted to examine the basics of students of performing arts when teachers threw a topic during an interview and students were required to respond to that on the spot. | ||
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| + | As a form of performance about small things in people's daily lives, Chinese sketch comedy has inherited qualities, and developed from other forms of comedy, such as stage play, xiangsheng, errenzhuan and comic drama and is generally believed to originate in the 1980s. Normally, sketch comedy revolves around just one topic, but with a lot of action and lively language. With the help of the promotion by the annual Spring Festival Gala, Chinese sketch comedy became a very popular artistic form in China. The first sketch comedy in China was“eating noodles” (in 1984) which was performed by Chen Peisi. Classic Chinese sketch comedy includes “Blind Date” performed by Zhao Benshan and Huang Xiaojuan in 1989, “The Adventures of Migrant Worker” led by Gong Hanlin and Zhao Lirong in 1996 and “Selling Crutches” by Zhao Benshan and Fan Wei in 2001, etc. Famous comedy groups in operation are DEYUNSHE initiated by Guo Degang, Mahua FunAge best known for its member Shen Teng, Big Bowl Entertainment led by Jia Ling, Zhao Benshan and his students, and Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture started by Li Dan, in which Mahua FunAge, Big Bowl Entertainment and Xiaoguo are still active on screen taking up sketch comedy, the Zhao’s team play “partially” for its fans in China’s northeast and DEYUNSHE mainly focus on passing on crosstalk to the next generation for the audience. | ||
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| + | '''3.2 Features of Chinese Sketch Comedy''' | ||
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| + | Chinese sketch comedy is sharp and witty, with simple plots, which represents as the most fundamental character that distinguish itself from other forms of art and performance. It may not be as sophisticated as other stage performances such as drama and opera, but it is able to render to its audience wisdom and thought-provoking perceptions based on its witty dialogue wrapped up in humour. | ||
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| + | Chinese sketch comedy is also an art form that is highly narrative. As many of the topics are directly taken from the life of the people living in the grassroot, it appeals to all ages and entertains people from all works of life. Stories are the fundamental part of sketch comedies which are presented by the characters and the development of the plot interwoven with hookers of suspense, surprise and sudden changes. | ||
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| + | Laughter is what sketch comedy aims to achieve ultimately. As the embodiment of stage play, xiangsheng, errenzhuan and comic drama, the modern sketch comedy manages to give the strengths of the artistic forms into full play with the help of modern technology, throwing humourous verbal “packages” consecutively and smoothly to the audience in the hope of eliciting ecstasy from them. | ||
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| + | After giving a brief explanation of the theoretical basis and development of Chinese sketch comedy, the following chapter is to elaborate and exemplify the mechanism of humour in specific cases from the perspective of violation of CP in its four key categories, namely the violation of quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim. | ||
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| + | '''3.3 Classifications of Chinese Sketch Comedy''' | ||
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| + | Chinese sketch comedy could be divided into different types with different names in accordance with the changing measurements. For example, from the size and scale of the art, Chinese sketch comedy could be classified into two types: multi-act ones and one-act ones. When looked from the perspective of the era of its theme, it could be divided into historical and modern ones. However, if it is categorised according to the effects of its artistic expressions, there are three kinds of Chinese sketch comedies, namely tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy. | ||
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| + | ===An Overview of Cooperative Principle Violation in Chinese Sketch Comedy=== | ||
| + | As the kind of sketch comedy presented on stage are plenty, the cases this thesis is to select and analyse are mainly to taken from the ones presented by Mahua FunAge and Big Bowl Entertainment. Here is the detailed analysis of the comic dialogues: | ||
| − | + | '''4.1 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Quantity Maxim''' | |
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| − | + | Quantity maxim requires that the contribution is as informative as required. In other words, the contribution should not be more informative than is required. However, this maxim is often violated in daily conversation when too much or incomplete contributions are made, which is especially common and humourous when it comes to sketch comedy jokes. For example: | |
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| − | + | Hao Jian: Oh my god! Are you feeling alright? Where did you hurt? | |
| − | + | The old lady (lying on the road groaning): Oh, my elbow! Oh, my kneecaps! And my waist! None of them are painful! | |
| − | + | The example above is taken from “To Help or not to Help”(《扶不扶》) in the Spring Festival Gala in 2014. In the opening part of the comedy, Hao the biker was intended to get his broken bike repaired after a car accident. On the way to the repair shop, an old lady with memory problems accidentally slipped on the ice and fell at the back of his bicycle, mistaking him to be the one who knocked her down. In this dialogue, the old lady was expected to answer where was painful. However, she adopted a funny “elimination” method carrying a bunch of irrelevant body parts as her reply. By creating a surprise contrary to what most of the audience would tend to presume, conversations of this kind produce a comic effect by violating quantity maxim. | |
| − | + | Here is another case taken from “Making Friends”(《投其所好》) played in 2015: | |
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| − | + | Official: Is it true that you loved playing ping-pong in your spare time at your department? | |
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| − | + | Hao Jian(interrupts): I apologise. It was me being too playful. I now see that I was wrong and I swear that I’ll never play ping-pong again! If I were to commit it again, I would have my hands cut…… | |
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| − | + | This satirical sketch comedy focused on the social phenomenon of “making friends” through bribery in order to get things done. In the part mentioned, what the official intended to do was to persuade Hao to practise more and try to be proficient in table tennis so as to flatter the new boss. However, Hao misunderstood the official. Instead of giving a “yes” or “no” to the question, he added up many remarks and even made an oath. It was the violation of quantity maxim in his clumsiness that made this part of acting hilarious. | |
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| − | + | '''4.2 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Quality Maxim''' | |
| − | + | Quality maxim requires the interlocutors to be sincere and talk about true things. It has two sub-maxims, namely “do not say what you believe is false” and “do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.” But in real life, this maxim is also often violated by people who tries not to hurt other people’s feelings or who with special intensions. Here is an example from “The Real and Fake Teacher”(《真假老师》) made its debut on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in 2018: | |
| − | + | Teacher: Nice to meet you, Madam, I’m Xiaoming’s head teacher, Ms Jia. | |
| − | + | Cleaner: You too! I’m Xiaoming’s mother, Jia (the surname ‘Jia’ and fake are homophones in Chinese. Here the cleaner accidentally blurted it out). | |
| − | + | Teacher: Excuse me? | |
| − | + | Cleaner: I mean, my family name’s also Jia. | |
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| − | + | Teacher: But I remember Xiaoming’s parent is called Wang Guixiang(apparently a girl’s name)… | |
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| − | + | Cleaner: And that’s his father. | |
| − | + | Teacher: Zhang Xiaoming actually had a father named Wang Guixiang? | |
| − | + | Cleaner: You see, we are from a quite complicated family… | |
| − | + | In China, it is a tradition to name the child after the surname of one of the parents, normally that of the father. In this example, the cleaner tried to make a cover-up for her accident alleging the girlish name Wang Guixiang(meaning the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus) which has nothing to do with Xiaoming’s last name, belongs to the boy’s father. By stating consciously something fake one after another, the cleaner created a sense of humour. | |
| − | + | Here is another example violating quality maxim from “Happiness of Today”(《今天的幸福》): | |
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| − | + | Wife: Tell me a little bit about your father please, baby. | |
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| − | + | Hao Jian: My dad is a huge success in the future! You know what, he even gets his name on the ''Fordes'' list! | |
| − | + | Husband (poking Hao, whispering): It’s Forbes! | |
| − | + | Hao Jian: Oh, right! Forbes made it later, too. Yet he still can’t hold a handle to my dad… | |
| − | + | "Happiness of Today" was a sketch comedy inspired by the time-travelling drama and TV series such as “Palace”(《宫》) and “Treading on Thin Ice”(《步步惊心》). In this scene, Hao Jian was asked to play the son of the wife of his friend who travelled all along from the future back to the present to reassure the “mother” who’s in labour and mitigate her prenatal syndrome. In this example, Hao Jian was making up something that was clearly not true to humour his pregnant “mother”. What made this dialogue even more funny was his lack of knowledge about the “Forbes list” and the clumsy cover-up he made after correct hints from his partner. | |
| − | + | '''4.3 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Relation Maxim''' | |
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| − | + | Relation maxim is not only one of the most important maxims of the pragmatics theory, but also a protocol with which should be complied by all. It requires speakers to talk about things which are relevant to the topics. Violation of this maxim could bring about humour as well. The following examples are also taken from the sketch comedy “The Real and Fake Teacher”: | |
| − | + | Xiaoming: You see, I am a high school student. Recently I have made some mistakes at school and my teacher is about to conduct a home visit. But the thing is, my parents are currently working abroad and I’m afraid my teacher be here at any minute, so I was wondering if you could, er, wow, that’s a little embarrassing… | |
| − | + | Cleaner: Oh, I see. When will she arrive? | |
| − | + | Xiaoming: She’ll be here at 10:00. | |
| − | + | Cleaner: I’ll finish my job at 9:50 sharp. | |
| − | + | In this example, what the student meant was to ask the cleaner to pretend as his mother so that there would be a parent present for the coming home visit. However, the cleaner misunderstood him and gave an irrelevant reply to the request. In this way, humour was generated. | |
| − | + | Here is another example taken from this episode concerning the violation of relation maxim: | |
| − | + | Teacher: You see, school education won’t do without the help of family education. After all, family is the place where goodness starts. These are the words of the famous educator Sukhomlynsky. I’m sure you must know about him, don’t you? | |
| − | + | Cleaner: Eat… eat an apple, please. | |
| − | + | In this case, the teacher quoted a motto from Sukhomlynsky, an influential educator from the Soviet Union to remind the “mother” the important role family and family education plays in a child’s development. However, the cleaner obviously had no idea of the educator and didn’t know how to respond. To avoid awkwardness and break the silence, she had only to hand the teacher an apple and divert her attention. In doing so, laughter was elicited from her irrelevant behaviour. | |
| − | + | '''4.4 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Manner Maxim''' | |
| − | + | Unlike the three maxims above which focus on the contents conveyed in the process of talking, manner maxim mainly concentrates on the way how things are expressed. Its sub-maxims include to avoid obscurity of expression, to avoid ambiguity, to be brief and to be orderly. But this maxim is often violated in real life, too. Below is an example taken form the comedy “Happiness of Today” (《今天的幸福》) presented in the Spring Festival Gala in 2012: | |
| − | + | Wife: My dear, what do you do then? | |
| − | + | Hao Jian: (to the husband, whispering) Ah? Daddy, I don’t think we talked about this before … | |
| − | + | Husband: Never mind. Just make up one! As if your mother were a master of the names of jobs. | |
| − | + | Hao Jian: I scrub (the husband poking him)…wash…bathe…I study the epidermis of human beings! | |
| − | + | Wife: Oh, you are a doctor then! | |
| − | + | Hao Jian: You see, I specialise on ''dirt-ology''. | |
| − | + | In this comedy, Hao was actually a bather whose main job was to help scrub and wash the dirt off the customers in a public bathhouse. When his “mother” asked him about his job, he described it in an obscure way and even coined a term to sound more professional. His words apparently violated the manner maxim, yet it is the obscurity that made the dialogue funny. | |
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| − | + | The second example in this section is another one taken from “The Real and Fake Teacher” about job inquiry: | |
| − | + | Xiaoming’s father: What on earth do you do, Miss? | |
| − | + | Teacher: Well, I can tell you with great proud that I am a gardener! | |
| − | + | Xiaoming’s father: Gardener? Then why don’t you water the flowers outside right away? | |
| − | + | The mechanism of humour in this example works a little bit differently from the one mentioned in the first place. Instead of using some obscure term to explain what she does, the real teacher Ms Jia selected the word “gardener” with dual meanings to make a self-introduction. Apparently, the package proved to be a success regarding Xiaoming’s father’s misunderstanding. | |
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| − | + | Here is another example taken from Jia Ling’s autobiographical sketch comedy “Hi, mom!” (《你好,李焕英》)debuted on the stage of “Comedy General Mobilisation”(《喜剧总动员》) in 2016. “Hi, mom!” was a play in which the heroine Jia Ling travelled through space and time to the 1980s to spend some time with her mother who had passed away in a car accident in the 21st century. In the prologue where the two heroines made their first appearance, here comes their dialogue: | |
| − | + | Li Huangying: Come on, go inside and stay a while with your grandma! | |
| − | + | Jia Ling: I can’t! | |
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| − | + | Li Huanying: What do you mean you can’t? She loves you a lot! How could you say such hurtful things? | |
| − | + | Jia Ling: Because she can’t stop sewing my ripped trousers! | |
| − | + | In the example above, Jia used ambiguity in her reply to her mother’s question. It was not until the viewers watch further that they found out why the granddaughter would be so reluctant when it comes to her grandma’s sewing trousers, an act that was supposed to seem loving and caring----it was about the contradiction in aesthetic taste between generations. In this way, Humour comes along with the explanation. | |
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===Conclusion=== | ===Conclusion=== | ||
| − | + | Humour plays an important part in people’s daily conversation which conveys abundant cultural connotations. Grice’s cooperative principle as the core of pragmatics, is also a guiding principle according to which people converse. Once CP is violated, pleasure in humour which comes along with it could be felt. As an artistic form playing an important role in modern China, Chinese sketch comedy has been entertaining its audience of all ages with its funny plots and packages embedded in verbal humour. This thesis selected the sketch comedy performed by Mahua FunAge and Big Bowl Entertainment on the stage of Spring Festival Gala as its corpus and studied the mechanism of verbal humour under the guidance of Cooperative Principle. It has been found that to a large extent, it is the violation of quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim that generated the humour in sketch comedy. As an integral part of Chinese sketch comedy, verbal humour was created through constant violation of Cooperative Principle and its maxims. | |
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| + | However, limitations are inevitable as a result of time and the limited knowledge of the writer. Moreover, as the theories on linguistics are becoming increasingly abundant, analysis about verbal humour should be made from different perspectives and with diversified texts as well. Only through this process could verbal humour and its mechanism be further understood and Cooperative Principle further applied in research and studies. | ||
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===References=== | ===References=== | ||
| − | [ | + | *Adesoye Ronke Eunice (2018). Phonological distortion as a humorous strategy in Folarin Falana’s comedy skits[J]. The European Journal of Humour Research, 6(4): 60-74. |
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| − | [ | + | *Clayton , A. (2020). Funny How? Sketch Comedy and the Art of Humor. Horizons of Cinema, State University of New York Press. |
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| − | + | *Dang Fengxiao,Cheng Xiongyong (2021). Analysis of Humorous Speech Act in the Skit Help or Not Help[J]. International Journal of Education and Management, 6(1). | |
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| + | *Grice, H.P.(1975). ''Logic and Conversation''[M]. New York: Academic Press. | ||
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| + | *Parashar Poorva, Tewari Parul (2021). Locating humour in Absurdism and comedy in millennial humour[J]. Comedy Studies, 12(1): 65-74. | ||
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| + | *Yao Xiaomin, Song Liya.Verbal(2019). Humour in English Jokes from the Perspective of Violation of Cooperative Principle[J]. Harbin: Northeast Forestry University. | ||
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| + | *Cai Hui, Yin Xing 蔡辉, 尹星. (2005). 西方幽默理论综述研究[A Review of Western Humour Theory]. 外语研究Foreign Language Research(01):5-8+15. | ||
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| + | *Ge Lingling 戈玲玲. (2011). 论幽默文本中本源概念的翻译模式——基于汉英双语平行语料库的研究[On the Pattern of Translating Alien Sources in Humourous Texts—— A Study Based on a Chinese-English Bilingual Parallel Corpus]. 外语学刊Foreign Language Research(01):117-122. | ||
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| + | *Hu Zhuanglin 胡壮麟. (2017). 语言学教程[Linguistics: A Course Book]. Beijing: Peking University Press北京: 北京大学出版社. | ||
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| + | *Li Lanping 李兰萍. (2002). 语用原则与英语幽默[On Pragmatic Principles and English Humour]. 天津外国语学院学报Journal of Tianjin Foreign Studies University(02):32-36. | ||
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| + | *Wei Ya’e 魏亚娥. (2022). 幽默的产生与逻辑规律的违反——以沈腾春晚小品为例[The Generation of Humour and the Violation of Logic Law -- A case Study of Shen Teng's Spring Festival Gala]. 今古文创 JinGu Creative Literature(02): 95-97. | ||
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| + | *Xu Jie, Zeng Xianmo 徐洁, 曾贤模. (2020). 以言致笑——从言语行为理论视角解析小品《扰民了您》中的幽默[Laughter through Words -- An Analysis of Humour in You Are Disturbing from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory]. 汉字文化Sinogram Culture(23):22-24. | ||
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| + | *Yang Ting 杨婷. (2020). 认知视角下的言语幽默分析——以“生活大爆炸”为例[An Analysis of Verbal Humour from a Cognitive Perspective: A Case Study of ''The Big Bang Theory'']. Shaanxi: Shaanxi Normal University陕西师范大学. | ||
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===Terms and expressions=== | ===Terms and expressions=== | ||
| − | + | Chinese sketch comedy 小品 | |
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| − | + | Cooperative Principle 合作原则 | |
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| − | + | quantity maxim 数量原则 | |
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| − | + | quality maxim 质量原则 | |
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| + | relation maxim 关系原则 | ||
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| + | manner maxim 方式原则 | ||
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| + | Spring Festival Gala 春节联欢晚会 | ||
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| + | packages “包袱” | ||
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| + | sweet-scented osmanthus 桂花 | ||
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===Questions=== | ===Questions=== | ||
| − | + | 1. What are the maxims of Cooperative Principle? | |
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| − | + | 2. What’s the name of the first sketch comedy in China? | |
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| + | 3. How do you categorise Chinese sketch comedy? | ||
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===Answers=== | ===Answers=== | ||
| − | + | 1. There are four maxims in total, namely quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim. | |
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| − | + | 2. The first sketch comedy in China is “eating noodles” played by Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao in 1984. | |
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| − | + | 3. Chinese sketch comedy could be divided into different types with different names in accordance with the changing measurements. For example, from the size and scale of the art, Chinese sketch comedy could be classified into two types: multi-act ones and one-act ones. When looked from the perspective of the era of its theme, it could be divided into historical and modern ones. However, if it is categorised according to the effects of its artistic expressions, there are three kinds of Chinese sketch comedies, namely tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy. | |
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| − | == | + | ==英语笔译 肖佳莉 Xiao Jiali 202170081600== |
| − | + | <center>'''The Various Schools of Thought and Their Exponents During the Period from Pre-Qin Times'''</center> | |
| − | + | <center>Xiao Jiali</center> | |
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| − | + | ===1.Abstract=== | |
| + | The hundred schools of thought are the general name of various academic schools in the pre-Qin period. Among them, the three most influential schools are Laozi, Confucius and Shang Yang, and their views are different. The period from the sixth century BC to the third century BC, that is, the Spring and Autumn and warring States period, was the rejuvenation period of all schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. This period basically laid the foundation of Chinese traditional culture or Sinology, and there has been almost no major breakthrough since then. In this article, we divide the content of the paper into three parts, and respectively discuss the thought and background of Laozi, Confucius and Shang Yang, as well as their characters, and compare the differences and reasons between them. Through the above analysis to emulate the predecessors to face the reality, put forward new problems, put forward new ideas, and open up a channel for our future survival. | ||
| − | === | + | ===Key words=== |
| − | + | The Various Schools of Thought; The Period from Pre-Qin Times; Laozi; Confucius; Shang Yang | |
| − | === | + | ===2.Introduction=== |
| − | + | There is an interesting phenomenon that between the sixth century BC and the third century BC, a group of thinkers who established early human civilization appeared in various parts of the world. For example, Confucius and Laozi in China, such as Sakyamuni in India, and a group of scholars represented by Isaiah who created the text of the Bible in the ancient Jewish state, such as ancient Greece from Thales to Aristotle. We will find that around the sixth century BC, the birth of human civilization in various parts of the world coincided with the emergence of a group of thinkers, known as the Axis Age. | |
| − | + | Why did this happen? | |
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| − | + | The writing purpose of this paper is not only to review the path of the development of ancient ideas, but also to let everyone know that when you are faced with a social transformation, a major social confusion is constantly spreading and the amount of information is increasing,how do you follow the example of your predecessors to face the reality, ask new questions and put forward new ideas. | |
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| − | === | + | ===3.Background of the genesis of the hundred schools of thought=== |
| − | + | The pre-Qin period is the first great social transformation of Chinese society, we open our horizons, it is actually the first great social transformation of all mankind. How to transform? It took a long time to transform from the way of gathering and hunting to the civilized way of agriculture and animal husbandry. The early days of agricultural civilization was only a marginal supplement to the hunting way of life. By around 600 BC, the civilization of agriculture and animal husbandry was fully mature, and the semi-agricultural and semi-industrial and commercial civilization of ancient Greece around the Mediterranean was also mature. | |
| − | + | Therefore, the axis age of the world has three major characteristics. First, the first great social transformation of Chinese society took place in this period; second, this is the mature period of the first civilization of all mankind; third, this is the dazzling period of the sprout of industry and commerce in ancient Greece, and these three come together into an axis era. The pre-Qin era in China is the branch and manifestation of this axis era in East Asia. | |
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| − | + | So why has this era become a platform for many thinkers to think? There are three reasons. | |
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| − | + | First, there are a lot of problems in social transformation, which is a confused exploration and inquiry. As we all know, in the period of human social transformation, the complexity of social structure presents many social and survival problems that human beings have never seen and never happened before, and these problems will make human beings face great confusion at that time. Thinkers seek answers on the basis of this confusion. Therefore, the perplexity period is a hotbed for the birth of a new culture. Therefore, when faith is broken and confused, we should not think that it is just a bad thing, it indicates that another crop of new culture and new ideas is about to happen. | |
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| − | + | Second, the complexity of survival increases, which is characterized by the increase of the cost of survival, the more difficult and dangerous survival, and the more complex survival structure. In this case, the amount of information is soaring, so people have to face the new survival structure and living environment, which is the second feature of the axis era and the pre-Qin era. | |
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| + | Third, the fragmented feudal system provides a relatively free and relaxed atmosphere. In the pre-Qin period, China was typical and the only feudal era. At this time, ancient Greece was a city-state culture, that is, a small political bloc. The feudal states were also common in Europe until the Middle Ages. Therefore, it provides some social conditions for freedom of thought. For example, Confucius, if he could not stay in Lu, he could travel around the world; In modern times, Descartes and Voltaire, if he could not stay in France, he could go into exile to other countries and develop his own thoughts. So the fragmented political structure of that era provided a relatively free and relatively relaxed cultural atmosphere. | ||
| − | + | As for the cultural differences between the East and the West. Ancient Greek philosophers and Chinese sages faced different problems.Because East Asia is a closed landform, and it is one of the three primitive farming bases of human beings, it is unable to exchange in industry and commerce, so it is the most typical and concentrated agricultural civilization in the world. Agricultural civilization immediately brought about a hundred-fold surge in population, so interpersonal and resource relations were particularly tense. | |
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| − | + | So people in the pre-Qin period in China had to apply their wisdom to the discussion of human relations and social issues. | |
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| − | + | And ancient Greece, because it was faced with a small Mediterranean, could obtain food through commercial exchange in North Africa and the near East, while the geographical conditions of ancient Greece were very poor, which forced them to develop a semi-agricultural and semi-industrial way of life. In addition, industrial and commercial civilization obtained resources across regions, so their interpersonal and resource relationships were less tense than in East Asia. Moreover, its social structure is relatively simple, and its social problems are not prominent enough. At the same time, industrial and commercial civilization needs innovation and the computing power of equipment manufacturing. It makes the ancient Greek philosophers devote their main energy to natural problems and logic in geometry. | |
| − | + | Therefore, in the face of a social transformation, it is inevitable to solve many problems, thus giving birth to great ideas. | |
| − | === | + | ===4.Different schools of thoughts=== |
| − | + | ===4.1The thought of Laozi=== | |
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| − | === | + | ===4.1.1The introduction of Laozi=== |
| + | The foundation of the whole thought of Sinology in China all took place in the pre-Qin period, that is, before Qin Shihuang unified China. Since then, China has hardly made any great achievements in the development of ideology and culture. With one exception, Indian Buddhism was introduced into China in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the pre-Qin period, the person with the highest thought was Laozi, the first ancestor of pre-Qin thought. Laozi and Confucius have a teacher-apprentice relationship. Confucius left a comment on this teacher: "I see Laozi today, just like seeing a dragon." This is the famous saying of Yulong. When I saw Laozi today, I finally knew what the dragon looked like. | ||
| − | + | At that time, Laozi kept the history books in the Zhou Dynasty, which was equivalent to the “National Division”. He was the consultant of all the knowledge of the royal family and princes of the Zhou Dynasty, and he was the highest representative of the national culture. It is said that in the 22nd year of Lu Zhaogong, that is, 520 BC, a major event happened. Due to the issue of succession to the throne, more than a dozen children fought for the throne and serious royal infighting broke out. The civil war lasted for more than a decade, and the prince finally failed. | |
| − | + | It is said that he fled to the State of Chu with a large number of Zhou royal books. And Laozi, a historian of the Zhou royal family, is equivalent to the current director of the National Archives Library. If all books and documents are taken away, Laozi will naturally lose his job, so Laozi resigned to travel around the world. This is what we say. It is recorded in the history books that Laozi is sometimes in Chu, sometimes in the State of Chen, and sometimes in the State of Song. Finally, Laozi returned to Qin and died in Shaanxi. This is the historical relics of Laozi. | |
| − | + | In order to understand Laozi's thought, we can only start with his Tao Te Ching. The morality of Laozi is very different from our literal meaning today. The book is divided into two volumes, the Tao volume, the outlook on the universe and nature, the moral volume, and the social outlook and outlook on life. Tao is the general law of the operation of heaven and earth, and virtue conforms to the Tao of heaven. The core of Taoism is weakness, and the core of moral theory is inaction. Laozi constantly criticizes that the development of human civilization is a process of deviating from the way of heaven and losing material morality. | |
| − | + | ===4.1.2The interpretation of Tao=== | |
| − | + | Laozi said, "Tao gives birth to one, one to two, two to three, and three to all things." This sentence means that Tao derives a chaotic state that even heaven and earth does not appear, chaotic state derives heaven and earth, heaven and earth derives animals, plants and people, animals and plants and people finally derive all things in the world, and all things refer to life and matter. This shows that Laozi believes that all things in heaven and earth evolved gradually. The concept of evolution existed until the 18th century, and it is unusual for Laozi to hold the idea that everything evolved from a family of things 2600 years ago. | |
| − | + | "Heaven is Tao, Tao is long" also expresses the difference between persistence and stability in this evolutionary sequence. Tao is persistent and stable. Therefore, Laozi believes that the stability of matter is gradually lost in the process of evolution. | |
| − | + | Then he said, "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and we regard all things as ruminant dogs. If saints are not benevolent, they will treat people as ruminant dogs. " The ruminant dog here is a dog that is only sacrificed with grass, referring to lowly things. It means that heaven and earth are not as fastidious as human civilization, and he treats all things equally and will not give special care to anyone. As a result, all things follow the trend and exist forever. Then the way of man should conform to the way of heaven, so the people who manage the world should do nothing, do not use civilization to derive too many tricks, this is against the way of heaven, it will only destroy the state of human existence. | |
| − | + | "it is as good as water, so it is like the way." Laozi uses figurative water to describe the natural way in which Heaven operates, and the best state is like water. Nourish all things without competing with them, and flow downward, in the lowest position and hated by all, which is closest to the Tao.As Liu Xiao dared to say: "the topic of 'Tao and nature' clearly marks the status of nature as the highest principle and the highest value, so its spirit permeates all aspects of Laozi's thought, without mentioning the word 'nature' everywhere.”(刘笑敢,1995) | |
| − | + | Laozi is criticizing that the competition pattern of human civilized society is contrary to the way of heaven. In the primitive gentile society, there was public ownership of property, and no private property, and there was no competition. After privatization, a fierce competition pattern was formed, and everyone strived for the top, so the world was in disorder and life was restless. But there is no such competitive pattern in the operation of heaven and earth. | |
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| − | + | "Heaven and Earth can not be long, and people are even less likely.” The most primitive derivative of heaven and earth can not be eternal, and how weak people are. ”the softest thing in the world can control the hardest thing in the world.”To be gentle, the weakest of course refers to human beings, but people can control things that are much stronger than we are. He found that the weakest human beings with a very low degree of existence have the ability to control objects with a very high degree of existence. | |
| − | + | Finally, the Taoist scroll summed up the word "weak", which appeared as many as 11 times in Laozi's text of 5000 words. | |
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| − | ===The | + | ===4.1.3The interpretation of Te=== |
| + | The original word of Te's oracle bone inscription is a person walking on a road with a fork , staring only at the front and moving forward wholeheartedly. In other words, to act in accordance with the way of heaven is virtue. Therefore, the morality mentioned by Laozi is not the same thing as the morality we are talking about. The general law of the operation of heaven and earth is Tao, and it is virtue to comply with the Tao of heaven.Virtue is a part of Tao.(张岱年,1982,24) | ||
| − | + | He added: “Follow the way all things run, do not have any superfluous action, means morality." He continued to criticize human beings: "when the Tao is lost, people attach importance to the promotion of virtue, when virtue is lost, people attach importance to the promotion of benevolence, then righteousness, and finally propriety." When we advocated virtue(means Te), we had already lost the Tao, so we began to talk about benevolence, and then we could not even protect the heart of benevolence, so we could only give handouts, and finally lost all Tao, virtue, benevolence and righteousness, and could only give etiquette. Etiquette is the summation of national political law and folk etiquette. It was only when we discarded all these that human civilization began the violent control of severe punishment and draconian laws.In other words, the rulers regulate the world with benevolence and righteousness, and people all over the world run for benevolence and righteousness, abandon their own nature and disguise themselves with benevolence and righteousness.(陈霞,2017) | |
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| − | + | Another sentence is also very clear: "A person with deep moral self-cultivation is like a newborn baby." only a baby born within 7 days is virtuous. Civilized people develop their own wisdom, form a highly intelligent group, release their greed, and constitute a competitive society. In fact, this is a process of deviating from the way of heaven and losing material morality. | |
| − | + | So what are we supposed to do? Laozi said: "to wear away people's sharpness, sharpness and edges, to extricate themselves from disputes, to blend into all phenomena of light, and to mix with the dust of the earth, the greatest is also the smallest. This is called subtle unity." It means that we should close our channels of facial features, do not accept too much external information, close the door of the spiritual world, and frustrate the great aspirations of civilization. Only in this way can we resolve disputes in civilized society. | |
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| − | + | Therefore, the center of Laozi's theory of morality(means Te) is this sentence: “There is nothing to do ." Virtue means walking along the way, and nothing else is needed. It can be summed up as the word "inaction". Inaction means opposing all civilized actions.If you do nothing, there is nothing that cannot be done. “有为”(means action) means that they cannot practice "Tao". Although they are always inseparable from virtue and fame, they are purposeful, purposeful, camouflage and deceptive.(陈霞,2010) | |
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| − | + | His ideal is to return to the primitive gentile society, the country is small and the people are few, even if they have advanced tools, the people value life and death and do not leave their hometown, and they are not bound by beliefs such as brave sacrifice. Even if there are cars, boats and weapons, no one uses them. People return to the simple state and enjoy the simplest happiness of life. Countries also return to the animal kinship society, wolves will eat sheep, but wolves will never eat wolves, the same kind will divide the territory of life, there will never be slaughter. To return to the uncivilized state of existence. “The country is smaller, the people are more stupid, the things are simpler, and the things are simpler." This is Laozi's real ideal. | |
| − | + | We all have a forward-looking perspective, and thinkers can make up for the backward perspective and mobilize our thinking to know the facts. The most important thinkers in the history of human thought, such as Laozi, Confucius, Plato and Rousseau, all expressed the tendency of anti-civilization. | |
| − | + | ===4.1.4The cause of the thought of Laozi=== | |
| + | Why did Laozi have such a reactionary moral theory and social view? | ||
| − | + | At that time, East Asian civilization was limited to the Central Plains, which was called the Central Plains civilization. He is surrounded by uncivilized people who don't have to reason logically. In the civilized Central Plains, interpersonal relations are tense, intrigues and wars are everywhere. Shang destroyed Xia, Zhou destroyed Shang, to the Spring and Autumn period, more than 180 vassal states became one, while looking around the primitive clan society, the uncivilized and uncivilized society was peaceful. | |
| − | + | Therefore, by comparison, Laozi can find that civilization is a disaster and the trend of civilization is bad. Laozi believes that all things in heaven and earth originally developed harmoniously like Tao, but human beings gradually deviated from Tao because of their pursuit of selfish desires, resulting in conflicts between man and nature, man and society, man's body and mind and so on.(黎千驹,2022:93-101)In Laozi's text, his view of reactionary society is expressed very clearly. Many ancient thinkers held a critical attitude towards civilization, because civilization was only a small seedling at that time, they could see the whole picture and development trend of civilization, and they could see that it was a process of disaster. This is the basic social view of the Chinese sages in the pre-Qin period. This was also the cause of the tone of conservatism in Chinese culture at that time, in which there was a far-reaching vision, which laid an important foundation for China's stable survival for more than 2000 years. | |
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| − | + | ===4.2The thought of Confucius=== | |
| + | Confucius and Laozi, although they are masters and apprentices, their cultural characters are diametrically opposed.Confucius is best reflected by a sentence in the Analects of Confucius, "knowing that it cannot be done". I know full well that I cannot do it, but I will still try my best to do it, expressing a cultural attitude of actively participating in social activities, which is summed up as "joining the world”. | ||
| − | the | + | And what about Laozi? His cultural character is extremely negative. The most representative are the words "do nothing but do nothing" in the Tao Te Cing, which means that tough I did nothing but I have done everything, which is ridiculous. In fact, it means that Tao derives all things from heaven and earth, but does not see any superfluous action. Laozi is extremely negative , summed up as "born", born out of the world. This is why Sima Qian added a special sentence in the Biography of Laozi in Historical Records, calling for different ways to conspire against each other. It means that the Tao between Confucius and Laozi is different, although the two are master-apprentice. |
| − | + | ===4.2.1The characteristic of Confucius' theory: insipid=== | |
| + | Confucius and his Confucianism are almost the soul and benchmark of Chinese traditional ideology and culture, leading Chinese mainstream ideology for more than two thousand years. This is a situation that we can hardly see anywhere else in the world except religion. However, compared with Laozi, Confucius' theory is shallow and straightforward. Because Confucius is concerned with the real social and political problems, while Laozi is concerned with the ultimate problem. Therefore, Confucius' theory is very insipid. | ||
| − | + | In fact, the core of Confucius theory is that monarch and subjects, father and son. The first word is a noun and the second word is a verb. What he means is that the king should be like a gentleman, the minister should be like a minister, the father should be like a father, and the son should be like a son. The doctrine of Confucius is such a straightforward statement. Hegel said, he said, "Confucius' books are just full of old moral lessons." These are his exact words. He even said that it would be better not to translate his books, which would damage his glorious image. Obviously, there is a gap in Hegel's expectations of Confucius. The West was in a state of religious repression at that time. At that time, Westerners knew that there was an empire governing the country by virtue in the East, and its management model established social order on the basis of human ethics and morality, which was much milder than the suppression of human nature by the theocracy in the West. Therefore, they were extremely envious of the East, coupled with some untrue legends at that time, they thought that the East was extremely rich. Therefore, the western philosophers and academic and cultural circles at that time regarded China as the paradise of the East. | |
| − | + | ===4.2.2The features of Confucius' time=== | |
| + | 1. Confucius was born at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the phenomenon of national destruction occurred constantly, and the monarch was killed constantly. Only 43 cases were recorded in the history books in the past 255 years. And everything went haywire. There is no war between human beings and animals before civilization, and the struggle within the animal species only occurs during estrus for reproductive resources, and this is also an individual struggle. As soon as the outcome is divided, the struggle stops immediately. You don't want to kill each other, let alone a collectivized war. It is only after human civilization that brutal internal killings occur. | ||
| − | + | 2. In ancient times, there was no severe punishment and severe law, and the country was ruled by virtue. The clan tribal society has always maintained social stability with a soft moral system. Confucius said: "if we govern the people with government decrees and restrict them with penalties, they will be free from sins, but they will not feel it shameful to disobey the rule; if we rule the people with morality and bind them with etiquette, the people will not only have a sense of shame, but will correct their mistakes." If the society is managed by penalty, people will not touch the bottom line of the law in order to evade the punishment of the law, but there will be people to do anything that is not prohibited by law and no matter how immoral it is. Moral ties are no longer enough to maintain social stability, so they have to be regulated in a violent way. Confucius called it the collapse of etiquette and music. The more civilization develops, the more complex the society becomes, and it becomes extremely difficult to survive only with a simple heart in a highly complex society. | |
| − | + | 3. The characteristics of this period:Let's take a look at how the first great social transformation was carried out in the pre-Qin period from the economic, political and cultural aspects. Economically, with the rapid development of productive forces in the pre-Qin period, agricultural civilization tends to be stabilized, farming techniques are widely used, bronzes are widely used, and iron has appeared in farming tools. As we all know, in the early years of mankind, although agricultural civilization took place 8,000 or even 10,000 years ago, in the early thousands of years of agricultural civilization, the way of life of hunting was still dominant. Agricultural farming is still only an auxiliary part of human means of livelihood and food and food materials. | |
| − | + | When agriculture develops to a certain scale, the scope of land reclamation becomes larger and larger, and forest vegetation is pushed far away, human beings will completely return to agricultural civilization from the way of life of hunting and gathering civilization. Therefore, the full maturity of agricultural civilization requires large-scale population development, large-scale land reclamation, large-scale destruction of trees, and then people can not reach the forest. Only at this time can agricultural civilization be completely stable. Therefore, after thousands of years, China's agricultural civilization did not take shape until the Zhou Dynasty, and hunting and gathering became a secondary source of feed for life. Not only that, in the Spring and Autumn period, the sprout of industrial and commercial civilization appeared in China's agricultural civilization. With the development of agricultural civilization to a certain extent, due to the gradual complexity of agricultural production tools, a considerable number of products are made of non-agricultural products. The early production of non-agricultural products was done by the farmers themselves. Such as building houses, weaving cloth, and even making pottery, but with the further development of the division of labor, with the further complexity of people's lives, a large number of things cannot be completed by farmers, such as more complex and diverse pottery production, the smelting of bronze, the production of tools, all these things will cause the division of labor to appear in agricultural civilization. | |
| − | + | With the emergence of the division of labor, some people no longer work in agriculture, but only make certain products for use by others. We do not use this for our own use, but make it for use by others in exchange for goods. This product is called a commodity. As soon as the commodity appears, the exchange takes place. The exchange activity in the early years of mankind was barter, because there were very few kinds of goods. So if the variety of goods continues to increase, the other party does not need what you want to exchange, and you do not often have what the other party needs. Therefore, there is a need for some kind of unified scale of exchange and medium of exchange, also known as general equivalents, that is, such a commodity in which it can measure the value of any commodity, which is money. Therefore, the emergence of money marks the emergence of human exchange, or division of labor, or commodity economy, to a considerable extent. But in the pre-Qin period of China, money had already appeared. It indicates that China's agricultural economy matured on a large scale and the sprout of commodity economy has generally occurred in the pre-Qin period. | |
| − | + | Let's take a look at the political form. The authority of the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty has fallen, and the original feudal social ties have been lax. Not only that, the vassal states grew up, the activities of annexation of the world continued to occur, national annihilation events emerged one after another, international wars continued to occur, not only that, it unexpectedly appeared a major change in the form of social class. As we all know, the king of Jin in the Spring and Autumn period was rebelled by four important courtiers, namely, the famous Han, Zhao, Wei and Zhi families. At this time, a famous political figure named Zhao Wut appeared in the Zhao family. He announced the liberation of all slaves in Zhao and gave away 30 mu of land. at the same time, he announced to all countries in the Central Plains that if any slaves fled to Zhao from other countries, they would liberate their lives and give away land. Zhao Xiangzi's move led to the instant collapse of slavery in the land of China. Why? Because the idea that the people are precious is a typical feudal thought. That is, for any feudal lord, his best interest lies not in the size of his fief, but in the population of his fief. Because the greater the number of families and population, the greater his tax benefits. Therefore, Zhao Xiangzi liberated the slaves and he got the people. He got two major benefits. First, labor resources, the number of people; the second soldier. Therefore, this led to the liberation of slaves all over the surrounding countries, his citizens would flee, and slavery quickly disintegrated on the land of China. | |
| − | + | The pre-Qin period is the era in which Chinese traditional culture was fully formed. | |
| − | + | ===4.2.3Confucius theory=== | |
| + | The core of Confucius' theory is "monarchs and subjects, father and son". That is to say, Confucius used the most primitive blood social button to rectify the social structure of the super-blood unstable society. In rebuilding the order of the rule of etiquette, Confucius "did not extroversion to heaven and earth but introverted to the hearts of the people, and finally settled on 'benevolence’.”(余英时,2014) | ||
| − | + | And what is the consanguinity society? It means there is a difference in love. It has something to do with sociobiology. In the middle of the last century, biologists found that all living things and all animals live in social groups. Social biologists have found that the emotions and love of all animals are different. For example, parents love their children most strongly, followed by brothers and sisters. The cub state of any creature needs to be cared for by its elders, otherwise he will not survive. So emotionally, the relationship between parents and children is the heaviest, and then between children, followed by brothers and sisters. | |
| − | the | + | Human agricultural civilization took place in the era of consanguinity society. On every mu of land, we must work together and cultivate carefully in order to get enough food and clothing. This is the basic feature of agricultural civilization. The structure of consanguineous ethnic groups is the most readily available and favorable way to form this stable cooperation.Here we talk about benevolence at most, more than a hundred times.(李泽厚,2008) |
| − | + | ===4.3The thought of Shang Yang=== | |
| + | ===4.3.1The introduction of Shang Yang=== | ||
| + | The emergence of Legalism marks the retreat of Confucianism. With the high development of agricultural civilization to the pre-Qin and Spring and Autumn periods, the population has soared, class society has been divided, interpersonal relations and resource relations have gradually become tense, and the competition in human society has become increasingly fierce. It can even be said to be getting worse and worse, so the Legalists began to emerge, and the soft Confucianism withdrew. Legalist doctrine shows the darkness of human nature. | ||
| − | + | Shang Yang was the most representative figure of the Legalists, and he did a very successful thing. It was Shang Yang's reform that helped Qin realize the reform from the rule of virtue to the rule of law. Shang Yang was able to reform in the State of Qin, of course, the main credit went to Qin Xiaogong. At that time Shang Yang is only a guest minister, and he does not have any political influence in the State of Qin. And any reform must touch the interests of the original aristocratic interest groups in the State of Qin and cause the counterattack of the aristocratic groups. He relied entirely on Qin Xiaogong to bear it, so that Shang Yang could continue to reform. | |
| − | + | Shang Yang was very lucky. although Xiaogong was under great pressure and died of illness at the age of 44, he accompanied Shang Yang's reform for more than 20 years. As soon as Xiaogong died, Shang Yang was immediately retaliated by aristocrats. Although King Qin Huiwen, the next king, killed Shang Yang, it was not easy to solve the long-term accumulation of reform for Shang Yang. And King Huiwen of Qin was well aware of the effectiveness of the reform of Shang Yang, and continued the reform of Shang Yang. After the implementation of the later six kings, the government of the king of Qin finally unified the world, and from then on he was known as the first emperor. So we can say that thanks to the reform of Shang Yan, the king of Qin unified the world and became Qin Shihuang. | |
| − | + | Shang Yang's reform has two characteristics. First, it is determined to reform without regard for personal safety. Second, he pays no attention to the outside world. As we all know, the average politician must first be able to deal with personnel, but this is not the case with Shang Yang. Liang Qichao, the most famous scholar in the era of the Republic of China, once said that only six people in Chinese history could be called politicians, in other words, other people could only be called politicians, and one of these six politicians was Shang Yang. | |
| − | + | ===4.3.2Shang Yang's reform=== | |
| + | In the early days of the reform, he set up a large piece of wood at its south gate in the then temporary capital of the State of Qin, called Yueyang. Then tell anyone in the public that if you carry this wooden rafter from the south gate to the north gate, you will reward ten gold. Gold in the pre-Qin period was not gold but bronze, but a jin of wealth was equivalent to the total harvest of a peasant family in a year, and ten gold was equivalent to the total harvest of a thousand years of farmers, which was a great opportunity to make a fortune. However, all the people watched and laughed, thinking that the official words could not be trusted, because it was too strange, and it also showed that the credibility of the Qin government was not high. As soon as Shang Yang saw that no one was involved, he raised 50 gold. At this time, a young man came out. He said that I carried this piece of wood to the north gate. Even if the government lied to me, there would be no great loss. I would try to carry it over. So carrying the wood to the north gate, Shang Yang immediately rewarded fifty gold, and this man became rich instantly, which is the famous allusion of Qianmu Lixin. What is Shang Yang doing? he is telling the people of the Qin Dynasty that Shang Yang's reform is true. The fundamental spirit of Legalism is that the law is absolutely sacred and the government is not allowed to act outside the scope of the law.(梁启超,2015)Please abide by the law.We can see the wisdom of Shang Yang in practicing the law from this very small matter. | ||
| − | + | With regard to the detailed rules of Shang Yang's reform, we give a brief account of the main items. | |
| − | + | First, to force people to learn the lowest level of etiquette, this etiquette is not a Confucian culture, but to get rid of the barbaric wind and establish a modern social configuration at that time. | |
| − | + | Second, every citizen should be forced to have a legitimate job, and no one should be idle. What is the national occupation? Take measures to attach importance to agriculture, that is, to develop all the wasteland of Qin. Just like today's British princes are going to serve in the army for some time. Shang Yang stipulated that anyone, including the children of aristocrats and rich businessmen, who were idle, should be sent to the frontier to open up wasteland. From this we can see that Shang Yang's reform is the same as Wu Qi. If he wants to change the national policy, he must deal with the original political structure formed by the original aristocracy, which is of course a serious violation of the interests of the aristocracy. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | Third, he also stipulated that a family with two adult men must be separated. There are two benefits: increasing labor enthusiasm and taxes. The reason is that in the big family system in ancient China, everyone ate in a big pot, and because communism was practiced within the family, everyone had no enthusiasm for labor. No matter how much I put in, I will share it equally with everyone and distribute it according to needs, so my enthusiasm for labor is not high. When it comes to a legal society, we should establish a tax system. Tax is based on the family, if the family is large, the tax base is very weak. For these two reasons, Shang Yang's reform requires that any man must be separated once he is married as an adult. | |
| − | + | Fourth, reward farming. Qin people banned business, that is, the people of Qin were not allowed to do business, but only allowed to engage in agriculture. The income of commercial activities is much higher than that of agriculture, so China has adopted the national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce since ancient times to suppress businessmen, so where to deploy resources? Preferential treatment for foreign businessmen. That is, businessmen from other countries around the world will give preferential policies if they come to do business in the State of Qin. It is a bit like the situation in the early days of Deng Xiaoping's reform, which does not mean that we are advanced, but that we are similar to those of more than 2,000 years ago. Foreign businessmen went to Qin to do business to solve the problem of resource allocation, so they gave preferential policies to foreign businessmen, so the Qin people engaged in agriculture and foreign businessmen did business, forming an extremely reasonable national economic structure. | |
| − | + | Looking at Shang Yang's reform, the degree of Shang Yang's reform is no less than any revolution. It carries out reforms not only in the economic field, but also in the political field, and it even changes the state system, which used to be a feudal system and has since been an autocratic monarchy. It is not a general political reform, it is a fundamental change of the state system. This kind of thing can usually be accomplished only through revolution. Shang Yang's reform basically adopted the way of no bloodshed and non-violence, and completed this revolutionary reform. This is very rare in history, which is why Liang Qichao said that Shang Yang is one of the only six major politicians in China.Liang Qichao spoke highly of the theory of "rule of law" of ancient Chinese legalists represented by Shang Yang, and thought that "the theory of Legalists means that no matter whether they are wise or wise, they must act within the scope of the law. This is the essence of the theory. “(梁启超,2012) | |
| − | 5. | + | ===5.Conclusion=== |
| + | With regard to the hundred schools of thought, we discussed in detail the three major factions: Laozi, Confucius and Shang Yang. The writing purpose of this paper is not only to review the path of the ancients' thoughts, but also to let everyone know that when we are faced with a social transformation, a major social confusion and an increasing amount of information, how do we imitate our predecessors to face reality, put forward new problems and put forward new ideas? In this way, human beings will open up a channel for their future survival, which is the most important enlightening significance of this paper. | ||
| − | === | + | ===References=== |
| − | 1. | + | *[1] 黎千驹: 老子的人生哲学及其价值研究[J]. 贵州工程应用技术学院, 2022. |
| − | 2 | + | *[2] 刘笑敢: 《试论老子哲学的中心价值》[J],《中州学刊》1995年第 2 期。 |
| − | 3 | + | *[3] 陈霞: 《论道家道德哲学的几个特点》[J],《宗教学研究》2010 年增刊。 |
| − | 4 | + | *[4] 陈霞: 《道家哲学引论》[M],北京: 中国社会科学出版社,2017年,第132页。 |
| − | 5 | + | *[5] 张岱年: 《中国哲学大纲》[M],北京: 中国社会科学出版社,1982 年,第24页。 |
| − | + | *[6]余英时. 论天人之际:中国古代思想起源试探[M]. 北京:中华书局,2014. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | *[7] 李泽厚. 论语今读[M]. 北京:生活·读书·新知三联书店,2008:263. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | *[8] 万晓艳. 儒家文化与中华文化的碰撞与冲突[J]. 高等教育与研究, 2009(10). | |
| − | + | *[9] 梁启超.中国法理学发达史论[M].北京: 商务印书馆,2012. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | *[10]梁启超.先秦政治思想史[M].北京: 中华书局,2015. | |
| − | + | ===Terms and expressions=== | |
| + | *Confucius孔子 | ||
| − | + | *The axial age轴心时代 | |
| − | |||
| − | + | *Geometry几何学 | |
| − | + | *Sinology thought国学思想 | |
| − | + | *Tao Te Ching道德经 | |
| − | + | *Public ownership of property财产公有制 | |
| − | + | *Confucianism儒学 | |
| − | |||
| − | + | *Bronze Ware青铜器 | |
| − | + | ===Questions=== | |
| + | *1.What is the relationship between Confucius and Laozi? | ||
| + | *2.Which school does Shang Yang belong to? | ||
| + | *3.Is the thought of Laozi very positive? | ||
| − | === | + | ===Answers=== |
| + | *1.Confucius is a student of Laozi. | ||
| + | *2.Legalists. | ||
| + | *3.No,the thought of him is negative. | ||
| − | ''' | + | ==英语笔译 谢晓莹 Xie Xiaoying 202170081601== |
| + | <center>'''The Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera'''</center> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <center>Xie Xiaoying</center> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Abstract=== | ||
| + | Known as the quintessence of Chinese culture, Peking Opera is an intangible cultural heritage of China and the world with profound cultural heritage. Among the four basic skills of "singing, speaking, acting and combating" that Peking Opera emphasizes, "combating" is the highly artistic refinement of fighting scenes in daily life. The acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera have made great contributions to shaping the characters and enriching the plots, which has become a highly expressive and infectious dance language in Peking Opera performances. With a long history, it draws nourishment from the chivalry culture of ancient China, puts the traditional Chinese martial art culture on the stage, and develops distinguished artistic skills and aesthetic characteristics. Starting from the martial spirit and chivalrous culture of ancient China, this paper expounds the origin and development of acrobatic fighting in Beijing Opera, analyses the reasons of its significant place in Peking Opera based on its artistic techniques, and explores the development path of it in new era, so as to deepen people's understanding of the Peking Opera and carry forward the traditional culture of the Chinese nation. | ||
| + | ===Key words=== | ||
| + | acrobatic fighting; Peking Opera; martial spirit; chivalry culture; artistic techniques; inheritance and development | ||
| + | ===Introduction=== | ||
| + | Peking Opera is the most influential opera in China, with its center in Beijing and spread throughout the country. During its long artistic history, Peking Opera has continuously absorbed nutrients from the traditional Chinese culture and people’s daily life and developed into a magnificent flower in the opera garden (Zhang Yinhe 2013, 15). As the product of the merging in Peking of Anhui and Hubei opera styles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Peking Opera has a set of standardized forms of artistic expression in literature, performance, music, stage art and other aspects. There are four character roles in Peking Opera, that is, Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou, each with a set of performance procedures and distinctive skills in singing, speaking, acting and combating. Historical stories are the main content of Peking Opera. There are more than 1300 traditional operas, of which more than 300 are often performed. As an important form of expression of traditional Chinese culture, Peking Opera has a wide influence all over the country, and various artistic elements of it are regarded as symbols of traditional Chinese culture. | ||
| − | + | "Combating", one of the four basic skills of Peking Opera, is not only an indispensable means of expression, but also clearly reflects the important position of martial arts in Peking Opera performance. As a traditional Chinese national art, acrobatic fighting is a kind of stage art that borrows offensive and defensive movements of martial arts as a means of physical expression. It absorbs action materials from martial arts and enriches performance skills. In Beijing Opera, the entertainment of acrobatic fighting comes from the acrobatic nature of martial arts. In performance of acrobatic fighting, there are often combat with knives, guns, sticks and other instruments, as well as pair combat and hand-to-hand combat performances, which are so intense that they can always attract the audience and give them associations and resonance. Therefore, although some acrobatic fighting performers are not excellent in singing and speaking, they are able to create distinctive characters with their excellent martial art skills and win great reputation (Liu Haikuan 2005, 58). | |
| − | + | The acrobatic fighting represented by Peking Opera was an inexhaustible artistic treasure house for other art forms at that time in terms of costumes, martial arts, instruments, Qupai, performances and choreography, providing rich creative space for directors, scriptwriters and actors from generation to generation. However, the decline of the Peking Opera and the operas with both singing and martial characteristics in the current society is a cause for concern, and it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of Peking Opera and explore ways to continue its development in the contemporary society. | |
| − | + | This paper consists of three chapters. Chapter one gives a brief overview of the origin of the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, including the inheritance of the martial spirit of the Chinese nation and the influence of ancient chivalry culture. Chapter two introduces the artistic skills of the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera and analyzes the character of Zhao Yun and the performance Crossroads based on this skills. Chapter three discusses the inheritance and development of the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, such as digging out the lost plays by seeking experience from the predecessors and collecting drama notes from the veteran fans. | |
| + | ===Literature Review=== | ||
| + | Peking Opera has a history of more than 150 years since its formal formation in the Tongguang Period in the late Qing Dynasty. Although it is impossible to give a standard answer to the question of the repertoire of acrobatic fighting in Peking opera, it is still possible to find almost all the repertoire in many books that record the repertoire of Peking opera. However, throughout the research on the artistic theory of Peking Opera for more than one hundred years, the research on the martial drama is relatively weak compared with the research on singing drama. On the one hand, the research results on the martial drama are fewer and more difficult than that on the singing drama. On the other hand, among the few articles and treatises on acrobatic fighting, most of them are about famous performers, repertoire, and techniques, while few of them are about the origins, development, current situation, and solutions of problems of acrobatic fighting in Peking opera, and few of them are about a comprehensive study of acrobatic fighting in the context of Chinese history and national psychology (Du Peng 2014, 5). | ||
| − | + | Over the past hundred years, the research works related to the acrobatic fighting can be roughly divided into the following categories: (1) The discussion of the performing skills of the acrobatic fighting. Most of the articles and books about it are summaries and records of technical skills, while some of them also have the requirements and explanations of famous artists for skills of acrobatic fighting, such as ''The Role of Acrobatic Fighting in Traditional Chinese Opera'' by He Jinhai. (2) Repertoire statistics and script compilation. As for the acrobatic fighting repertory in Peking Opera, one can find it in many books recording Peking Opera repertory, such as ''A Compilation of Traditional Peking Opera Scripts''. (3) Collection of art criticism by famous performers. These books contain both the actors' own experience of performing acrobatic fighting and memories of fans and the drama critics who have watched the performances of these famous artists, such as ''The Collection of Art Criticism about Yang Xiaolou'' edited by Dai Shujuan et al. (4) Treatises on memory of famous artists. Most of these works were written by famous Peking Opera masters and recorded by others, which are regarded as important first-hand materials, such as ''A Miscellany on the Performing Arts of Peking Opera'' narrated orally by Qian Baosen and compiled by Pan Xiaofeng . (5) The works of the drama critics. These works not only have a good account of some of the Peking Opera's acrobatic fighting and famous schools, but also have a great contribution to the study of the aesthetics and theories of Peking Opera, such as Qi Rushan's ''The Art of Chinese Opera''. (6) Biographies of famous performers. These works include the memory and summary of the life of the predecessors by later generations. Among them, there are performance materials of famous artists about acrobatic fighting and operas with both singing and martial characteristics, such as Song Danju's ''Stage Art of Song Dezhu''. (7) Dictionaries related to Peking Opera. Such books summarize the expression of special nouns of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, such as ''Dictionary of Peking Opera Culture'' by Huang Jun and Xu Xibo. | |
| + | ===Methods and Theories=== | ||
| + | Based on the research method of discovering problems, studying them, and solving them, this paper takes the development of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera as the main clue, involving the study and analysis of its origin, characteristics, current situation, and future development, and seeks effective methods and approaches for the rise and prosperity of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera while exploring the inner artistic characteristics of it. | ||
| − | ''' | + | This paper starts from the origin of acrobatic fighting, which involves social culture, social psychology, national psychology and other aspects, aiming at the analysis of performance skills of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera with justification and evidence, and also focuses on the practicality of the theory of the article with the research method of theory in practice. In addition, the breadth of the material requires a more sophisticated research method to be effective. The study of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera involves a variety of knowledge, including social psychology, history, theater and operatic studies, and Peking Opera performance studies. Only after reading and inquiring enough literature information related to acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera can we have a more comprehensive understanding of it. |
| + | ===Origin of the Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera=== | ||
| + | '''1.Inheritance of the Martial Spirit of the Chinese Nation''' | ||
| − | + | Throughout the five thousand years of Chinese civilization, the Chinese nation has always been characterized by the endless worship of literature and active martial spirit. They influence each other, depend on each other, and cannot be separated from each other. It is the consistent requirement of the Chinese nation for social talents to be both civil and military. Just as Liang Qichao said, " The martial spirit of the Chinese nation is its original nature" (Liang Qichao 2006, 21). | |
| − | |||
| − | + | The ancient Chinese people lived in the Yellow River basin with harsh natural environment, men hunting and women picking fruits, accompanied by inter-tribal strife, resulting in the worship of the primitive ancestors of force to the extreme. In following dynasties, in order to defend the country, the martial spirit continued: During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the oftenness of war led to a great number of warriors; In the Western Han Dynasty, when the Hsiung-nu came south to invade the people, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, two brave generals who were good at fighting defeated them; In the Tang Dynasty, during the Wu Zetian period, The system of selecting scholars for martial arts examinations inspired the poets to join the army and go to the frontier; At the end of the Qing Dynasty, when the western powers invaded China, many famous boxers, such as Huo Yuanjia, defeated the foreigners with martial arts and got rid of the title of “Sick Man of East Asia”... During these wars, the cohesion of the Chinese nation increased and the lives of the common people were greatly affected. Aggression inevitably leads to resistance. Force is the most direct and effective way of wage war of aggression, and it’s also the most advocated way of anti-aggression. With the outbreak, development and end of war of aggression, the military culture has infiltrated into the traditional culture of the Chinese nation stealthily (Du Peng 2014, 20). The social environment provides a strong accumulation of social psychology and national psychology for the generation of war culture, so it can be found in every corner of the traditional Chinese culture. It is not difficult to find the existence of war culture and martial spirit in characters, poems, novels, paintings, operas and dramas. | |
| − | + | "Once the traditional thinking mode of a nation is formed, it will have the tendency to constrain the nation's mental activities, which some people call psychological stereotypes in psychology" (Jia Zhigang 1996,129). The martial spirit, which has been existing in the blood of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, has a great influence on the heroes on the stage of Peking Opera and the production of acrobatic fighting plays. The national heroes and heroines emerging in various dynasties have provided prototype materials for the characters of martial arts in Peking Opera. Out of the desire for the description of fighting and war between gods and ghosts, and the call for punishing evil and praising national heroes, a large number of acrobatic fighting elements appear in Chinese operas. Among them, the creation and expression of characters of famous generals like Ban Chao, Han Xin, Xue Rengui and Yue Fei are all from real characters in Chinese history, rather than mythological characters and stories. Although there are exaggerations, they are generally based on historical evidence, different from a large number of ethereal characters in ''Journey to the West''. | |
| − | ''' | + | '''2.Influence of Ancient Chivalry Culture''' |
| − | The | + | The various schools of thought and folk customs have a profound influence on the martial spirit of the state. Conversely, the martial spirit of the state also acts on the courageous characteristics of the people. In a cultural environment with orderly royal control and distinct social hierarchy, it is very unlikely to challenge the traditional social norms including royal power by force (Li Xiaojing 2013, 23). Since the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, with the profound economic, political, social and cultural upheavals, a series of unprecedented new factors constantly emerging, the chivalry culture was born. |
| − | + | "Chivalry" contains three characteristics: commitment, righteousness, and lightness of life and death. Life is inevitably critical, coupled with social injustice and not all-inclusive law, "chivalrous justice" is indispensable. And these chivalrous and righteous people always put other people instead of themselves first, strive to solve other people's difficulties and match their words with their deeds. During the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei was fond of making friends with chivalrous men when he was young; In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zu Ti got up upon hearing the crow of a rooster and practised with the sword day by day only to serve his country; In Tang Dynasty, many poets wrote to praise the quality of chivalrous men; In the Ming Dynasty, famous novels such as Water Margin enriched the image of chivalrous men... | |
| − | + | With the gradual enrichment of martial novels, a large number of commentary artists changed them into various versions of sung commentaries and preached them around to popularize them. Later, the storytelling artist Deng Guangdou even created a new style of comment which added the boxing skills in storytelling. In other words, he showed the boxing skills when commenting on Wu Song, making the audience not only feel like seeing Wu Song, but also marvel at the storytellers' excellent boxing skills. This style of performance, in which the chivalry of the book is expressed in the real kung fu of the storyteller, fully demonstrates the brilliance of the chivalrous characters depicted in the novel and the richness of the storyteller's own performance techniques, and promotes the development of the book review (Du Peng 2014, 34). And these novels and book reviews depicting chivalry had a huge impact on the emergence and development of acrobatic fighting repertoire in the art of opera: The chivalrous characters in the books provided a rich cast of characters for Peking Opera; The novel reviews were interpreted into acrobatic fighting repertoire in Peking Opera; The depiction of characters in the novel reviews permeated Peking Opera costumes; Many of the language and customs from the book reviews were directly inherited from Peking Opera... Thus it can be seen that chivalry culture and crime novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties have a profound psychological impact on Chinese people, and have a direct impact on opera art, especially the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera. | |
| + | ===Artistic Skills of the Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera=== | ||
| + | '''1.Aesthetic Techniques''' | ||
| − | + | Nourished by traditional aesthetic thought, the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera originates from traditional Chinese culture and have a consistent aesthetic sense of it. As the embodiment of the characters' valor happening in the fierce battle scenes, acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera is characterized by being absolute aesthetic, which is also the feature of the art of Peking Opera. Turning martial art into dance and then turn it into beauty, acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera makes what is originally a cruel and bloody scene into aesthetic stage art, showing the charm of Peking Opera. Therefore, whether it is a tumble or a move, it is possible to find their common characteristics in the traditional aesthetic thought of "observing objects and taking images", "integrating movement and stillness", and "combining both form and spirit". (Du Peng 2014, 60). | |
| − | + | Due to the characteristics of the means of expression, the plot of the acrobatic fighting is relatively simple, and the psychology of the characters is not so delicate, which makes it more difficult to reflect the ideological content that makes people recall repeatedly and think deeply. The audience understands and recognizes these limitations, and even needs and appreciates them out of preference. The requirements of acrobatic fighting are different from those of singing operas. While acrobatic fighting should certainly teach people patriotism, noble virtues and historical knowledge, the direct manifestation of its value lies in its aesthetic role, i.e., to give the audience its unique healthy aesthetic enjoyment and beauty, and to enrich and enhance the appreciation of the public (Liu Haikuan 2005, 58). | |
| − | + | The formal beauty of acrobatic fighting is typical of masculine beauty. What it generally reflects is either military hardware and magnificent battle scenes, or fierce and hand-to-hand combat, or fearless heroes with lofty ideals. These characters are brave and tenacious with superb martial power, moving forward under the fierce music on stage. They have a kind of majestic beauty without decadent and depressing mood, inspiring people to move on. And it is a reflection of the traditional moral concepts and aesthetic requirements of the Chinese people in the art of opera, which has the charm crossing time and space. | |
| − | + | The formal beauty of acrobatic fighting has three characteristics: Firstly, the performer's skilled and exquisite somersault skills and kung fu; Secondly, the performer's shapely and beautiful bodies; Thirdly, the beauty of composition formed by the collective cooperation on the stage. The performers combine these three characteristics in a integrated manner, presenting a gorgeous picture of acrobatic fighting. They present a magnificent ancient war scene or a fierce fight in a specific situation in a limited stage space, which reflects the high artistic wisdom of the Chinese people (Liu Haikuan 2005, 58). The acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera generalizes, refines, exaggerates and beautifies life. Not only the actions of the characters are completely choreized, but also the emotions are transformed into the forms of martial arts skills. Everything is unified under the premise of paying attention to the depiction of the inner world of the characters and the authenticity of their thoughts and feelings, and is subject to the overall requirements of formal beauty. | |
| − | 2. | + | '''2.Typical Characters and Performances''' |
| − | + | The martial spirit of the Chinese nation has a profound influence on Chinese culture. During the two thousand years of feudal rule, most of the warriors and generals carried the martial culture. The military generals and swordsmen of all dynasties exerted significant influence on Chinese society and culture, among which famous military generals include: Sun Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period, Bai Qi in the Warring States Period, Chen Qingzhi in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Huo Qubing and Han Xin in the Western Han Dynasty, Ban Chao in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Li Jing and Gao Xianzhi in the Tang Dynasty, Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty, and Xu Da in the Ming Dynasty. Famous swordsmen include: Zhuan Zhu and Yu Rang in the Spring and Autumn Period, Nie Zheng, Lu Zhonglian, Hou Ying and Jing Ke in the Warring States Period, etc. While inheriting the martial spirit, they make the chivalry spirit and heroic integrity known to the extreme. These characters are the common archetypes of roles of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera and the operas with both singing and martial plays. They are also the heroes that people are interested in talking about, playwrights constantly create and artists try their best to show. Among them, Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdoms Period was one of the most special, resourceful and brilliant general characters in Peking Opera. He was brave and courageous with wisdom. His rescue of the master on Steepslope Bridge was recorded and praised by later generations and presented in numerous literary and operatic works. Among the existing drama in the Yuan Dynasty, there are 21 kinds of drama of the Three Kingdoms, among which 8 are about Zhao Yun; In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are more than 20 kinds of drama of the Three Kingdoms, of which 7 are about Zhao Yun. The performances of Yang Xiaolou, Gao Shenglin and Li Huiliang have always been praised. | |
| − | + | In addition to the image of Zhao Yun, the Peking Opera "Crossroads" is also a representative of acrobatic fighting performances. The play is about Jiao Zan, who escorted the prisoners and stayed in a hotel at crossroads in the border of Song and Liao areas, only to find it’s a ganster inn, where Ren Huitang was also there and saved Jiao Zan after fierce fights. On the one hand, this play combines Chinese martial arts and acrobatic movements into opera performances: It’s easy to find that these martial actors have outstanding martial arts skills. For example, the actor who plays the role of Ren Tanghui, strives to achieve unity and integrity from character personality, spiritual outlook to internal temperament and external image. When he appears on the scene, he raises his legs, leaves his feet and falls to the ground quickly, being light and steady. The first three flexible steps, the slight swaying of the upper body, together with the face looking around and observing the movement, show the resourcefulness and heroic spirit of this battle-hardened general. On the other hand, the play perfectly combines silent action with artistic beauty: With martial skills reaching a certain level, short-distance martial actors can perform with their bodies as light as swallow’s. The play "Crossroads" takes place in a specific place and environment, whose performance requires the actors to have such tumbling skills as "cheating legs", "seven feet". All these require the performer to go through hard exercises and profound kung fu, turning the body into a tool to reflect artistic beauty, in order to win the artistic effect of lightness of body (Fan Qiying Li Guanghui 2008, 50). When appreciating the play "Crossroads", we are often feeling the artistic perception brought by Chinese opera, which is expressiveness. In artistic creation, expressiveness is higher than reproducibility. It has long been recognized that our traditional art has incorporated expressiveness into our performance system. So it's no surprise that "Crossroads" has been so popular. | |
| + | ===Inheritance and Development of the Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera=== | ||
| + | '''1.Current Situation of Acrobatic Fighting''' | ||
| − | + | In the mid-twentieth century, Chinese opera schools had rich performances of martial arts repertoire. At that time, there were hundreds of outstanding actors performing different operas. However, after the impact of the Cultural Revolution and the reform and opening up, new art forms emerged endlessly, and people no longer took the opera as a regular entertainment and leisure activity as before. The popular singing repertoire of Peking Opera has been greatly affected, and the acrobatic fighting has suffered a very obvious decline. It is very difficult to see the wonderful acrobatic fighting repertoire on the Peking Opera stage today as it was in the past. Even if there is, the quality of the performances is hardly guaranteed. And in the new performance of Peking Opera, it is hard to see any form of new repertoire that involves Wudan, Daomadan, or even Peking Opera martial arts. The shrinkage of traditional repertoire and the absence of new repertoire in Peking Opera have put the current comprehensive inheritance and development of Peking Opera and even the art of opera in a disadvantageous situation (Zhang Xiaocui 2017, 132). | |
| − | |||
| − | + | The decline of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera and the repertoire emphasizing both literary and military arts in the current society is worrying, which is caused by various reasons, both from the practitioners themselves and from the society. From the performer's point of view, the foundation of the martial arts actors is not good enough and the performance id not so authentic, so the audience is not really satisfied; Some singing actors do not pay attention to the overall development, blindly pursuing the progress of singing skills, so that a lot of operas both with singing and martial skills can not be well preserved, resulting in the shrinkage of the repertoire; The old and new inheritance system bear some difference, so many practitioners today do not practice can also get paid due to the monthly salary system, lacking the perseverance of their predecessors. In terms of the social environment, some plays were lost in the 1930s and 1940s; After liberation, some policies for maintaining unity had an impact on the repertoire of martial arts; The traditional acrobatic fighting ceased during the Cultural Revolution; There were few acrobatic fighting in the new repertoire; The number of actors of acrobatic fighting has decreased (Du Peng 2014, 108). | |
| − | + | The disappearance of a large number of acrobatic fighting and the opera with both singing and martial skills has led to the serious division of singing and martial skills in Peking Opera performance, the loss of many acrobatic fighting plays, the deterioration of the performers' comprehensive ability of singing, speaking, acting and combating, and the serious tendency of "emphasizing the singing skills and neglecting the martial arts" in opera innovation. The innovation of Peking Opera should be a comprehensive innovation, rather than a single level of development. It can be said that such unbalanced development hinders the benign and comprehensive development of Peking Opera (Zhang Xiaocui 2017, 132). | |
| − | + | '''2.The Innovative Ways of Development of Acrobatic Fighting in Contemporary Era''' | |
| + | The analysis and concern about the current situation of Peking Opera is not pure criticism, but to raise and solve problems. The cultural environment of a particular era is complicated, and the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera can not be easily recovered by shouting out a few words of revitalization. Here we try to propose some solutions for practitioners to think about. | ||
| − | + | First of all, opera schools should be the main body of the inheritance of acrobatic fighting and related repertoire. It is a realistic problem that the teaching repertoire of Peking Opera at all levels is in disorder nowadays, which restricts the development of Peking Opera and even the whole teaching of Peking Opera. Schools should increase acrobatic fighting in the teaching repertoire and standardize it. Secondly, it is necessary to restore the endangered or already lost acrobatic fighting repertoire. Some plays are performed repeatedly in various Peking Opera troupes, easily making the audience get bored. So for the sake of the troupes' future and the obligation of inheritance, it is necessary to restore the lost acrobatic fighting repertoire. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | As for how to explore the lost repertoire, we can start from the following aspects :(1) ask the living predecessors for relevant performance skills and stage experience; (2) Make full use of the recordings and videos left by the seniors; (3) Collect notes from experienced theater fans. With the precious resources of the acrobatic fighting, the recovery of these plays can be considered from the following three aspects: Firstly, start restoring the repertoire from the traditional seasonal repertoire, that is, to find appropriate unpopular plays from each season of the year to resume the performance, so that the audience can not only watch the repertoire rarely seen on the stage, but also inherit and enrich the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera. Secondly, restore the repertoire from the perspective of characters: It is also a good way to restore it from point to point as time goes by until the repertoire is serialized. Thirdly, select a specific kind of repertoire for recovery: In the process of recovering traditional repertoire, we should not only do it in a solemn and stirring mood, but also learn how to use effective methods and promote acrobatic fighting to the market, believing that they can be accepted and welcomed by audiences (Du Peng 2014, 116). | |
| + | ===Conclusion=== | ||
| + | Since the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, all the artists who became masters of Peking Opera were able to perform both singing skills and martial skills in the martial arts. They were able to break through the limitations of their own lineage, which really pushed the art of Peking Opera to a whole new peak and developed each lineage comprehensively, making the art of Peking Opera of that era wonderful and brilliant. Now, in the twenty-first century, some aspects of Peking Opera seem to have returned to the situation that existed before the masters of Peking Opera, i.e., the singing skills and martial arts are divided, and there is an unprecedented dilemma that the acrobatic fighting repertoire may be lost. There are many reasons for this situation, but the result is the degradation of the ability of actors in various roles, the loss of plays, the fragmentation of plays, the homogenization of skills and so on. | ||
| − | + | As the younger generation, we should not only have reverence for the older masters and the heights they have promoted the art of Peking Opera, but also do our best to carry forward the opera skills. The Peking Opera troupes and actors of acrobatic fighting are hoped to spare no efforts to pass on the skills through constantly improving the level of business, modestly consulting and learning from the predecessors and strengthening the theoretical accomplishment, so as to inherit acrobatic skills through traditional martial plays. They’re also supposed to explore new ways of innovating acrobatic fighting according to the troupe's actual situation, to "revitalize" the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, so that they can be inherited, developed and innovated in the tradition, thus comprehensively promoting the prosperity of the Peking Opera performance market and better serving the socialist cultural market. | |
| + | ===References=== | ||
| + | *Dai Shujuan 戴淑娟. (1990). ''杨小楼艺术评论集'' [The Collection of Art Criticism about Yang Xiaolou]. Beijing: China Theatre Press 中国戏剧出版社. | ||
| + | *Du Peng 杜鹏. (2014). 京剧武戏研究——兼论以文为主、以武为辅的剧目表演 [The Study of Acrobatic Fighting in Chinese Peking Opera—Mainly about Chinese Peking Opera characterized by Singing and Acting, Acrobatic Fighting as a Supplement]. 中国艺术研究院博士论文 Chinese National Academy of Arts 5, 34, 60, 108, 116. | ||
| + | *Fan Qiying, Li Guanghui 范齐英, 李光辉. (2008). 小议京剧《三岔口》的表现性 [A Brief Discussion on the Expressiveness of Peking Opera ''Crossroads'']. ''大众文艺'' Popular Culture and Arts (7)50. | ||
| + | *He Jinhai 何金海. (1992). 武打在戏曲中的作用 [The Role of Acrobatic Fighting in Traditional Chinese Opera]. ''戏曲艺术'' Art of Opera (4). | ||
| + | *Huang Jun, Xu Xibo 黄钧, 徐希博. (2001). ''京剧文化辞典'' [Dictionary of Peking Opera Culture]. Shanghai: Chinese Dictionary Publishing House 汉语大词典出版社. | ||
| + | *Jia Zhigang 贾志刚. (1996). ''迈向现代的古老戏剧'' [An Ancient Drama on Its Way to Modernity]. Beijing: China Theatre Press 中国戏剧出版社. | ||
| + | *Li Xiaojing 李晓婧. (2013). 传统社会侠文化与法律文化研究 [Study on Xia-Culture in Traditional Society and Legal Culture]. 南京大学硕士论文 Nanjing University 23. | ||
| + | *Liang Qichao 梁启超. (2006). ''中国之武士道'' [Chinese Bushido]. Beijing: Chinese Archives Press 中国档案出版社. | ||
| + | *Liu Haikuan 刘海宽. (2005). 论京剧武戏中的美学艺术 [Aesthetic Art of Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera]. ''青年文学家'' The Youth Writers (12) 58. | ||
| + | *Qi Rushan 齐如山. (1998). ''国剧艺术汇考'' [The Art of Chinese Opera]. Liaoning: Liaoning Education Press 辽宁教育出版社. | ||
| + | *Qian Baosen 钱宝森. (1959). ''京剧表演艺术杂谈'' [A Miscellany on the Performing Arts of Peking Opera]. Beijing: Beijing Publishing House 北京出版社. | ||
| + | *Song Danju 宋丹菊. (2008). ''宋德珠舞台艺术'' [Stage Art of Song Dezhu]. Beijing: Popular Culture& Arts Publishing House 大众文艺出版社. | ||
| + | *Xue Xiaojin, Ma Lianliang et al. 薛晓金, 马连良等. (2009). ''京剧传统剧本汇编'' [A Compilation of Traditional Peking Opera Scripts]. Beijing: Beijing Publishing House北京出版社 . | ||
| + | *Zhang Xiaocui 张晓翠. (2017). 浅议京剧武戏的传承与发展 [On the Inheritance and Development of Peking Opera]. ''剧作家'' Playwright (9) 132. | ||
| + | *Zhang Yinhe 张银河. (2013). 试析武术与京剧武戏文化 [On the Martial Art and Culture of Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera]. ''武魂'' Kung Fu (12) 15. | ||
| + | ===Terms and expressions=== | ||
| + | acrobatic fighting 武戏 | ||
| − | + | singing, speaking, acting and combating 唱念做打 | |
| − | + | Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou 生旦净丑 | |
| − | + | ''Crossroads'' 《三岔口》 | |
| − | + | Hsiung-nu 匈奴 | |
| − | + | Sick Man of East Asia 东亚病夫 | |
| − | + | ''Journey to the West'' 《西游记》 | |
| − | + | ''Water Margin'' 《水浒传》 | |
| − | + | Wudan 武旦 | |
| − | + | Daomadan 刀马旦 | |
| + | ===Questions=== | ||
| + | 1.What's the significance of Peking Opera in Chinese history? | ||
| − | + | 2.What are the three characteristics of "Chivalry"? | |
| − | + | 3.What are the three characteristics of formal beauty of acrobatic fighting? | |
| − | + | 4.How to explore the lost repertoire? | |
| − | + | ===Answers=== | |
| + | 1.Peking Opera is the most influential opera in China, with its center in Beijing and spread throughout the country. During its long artistic history, Peking Opera has continuously absorbed nutrients from the traditional Chinese culture and people’s daily life and developed into a magnificent flower in the opera garden. As an important form of expression of traditional Chinese culture, Peking Opera has a wide influence all over the country, and various artistic elements of it are regarded as symbols of traditional Chinese culture. | ||
| − | + | 2.Commitment, righteousness, and lightness of life and death. | |
| − | + | 3.1)The performer's skilled and exquisite somersault skills and kung fu; | |
| − | + | 2)The performer's shapely and beautiful bodies; | |
| − | + | 3)The beauty of composition formed by the collective cooperation on the stage. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | 4.1)Ask the living predecessors for relevant performance skills and stage experience; | |
| − | + | 2)Make full use of the recordings and videos left by the seniors; | |
| − | + | 3)Collect notes from experienced theater fans. | |
| − | + | ==英语笔译 熊嘉玲 Xiong Jialing 202170081602== | |
| + | <center>'''Yue Opera'''</center> | ||
| − | + | <center>Xiong Jialing</center> | |
| − | This | + | ===Abstract=== |
| + | Yue Opera, an important local opera in China, is one of the five types of Chinese opera. From the original "Chinese Folk Rap"(落地唱书), it has developed into the second most popular opera in China and is one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, Yue Opera plays a very important role in China's art field. This article will give a general introduction to Yue Opera. The first is a brief introduction to the general situation of Yue Opera; In the first chapter, the author will introduce the historical origin and development of Yue Opera. In the second chapter, the author will focus on the introduction of the performance characteristics of Yue Opera, including its singing voice, role of business and so on; In the third chapter, the author will talk about the value of Yue Opera, such as its cultural value, social value and so on. The fourth chapter will mention the inheritance and development of Yue Opera. As one of Chinese operas, Yue Opera has a long history and rich cultural connotation. In today's cultural diversity and economic globalization, it can promote the spread of traditional Chinese culture to let the world see and hear Yue Opera. | ||
| + | ===Key words=== | ||
| + | Yue Opera;traditional Chinese culture;Chinese opera | ||
| + | ===Introduction=== | ||
| + | Yue Opera (Yueju in Pinyin) is the second largest opera genre in China, and some scholars consider it to be "the largest local opera genre". It is also one of the five major Chinese opera genres (Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yue Opera, Pingju opera and Henan Opera). Originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang province, prosperity in the whole country, spread to the world, it has experienced a historical evolution from male to female Yue Opera.In the development, it absorbed the elements of kunqu opera, drama, Shaoxing opera and other operas. It is called "Chinese opera" abroad. It is also known as "the most popular local opera". | ||
| + | Yue Opera is long in lyric, mainly singing, beautiful voice, real and moving performance, beautiful and elegant, with the spirit of jiangnan. Most of them are based on the theme of "talents and beauties", and there are various artistic schools. There are as many as 13 recognized schools. It was mainly popular in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui and other southern regions, as well as most northern regions such as Beijing and Tianjin. In its heyday, professional troupes existed all over the country except xizang, Guangdong, Guangxi and a few other provinces and autonomous regions. (Qian Hong, edited by the editorial board of Chinese Yue Opera Canon,2006) | ||
| − | + | Yue Opera is also the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Among the modern emerging operas in China, the Yue Opera bred from the regional culture and modern art of the Yangtze River Delta is undoubtedly the most influential. Once upon a time, "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" produced by "Shaoxing Women's Literary Opera" and "Shaoxing Women's Opera" were popular in Shanghai. The heroic deeds of the ten Sisters of Yue Opera, represented by Yuan Xuefen, against the bullying of the dark forces shocked the Chinese cultural circle; After the founding of the People's Republic of China, With the help of the movie a Dream of Red Mansions, Yue Opera became a national hit. Premier Zhou Enlai took the film liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai as one of new China's diplomatic means to promote the Opera overseas.(Liu,2022) | |
| + | ===The Historical Origin of Yue Opera=== | ||
| + | Shengzhou, The Birthplace of Yue Opera | ||
| − | + | Yue Opera is one of the five major operas in China and the second largest in China at present. Yue Opera is called "the second in China" in terms of the number of performances and social popularity. In terms of its performing arts history and popular areas, it is probably far inferior to kunqu opera and Huangmei Opera. Due to language limitations, it is mainly popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Yue Opera is generally spread in Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu and other places which are usually said wu language area. So Yue Opera is still a typical local opera. It originated from Shengzhou of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, which is the shengzhou city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province today. It is evolved from local folk songs and formed by absorbing the characteristics of Kunqu opera and Shaoxing opera in the development process. Shengzhou, the birthplace of Shaoxing opera, has been attracting celebrities from all sides to visit with its unique charm since ancient times. The beautiful scenery here, surrounded by beautiful mountains, with a long history, and its unique dynamic temperament, has created a unique charm and beauty in Shengzhou. The enchanting natural scenery has given here the magic charm, attracting the high sages and celebrities in succession to enjoy the scenery, leaving many immortal chapters spread through the ages for the later generations. With the growing popularity of folk poetry and lyrics, shengzhou people who are good at singing have integrated songs into their lives. Versatile shengzhou people thus became the original creator of Yue Opera art, Shengzhou has also become a fertile soil for the birth of Yue Opera art. | |
| − | + | The Real Birth of Little Choir, the Predecessor of Yue Opera | |
| − | + | From the year of 1906 , Yue Opera entered the stage role playing period. Therefore, it can be regarded as the origin of Yue Opera as the identity of opera. However, the little choir did not come into being suddenly, nor did it start out dressed up for the stage. From the xianfeng period in the 1850s and 1860s, it went through decades of embryonic stages. In terms of art classification, Chinese Folk Rap does not belong to opera, but to quyi. Therefore, it can not be called the "predecessor" of Yue Opera, but its original form of performance. | |
| − | + | The origin of Chinese Folk Rap is that when farmers were resting in the fields after work, many people would compose and sing ditty that could reflect the aspirations of the common people, which always aroused the praise of farmers and gradually spread among them. The last few popular songs, everyone can sing. Researchers on the history of Yue Opera generally believe that the sign of the emergence of Chinese Folk Rap is that Jin Qibing and others began to sing Buddhist songs and folk tunes in front of rich households in the nearby countryside in order to make a living.(Pan,2009) | |
| − | - | + | The early Chinese Folk Rap performers did not completely break away from agriculture while singing Chinese Folk Rap. For many performers, farm work is the main thing to support their families and is the job left to them for generations. It is unimaginable for them to completely break away from farm work. Therefore, during the spring ploughing season from January to February and March, the artists went back to their hometown in Sheng County to work on their fields. Qian Jingsong, Li Shiquan, Gao Binghuo and other artists who had been invited to the "stage" in Yuhang and Yuqian (now part of Lin 'an) talked with the villagers about their debut experience, which aroused the interest of many villagers. They urged artists to do the same at home. Guangxu period (1906) on the qingming Festival on the third day of march in the lunar calendar, on the vacant lot of dongwang village in Sheng County, the village civilian used rice barrel, the door panel set up the stage, invited many artists coarsely-dressed up to sing the Chinese Folk Raps, unexpectedly caused a stir in the countryside, attracted people from many villages to watch. The popularity of this form of singing book in the village even exceeded the artists' expectations.(Edited by Cultural and Historical Data Committee of Shengxian CPPCC,1992) |
| − | + | So they began to think about organizing theater groups to put on more scripted performances, and they came up with a low-key and elegant name for the form: Little Choir". In general, such performance formula has met the basic conditions of opera, so many researchers have always regarded this performance as the origin of Yue Opera. Stage at this time, not only clothing is very simple, Musical Instruments are also very simple. Although the form of "Little Choir" is primitive, the singing is monotonous, and the costumes are simple, but this pioneering move alone is enough to leave a brilliant first in the history of Yue Opera. | |
| + | Since the birth of the "Little Choir" in Sheng County, it has spread quickly to the surrounding areas. As a literature and art originating in country life, it is not surprising that it first established itself in the country. At the same time, it is constantly exploring transformation, slowly infiltrating into the city, | ||
| + | After 1907, the "Little Choir" has been all over Athens County, and gradually to the neighboring Xinchang, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Yuyao, Fenghua and other places spread, both in the village and the town theater, where are warmly welcomed. For example, in Xinchang, only three or five years after the first contact with the "Little Choir", the number of newly established local opera troupe has reached 30 or 40 classes. | ||
| − | - | + | Performing in the countryside, the troupe must suffer from displacement. Therefore, it is always the ideal of the troupe to perform in a city with a large population, both male and female. Large and medium-sized cities for "Little Choir", is always tempting. On the one hand, large and medium-sized cities have strong consumption capacity and can obtain higher economic benefits. On the other hand, the fact that "Little Choir" can establish itself in big cities is the recognition of "Little Choir" by higher-level audiences, which is a kind of honor.(Pan,2009) |
| − | + | Shaoxing Civil Opera Period | |
| − | + | In 1922, the development of Shaoxing Opera entered a new historical stage, that is, the Period of "Shaoxing Civil Opera". Because "Little Choir" was born in Shengzhou, which is subordinate to Shaoxing Prefecture, and the content of "Little Choir" is more focused on family ethics and love, so it is called "Shaoxing Civil Opera". Shaoxing Civil Opera period is the mature stage of the development of Yue Opera. It can be divided into two periods. In the early stage, there are all male actors, so it is called Shaoxing Civil Opera Male Troupe; in the later stage, there are mixed performances of male and female actors, and the transition to female troupe is called Shaoxing Civil Opera Female Troupe. | |
| + | |||
| + | The Period of Women's Improvement in Shaoxing Civil Opera | ||
| − | + | In the history of The development of Yue Opera, the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War is an important dividing line. Before this, Shaoxing Civil Opera, which was dominated by male classes, was in its heyday, with famous actors concentrated in Shanghai and female classes flourishing, but the activity area was mainly in Zhejiang. Although there were female classes in Shanghai, most of them were mobile, so their status was not high and their influence was limited in the whole Cultural pattern of Shanghai. | |
| − | + | In the late 1930s, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of female classes came to Shanghai for development and rose rapidly. At the same time, male classes declined sharply and were soon replaced by female classes, gradually forming a kind of operas featuring all-female performances. Almost all the famous actors and drama companies were concentrated in Shanghai. The social and cultural environment of Shanghai has provided rich nutrition for the progress of Yue Opera art, promoted the reform of Yue Opera in the new environment, and provided a rare historical opportunity for its rapid development. | |
| − | + | "New Yue Opera" Period | |
| − | + | The reform of Yue Opera, which started in October 1942, opened up a new era in the history of Yue Opera and had a profound influence on the establishment of the form and style of Yue Opera. The "new Yue Opera" rising in the wave of reform in this period is obviously different from the original women's Yue Opera in terms of repertoire, music, stage image, deconstruction and operation mechanism of troupe. During the period of "New Yue Opera", Yue Opera achieved rapid development. A group of young actors, such as Yuan Xuefen, Yin Guifang, Fan Ruijuan and Fu Quanxiang, became the representatives of the new generation of Yue Opera. | |
| + | |||
| + | The Development of Yue Opera After Liberation | ||
| − | + | After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, opera art began to enter the process of planned, deployed and focused reform, and Yue Opera also began to adapt to the new era of profound reform. In the early 1950s, a drama reform movement was launched nationwide. During this period, professional drama troupes in Shanghai and Zhejiang carried out the work of "Three reforms" to different degrees successively, which brought new changes to the appearance of Yue Opera. In March 1955, Shanghai Theatre was formally established, gathering a large number of professional talents with high artistic quality in the field of yue Opera, such as editing, directing, acting, music, beauty and so on. | |
| − | + | The Revival of Yue Opera in the New Period | |
| − | + | The "Cultural Revolution" that began in 1966 severely destroyed Yue Opera. After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", especially after the third Plenary Session of the eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978, Yue Opera began a comprehensive revival in a new period, ushering in a new spring in the development history of Yue Opera | |
| − | + | Under the influence of historical conditions, the revival of Yue Opera started from the modern opera performed by men and women. In 1977, the Shanghai Yue Opera reenacted the drama with a co-performance of male and female and was a great success, setting off the wave of the revival of Yue Opera. Soon after that, Shanghai Film Studio made "Xiang Lin's wife" into the first color widescreen style art film of Yue Opera and screened it in the whole country, re-expanding the influence of Yue Opera in the whole country. Traditional and historical operas have also been resumed, and women's Yue Opera has gained recognition and new vitality. | |
| + | In 2006, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yue Opera, it was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural Heritage list with the approval of The State Council. The future of Yue Opera will be more brilliant. | ||
| − | + | ===The Performance Characteristics of Yue Opera=== | |
| + | First, the selection of materials for the Yue Opera plays is mainly based on the love and marriage stories of ancient talents and beauties. Such as Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, Fan Li and Xi Shi, Lu You and Tang Wan and so on. These stories have long been written and interpreted into various literary and artistic works and passed down from generation to generation among the people. After these stories were compiled into The Yue Opera, the artistic atmosphere of the story and the tragic color of the characters were enhanced, giving people a more vivid and profound impression. | ||
| − | + | Second, the music of Yue Opera is good at showing the feelings of young men and women. The singing style is based on the "Chinese Folk Rap" of Wuyue water town in the south of Yangtze River, absorbing the folk music of Sheng County. After Yuan Xuefen and lute zhou Baocai cooperation, so that the opera singing form a gentle lingering lyric style. | |
| − | + | Third, the performances of Yue Opera are vivid, natural, elegant and moving. They are full of beauty and talent in the south of the Yangtze River, especially the performances of young girl's role, which combine the scholarliness of scholars with the beauty of young girls. The principle of "virtuality" and "stylization" and the aesthetic pursuit of "symbolism" and "freehand style" formed in the long-term artistic practice of Chinese opera performance have provided a theoretical basis for the formation of the performing art of young women in Yue Opera, so that female actors can play male roles without being restricted by their own gender. Under the guidance of virtual drama and freehand brushwork principle, the female students can not completely imitate the performance of men and force the unity of actors and roles, actors can use stylized performance to look at the male roles in the drama from the perspective of women. What she interprets is not the man in real life, but the man in the woman's mind, that is, the man that the woman idealizes, the man that the woman plays to the audience. This is just like the plum blossom and bamboo painted by Chinese painters in traditional Chinese paintings. They are not plum blossom and bamboo in nature, but plum blossom and bamboo in the artist's mind. Of course, the course of this success is not follow one's inclinations, is not subject to any condition, also need actors themselves have a certain external conditions and mental qualities, such as the tall figure, elegant temperament, generous demeanor, etc., so as to better shape the character image, conveys the verve of male role. Various schools of Yue Opera have blossomed. | |
| − | + | Fourth, the stage presentation of the Yue Opera is fresh and elegant, which is often refreshing. The makeup of Yue Opera has absorbed the methods of drama and film, and is characterized by being close to nature, fresh and elegant, rather than exaggerated and colorful. Based on the paintings of ancient ladies in costume, the costumes are changed from complex to simple and gorgeous to clear and beautiful with the characteristics of simplicity and clarity. The scenery is simple and lively, the combination of virtual and real, with the performance of the actors, making full use of modern sound and light technology, giving people an immersive artistic feeling.(Liu,2022) | |
| − | + | ===The Value of Yue Opera=== | |
| − | + | Cultural Value | |
| − | + | Cultural creation is based on traditional culture and under the influence of modern culture, absorbing new tunes, new choreography, new themes, new talents and new music of modern culture to generate a new round of cultural wave and a "new culture" that is different from the past and more adaptable. Yue Opera is "rich in expressive force, plain and smooth melody, fresh and beautiful with local flavor". It has beautiful melody, graceful and touching pronunciation, beautiful appearance but not coqueness. Both civic and military opera have their own strengths, and it is different from the softness and beauty of Peking Opera. It has a very high viewing value, which is why in recent years, Yue Opera has gained more and more audience's love, causing more and more attention. This is the cultural creation value of Yue Opera.(Jin,2012) | |
| − | + | From the point of view of Marx's theory of literature and art, all arts (including literature, calligraphy, architecture, painting, opera, etc.) are the reflection of people's lifestyle and cultural psychology in a particular era and region. In the field investigation, we found that most of the people who adhere to Yue Opera are the older generation, because it used to be a part of their life, carrying their joys and sorrows, and relying on their understanding of life. Yue Opera touches the softest part of the heart of a generation in a casual way at some point. These cultural memories, no matter joyful, sad, beautiful or ugly, will become a kind of cultural nutrition and melt into the bones and blood of the whole regional culture and even the national culture, giving us reasons and directions to move forward. This is the cultural creation value of Yue Opera.This is the cultural inheritance value of Yue Opera.(Yang,2021) | |
| − | + | Social value | |
| − | + | Yue Opera originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang province, China, so it is easy to explain why all the people in Shaoxing and Shengzhou can hum it and find pleasure in it. Obviously, in the region where It originated and developed, It has become a topic of conversation among the masses after dinner. In the folk, people are also used to organizing various performances and singing competitions of It to enrich their amateur cultural life. Therefore, in the traditional cultural matrix of Yue Opera, there is a kind of aesthetic value called social value, which has laid a solid foundation for extensive social communication among the masses. Therefore, Yue Opera gradually became a social means, which was of great significance in promoting social harmony and stability. Of course, with the continuous expansion of the overseas market of Yue Opera, it is also playing an important role in developing sino-foreign relations, consolidating sino-foreign friendship and realizing the combination of Chinese and foreign culture and art.(Jin,2012) | |
| − | + | The Entertainment Value of Yue Opera. | |
| − | + | As a unique type of traditional culture, History and culture have endowed it with a unique development environment, unique artistic charm, which make It a popular art form among the public. From the emergence and development of Yue Opera to its prosperity and growth, its entertainment value has been accompanied by it. Yue Opera can not only give people visual and auditory satisfaction, but also give the audience great psychological satisfaction, so as to relieve the pressure for the masses and delight the masses physically and mentally. A large number of excellent Plays of Chinese traditional Yue Opera, such as Butterfly Lovers and Peony Pavilion, brought people spiritual sustenance and was one of the important ways for people to interest their heart and soul at that time. For example, the twists and turns of the Story, the beautiful love story and the artistic stage design of the Yue Opera Peony Pavilion not only relieved people's living pressure, but also promoted people's self-cultivation.(Ye,2016) | |
| − | + | The above research on the value of Yue Opera shows that this local opera has strong charm and development potential. Thus, we can see the reasons behind the "centennial brilliance" and strong influence of Yue Opera. Yue Opera has rich cultural value, including cultural creation value and cultural inheritance value. Shaoxing Opera also has certain social communication value, which can be called a social means. Yue Opera not only promotes social harmony, but even plays a great role in promoting the spread of Chinese culture and cultural exchanges. In addition, Yue Opera has its entertainment value. In daily life, it has enriched the lives of ordinary people and provided them with certain spiritual sustenance, which is of great significance. | |
| − | + | ===The Inheritance and Development of Yue Opera=== | |
| + | Yue Opera is one of the most important local operas in China. It has developed into the second most popular opera in China from the original Chinese Folk Rap. However, with the popularization of TV, the establishment of cinemas and the continuous expansion of the Internet, the influx of pop songs, European and American blockbusters and the change of modern people's value orientation, the traditional Yue Opera has been plunged into unprecedented crises. In today's era of vigorously protecting intangible cultural heritage and building a new socialist countryside, how to protect, inherit and develop folk Yue Opera is not only related to the survival of the opera itself, but also an important topic of "intangible cultural heritage" protection, as well as an important content to be studied in mass cultural work.(Zhang,2010) | ||
| − | + | Review the Inheritance Status of Yue Opera | |
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| − | + | Through visits to local cultural departments and literature review, we know that the performance of Yue Opera is faced with fewer and fewer audiences, and the troupe cannot survive. The number of professional Yue Opera troupes has decreased from more than 260 in the 1950s and 1960s to less than 35 now. Most folk yue troupes mainly cover the rural market, but because the market is small, they can not get a greater development. However, under the influence of various cultural and entertainment activities, the audience is mainly around 40 years old, and the younger generation is less interested in it. It can be seen that the audience of Yue Opera rarely come from the youth group, and the audience of Yue Opera is increasingly aging. Although Shengzhou is the birthplace of Yue Opera, its inheritance and development are not good. In terms of relic buildings, the original buildings about Yue Opera are very rare, and the original birthplace of Yue Opera for women can only be found in the only small village. The exhibition stand protecting the original Yue Opera props is also in disrepair and covered with dust. In terms of museums, most of the objects in the museum are restored by later generations. Props, costumes, Musical Instruments and singing stage are re-made by later generations.(Yang,2021) | |
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| − | + | Problems Faced by the Development of Yue Opera | |
| − | + | From the early 1980s to the present, the significant reduction in the number of Yue Opera troupe is the primary problem facing the development of Yue Opera. In the early 1980s, there were seven professional Yue troupes and two professional folk Yue troupes in Jiaxing, while in the mid-1980s, there were only two professional yue troupes. Secondly, from the city to the countryside, the audience of Yue Opera is getting smaller and smaller, and the performance market is getting smaller and smaller. In the past, a company could put on a new play for two or three months. Now it can only put on two or three performances. The audience's enthusiasm for watching Yue Opera has also declined significantly. The third problem facing the development of folk Yue Opera is talent. The performance of Yue Opera has high requirements for talents. It not only requires actors to have beautiful looks and a loud voice, but also to be able to perform. Generally speaking, a good actor can play a role on the stage, no ten or five years is not out, that is to say, one minute on the stage, ten years of work off the stage. Now there is a shortage of talent in the field of Yue Opera. Fourth, repertoire creation is increasingly contracted. In the mass culture system, Yue Opera also received unprecedented cold. At present, cultural centers and art centers around the country mainly focus on the creation of music, dance and fine arts, and there is little interest in the Yue Opera of traditional Chinese opera. There are also few full-time cadres of Yue Opera of drama. In some cultural centers at the county level, full-time cadres of Yue Opera no longer exist. | |
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| − | + | The Reason Why Yue Opera Faces Confusion | |
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| − | ' | + | Confusing in today's Yue Opera face of reason is various, but the main reason is that with the change of society and the continuous improvement of living standards. The broad masses of TV and home theater has been gradually into the people, families, people's interest constantly updated, more diverse cultural needs, and a variety of popular songs have taken young people's life. Culture is diverse, Yue Opera was gradually forgotten; Secondly, the propaganda of Yue Opera is not enough. Although the traditional Yue Opera has been quite popular with the masses, the propaganda is far less than that of Peking Opera in the whole country, which causes the dilution of Yue Opera in people's mind. The third is the lack of new strength of Yue Opera. Since the 1990s, fewer and fewer young people like Yue Opera, even fewer professional Yue Opera actors, and now the children basically do not even know what Yue Opera is; Fourth, the operating mechanism of the troupe is not working. It is far from enough for the professional troupe to rely on the financial allocation from the government alone. They have to perform outside to increase their income. (Zhang,2010) |
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| − | + | Thoughts on Inheritance and Innovation of Yue Opera | |
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| − | + | 1. Intensify Efforts to Cultivate Professional Yue Opera Actors | |
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| − | + | In the early 1950s, the period when Yue Opera flourished and developed was also the period when a large number of Art masters of Yue Opera came out. They internalized the art of Yue Opera into their lives, and their personalities and drama forms reached a harmonious unity, which became the highest condensation mode of Yue Opera art. Even when people at that time recalled the development of Yue Opera, the names of a large number of Yue Opera actors first appeared in their mind. Therefore, training a number of young actors to carry forward the Yue Opera with independent artistic life will be the first condition for Yue Opera to obtain its new development. | |
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| − | + | 2. Intensify the Creation of Scripts for Yue Opera | |
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| − | + | In particular, the audience should choose the most concerned good subject matter, in the spread of "Butterfly Lovers", "Xianglin Sister-in-law" and other classic bridge based on the new culture and people's appeal, innovation. If shaoxing opera wants to get enough attention and attention in the contemporary era, it must have scripts that can reflect the values of The Times and express the demands of the people as a guarantee. This should give enough care and attention to the playwright, establish a long-term mechanism to stimulate and protect their creative enthusiasm. | |
| − | + | 3. Innovate the Promotion Method of Yue Opera | |
| − | + | In the past, the art of Yue Opera was born as a kind of market culture of residents, but now, as a cultural heritage, Yue Opera is gradually transforming from popular culture to elegant art. Therefore, when it comes to effectively dealing with the cultural watch and spiritual breakout of Yue Opera, the first thing we need is to adjust our mentality towards the cultural phenomenon of Yue Opera. We do not advocate the Yue Opera itself directly to change to become a new culture, but should be advocated through the way of improvement and innovation make Yue Opera culture gradually in the masses of the people has the characteristics of a new era of traditional culture, such as development "Yue Opera" series of gen, create IP with Yue Opera character animation image, using new media communication way, Through a number of new channels, such as "live streaming of Internet celebrities", "school-enterprise cooperation" and "star endorsing", the new culture serves the traditional culture of Shaoxing opera and spreads the melody of Yue Opera among a wider social group. (Yang,2021) | |
| − | + | ===Conclusion=== | |
| + | As a traditional Chinese culture, Yue Opera has its own unique appreciation value. In today's multicultural world, we cannot abandon our traditional culture. We should try our best to inherit and carry forward our traditional culture, so that they can adapt to the changes of The Times and keep pace with The Times. But at the same time retain the traditional culture, let the world hear the voice of China. | ||
| + | ===References=== | ||
| + | *Jin Yingzi金英子(2012). 越剧传统文化基质和审美价值研究[Study on Traditional Culture Matrix and Aesthetic Value of Yue Opera]. 音乐探索Explorations in Music(02): 39-41. | ||
| + | *Liu Wenfeng刘文峰(2022). 扬长补短,再创辉煌——关于越剧传承发展的思考[Develop Strengths and Complement Weaknesses to create Brilliance -- Reflections on the Inheritance and Development of Yue Opera]. 中国非物质文化遗产China's Intangible Cultural Heritage(01): 35-39. | ||
| + | *Pan Yuqi潘玉琪(2009). 越剧的诞生、发展及其人文背景研究(1906-1949)[Study on the Birth, Development and Cultural Background of Yue Opera (1906-1949)].复旦大学Fudan University. | ||
| + | *Qian Hong, edited by the editorial board of Chinese Yue Opera Canon钱宏主编,《中国越剧大典》编委会编著(2006).《中国越剧大典》[The Grand Ceremony of Chinese Yue Opera].杭州市:浙江文艺出版社、浙江文艺音像出版社Hangzhou: Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, Zhejiang Literature and Art Audio and Video Publishing house. | ||
| + | *Yang Ruyuan杨汝远(2021). 论非遗文化在现代化进程中的守望与传承——以越剧为例[On the Watch and Inheritance of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Modernization Process -- Taking Yue Opera as An Example]. 汉字文化Sinogram Culture(06): 175-177. | ||
| + | *Ye Haixiong叶海雄(2016). 越剧传统文化基质和审美价值探讨[Discussion on Traditional Culture Matrix and Aesthetic Value of Shaoxing Opera]. 戏剧之家,Home Drama(06): 52. | ||
| + | *Zhang Peiying张配英(2010). 浅论民间越剧的传承与创新[On the Inheritance and Innovation of Folk Yue Opera]. 大舞台Great Stage(10): 79. | ||
| + | *Edited by Cultural and Historical Data Committee of Shengxian CPPCC嵊县政协文史资料委员会编(1992)﹐《越剧溯源》[The Origin of Yue Opera]. 浙江人民出版社Zhejiang People's Publishing House(5): 23 | ||
| − | + | ===Terms and expressions=== | |
| + | Yue Opera 越剧 | ||
| − | + | Chinese Folk Rap 落地唱书 | |
| − | + | Pingju opera 评剧 | |
| − | + | Little Choir 小歌班 | |
| − | + | Shaoxing Civil Opera 绍兴文戏 | |
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| − | + | Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭 | |
| − | + | ===Questions=== | |
| + | 1.What are the five major Chinese opera genres? | ||
| − | + | 2.Where is the birthplace of Yue Opera? | |
| − | + | 3.How to inherit and innovate Yue Opera? | |
| − | + | ===Answers=== | |
| + | 1.Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yue Opera, Pingju opera and Henan Opera. | ||
| − | + | 2.Shengzhou | |
| − | + | 3.Firstly, intensify efforts to cultivate professional Yue Opera actors.Secondly,intensify the creation of scripts for Yue Opera. Thirdly, innovate the promotion method of Yue Opera. | |
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- 20220630_Culture_1 papers 1-10: 1: 英语笔译 卞王倩 Bian Wangqian 202170081563 Europeanized Chinese and Cultural Factors Behind it, 2: 英语笔译 曹姣 Cao Jiao 202170081564 Research on court culture in the Tang Dynasty from the perspective of poem -- take Changhenge for example, 3 英语笔译 陈路瑶 Chen Luyao 202170081565, 4 英语笔译 崔晓凡 Cui Xiaofan 202170081566, 5 英语笔译 邓阳林 Deng Yanglin 202170081567, 6 英语笔译 高智慧 Gao Zhihui 202170081568, 7 英语笔译 何丽娜 He Lina 202170081569, 8 英语笔译 胡良明 Hu Liangming 202170081570, 9 英语笔译 黄琼 Huang Qiong 202170081571, 10 英语笔译 邝雨琪 Kuang Yuqi 202170081572
- 20220630_Culture_2 papers 11-20: 11 英语笔译 黎溢佳 Li Yijia 202170081573, 12 英语笔译 李思敏 Li Simin 202170081574, 13 英语笔译 李思源 Li Siyuan 202170081575, 14 英语笔译 李婷 Li Ting 202170081576, 15 英语笔译 李欣 Li Xin 202170081577, 16 英语笔译 李颖 Li Ying 202170081578, 17 英语笔译 李媛 Li Yuan 202170081579, 18 英语笔译 李梓婕 Li Zijie 202170081580, 19 英语笔译 梁思婷 Liang Siting 202170081581, 20 英语笔译 廖诗韵 Liao Shiyun 202170081582
- 20220630_Culture_3 papers 21-30: 21 英语笔译 刘唱 Liu Chang 202170081583, 22 英语笔译 刘乐乐 Liu Lele 202170081584, 23 英语笔译 刘双英 Liu Shuangying 202170081585, 24 英语笔译 刘婷 Liu Ting 202170081586, 25 英语笔译 刘瑶 Liu Yao 202170081587, 26 英语笔译 刘珍 Liu Zhen 202170081588, 27 英语笔译 龙翰良 Long Hanliang 202170081589, 28 英语笔译 罗姚林 Luo Yaolin 202170081590, 29 英语笔译 马艳焕 Ma Yanhuan 202170081591, 30 英语笔译 聂薇 Nie Wei 202170081592
- 20220630_Culture_4 papers 31-40: 31 英语笔译 孙丽君 Sun Lijun 202170081593, 32 英语笔译 仝雨梦 Tong Yumeng 202170081594, 33 英语笔译 童略雅 Tong Lueya 202170081595, 34 英语笔译 庹树梅 Tuo Shumei 202170081596, 35 英语笔译 王思琪 Wang Siqi 202170081597, 36 英语笔译 王亚娟 Wang Yajuan 202170081598, 37 英语笔译 肖冬晴 Xiao Dongqing 202170081599, 38 英语笔译 肖佳莉 Xiao Jiali 202170081600, 39 英语笔译 谢晓莹 Xie Xiaoying 202170081601, 40 英语笔译 熊嘉玲 Xiong Jialing 202170081602
- 20220630_Culture_5 papers 41-50: 41 英语笔译 颜媛 Yan Yuan 202170081603, 42 英语笔译 杨心怡 Yang Xinyi 202170081604, 43 英语笔译 杨紫微 Yang Ziwei 202170081605, 44 英语笔译 张国浩 Zhang Guohao 202170081606, 45 英语笔译 张姣玲 Zhang Jiaoling 202170081607, 46 英语笔译 张瑞 Zhang Rui 202170081608, 47 英语笔译 赵宇翔 Zhao Yuxiang 202170081609, 48 英语笔译 郑冬琴 Zheng Dongqin 202170081610, 49 英语笔译 钟青 Zhong Qing 202170081611, 50 英语笔译 周皓熙 Zhou Haoxi 202170081612
- 20220630_Culture_6 papers 51-60: 51 英语笔译 周哲 Zhou Zhe 202170081613, 52 英语笔译 朱丽娟 Zhu Lijuan 202170081614, 53 英语口译 段小蝶 Duan Xiaodie 202170081615, 54 英语口译 方楚晗 Fang Chuhan 202170081616, 55 英语口译 胡雯雯 Hu Wenwen 202170081617, 56 英语口译 黄天琪 Huang Tianqi 202170081618, 57 英语口译 兰绮 Lan Qi 202170081619, 58 英语口译 李丹 Li Dan 202170081620, 59 英语口译 李立飞 Li Lifei 202170081621, 60 英语口译 莫雨婷 Mo Yuting 202170081622
- 20220630_Culture_7 papers 61-70: 61 英语口译 彭慧璇 Peng Huixuan 202170081623, 62 英语口译 时友洁 Shi Youjie 202170081624, 63 英语口译 伍佳惠 Wu Jiahui 202170081625, 64 英语口译 夏晶 Xia Jing 202170081626, 65 英语口译 向师琦 Xiang Shiqi 202170081627, 66 英语口译 向望 Xiang Wang 202170081628, 67 英语口译 徐舞 Xu Wu 202170081629, 68 英语口译 张静芝 Zhang Jingzhi 202170081630, 69 英语口译 张旻丰 Zhang Minfeng 202170081631, 70 日语笔译 曹梦然 Cao Mengran 202170081632
- 20220630_Culture_8 papers 71-80: 71 日语笔译 胡梦琪 Hu Mengqi 202170081633, 72 日语笔译 张白鹭 Zhang Bailu 202170081634, 73 朝鲜语笔译 刘安莉 Liu Anli 202170081635, 74 朝鲜语笔译 王思佳 Wang Sijia 202170081636, 75 朝朝鲜语笔译 徐盖 Xu Gai 202170081638, 76 朝鲜语笔译 徐文慧 Xu Wenhui 202170081639, 77 外国语言文学 Akira Jantarat 202121080009, 78 比较文学与跨文化研究 Mahzad 202021080004, 79 英语语言文学 Mimi 2020GBJ002301
英语笔译 王亚娟 Wang Yajuan 202170081598
Introduction
Filial piety has been a tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times and has been passed down from generation to generation. As the core concept and main feature of traditional Chinese ethics, filial piety has long been priority in the traditional Chinese politics and cultures. (Xiao Longhang 2006: 1)China's unique patriarchal social system determines that filial piety goes through a process from a religious ethic of ancestor worship to a family ethic and then to a political ethic.
Since the pre-Qin period, monarchs have advocated respect for the elderly and used filial piety to educate the people; thinkers from various periods have put forward their ideas about respect for the elderly and have written books to preach it. In feudal society, when the system was thriving, filial piety was closely linked to politics and became a criterion for selecting talents; in modern society, filial piety has also been given a new meaning in the modern era. (Fan Yan 2016;11) This article will focus on the origin and development of filial piety in China, analyze the cultural values and limitations of filial piety of Chinese filial piety, then briefly compare and analyzes Chinese and western filial piety, finally a brief conclusion about filial piety will be given.
Origin and Basic Meaning of Filial Piety
The exact origin of the idea of filial piety is still inconclusive in academic circles. Because in the absence of exact archaeological findings and written records, all conclusions drawn by scholars are only speculations, with imaginary approximations but no factual results. Therefore, the origin can only be explored in the ancient literature. (Wang Xiaohu 2014:3 .)
The explanation of filial piety in Erya-Shihun(《尔雅·释训》) is "being nice to parents is filial piety"; the explanation in Relics from South is “The Chinese character ‘孝’(filial piety) is a combination of the Chinese character ‘老’ (old) with the lower right corner omitted, and 子 (son), thus, 孝 means to serve one's parents well, and it means that children respect and support their parents.’’ Today's scholars interpret the Jinwen(金文inscriptions on ancient bronze objects) form of filial piety in much the same way as the above, and the explanation of filial piety in the Ci Hai(《辞海》) is “to be nice to parents well”, which is almost identical to the explanation in the Erya;Tang Yin's On the Origin of Characters《文字源流浅说》 is even more interesting: “Like a '子'(son) walking with his head bearing ‘老’(the old man), showing ‘孝’(filial piety) by the shape of supporting an old man to walk.’’ It can be seen that the ancient form of the character "孝”(filial piety) and the meaning of "nice to parents" match perfectly, so "filial piety" is regarded as a kind of good deed and virtue of children to their parents. (Yang Jianhai 2017:10)
In history, records of "respect olders" first began with Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors:"昔者,有虞氏贵德而尚齿,夏后氏贵爵而尚齿,殷人贵富而尚齿,周人贵亲而尚齿”(From the time of Yu and Shun, although they respected virtuous people, they did not forget to respect older people; in the Xia Dynasty, although they respected people with titles, they did not forget to respect older people; in the Yin Dynasty, although they respected people with money, they did not forget to respect older people; in the Zhou Dynasty, although they respected people with kinship, they did not forget to respect older people.”)and “有虞氏养国老于上庠,养庶老于下庠;夏后氏养国老于东序,养庶老于西......(Fan Yan 2016:11)(In the era of the yu, the retired senior officials were entertained at the upper school and the retired scholars at the lower school; the offspring of Xia entertained the retired senior officials in the east and the old people in the west...)
From the available information, the Jin dynasty appeared on the "filial piety" records, such as "“天子明哲,观孝与申(神)”(The emperor judged a man's virtue by his filial piety and religious belief) People in Yin Period believed that the ancestors could directly worship God and are the main medium between God and the human world. Since the ancestors were the medium between the human world and the divine world, they naturally became the masters of the earth and thus could bring disasters and blessings. (Yang Jianhai 2017:134)This is the reason why the Yin people attached special importance to heavy burial and had religious worship of their ancestors.
After King Wu of Zhou pacified the world, he redistributed the world and restored the social orders, therefore, Zhou Dynasty not only inherited the traditions of the previous dynasties, but also created customs and festivals to honor and respect the elderly. For example, the "乡饮酒(country drinking ceremony)" was a unique form of village gathering in the Zhou Dynasty, where the younger generation expressed their respect to their elders by making a toast. During the banquet, ancient songs or chapters from the Book of Songs(《诗经》) were played to praise the virtue and prestige of the elderly. (Fan Yan 2016:11)
Filial piety in the sense of ethical norms is not fully highlighted until Confucius: "“夫孝,天之经也,地之义也,民之行也。”(Filial piety, like the operation of heaven, is eternal and unchanging; like the natural growth of all things on earth, it is natural and justified, and is the natural behavior of the people.)and “天地之性,人为贵。人之行,莫大于孝。”"The nature of heaven is valued by man. The conduct of man is no greater than filial piety." Mencius inherited this view and proposed, "“事孰为大?事亲为大“(What is the greatest thing to do? To serve one's parents is the greatest) (Fan Yan 2016:11). Confucianism believes that filial piety and respect for one's elders is a natural and righteous thing to do, and it is the foundation of one's life.
Confucianism has laid the foundation for the most influential part of filial piety in Chinese people for more than two thousand years because Confucian sages, represented by Confucius, completed the transformation of filial piety from religion to philosophy, from "pursuing filial piety" to "nurturing filial piety" during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. As we all know, Confucius created a philosophical system with "benevolence" as the core concept, reinterpreting the Western Zhou "rites" from the viewpoint of "doctrine of benevolence". He also believes that filial piety is no longer due to the external pressure of society and the constraints of gods, but is an emotional demand and moral consciousness from people's heart and he also combined "filial piety" with "rites", saying that one should treat one's parents and elders with "生,事之以礼;死,葬之以礼,祭之以礼’’ (Yang Jianhai 2017:135)(rites in life, rites in burial, and rites in sacrifice) .
Evolution of the Meaning of Filial Piety
After the formation of filial piety in the time of Confucius, it continued to develop.
1.The Han and Wei And Jin Period
During the Han Dynasty, there was a more obvious trend of expanding the idea of filial piety, and after the adoption of Dong Zhongshu's proposal of “罢黜百家,独尊儒术(dismissing the hundred schools and respecting only Confucianism)”, the Han Emperor began to promote Confucianism. The idea of "filial piety" was closely related to social politics, and during the Western Han Dynasty, the implementation of filial piety was encouraged through the establishment of an official for filial piety, and the old caring was established as a system, which had extremely severe legal penalties for those who were not provided for their parents - would to be beheaded.(Ma Yaobin 2017:101)Through such external coercive norms, instead of focusing on the internalization of the idea from the heart, the idea of filial piety was heavily colored by politics, making the people's filial behavior more formal.
From the beginning, the rulers of the Wei and Jin periods advocated the rule of the state by filial piety as the basis of governance and he sets an example for all his subjects by serving his own mother personally. The rulers of the Wei and Jin dynasties attached great importance to the Classic of Filial Piety, not only having the great scholars teach it, but also made notes themselves. When the emperor lectured on The Classic of Filial Piety(《孝经》), he had to be accompanied by important ministers, and there was a clear division of labor, including lecturing, reading, reading and extracting sentences. (Fan Yan 2016:12)
2.The Tang Dynasty, Song and Yuan Dynasty
In the Tang dynasty, although filial piety was still not given much attention, the ethics of filial piety was still enriched and developed by the royal family out of the need to rule. First, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang twice annotated The Classic of Filial Piety(《孝经》), which became the common version used today; second, The Classic of Filial Piety became a compulsory subject for the imperial examinations; third, Tang Code(《唐律疏议》), which is the highest legislative achievement of the Chinese legal system, pays special attention to filial piety, in which there are 58 articles that can reflect "filial piety".(Yang Zhigang 2012:262)
During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the traditional idea of filial piety in China was to a certain extent alienated, for example, the filial sons and acts of filial piety in the book 24 Stories of Filial Piety(《二十四孝》) which was written in the Yuan Dynasty, could find their prototypes in the Song Dynasty. 24 Stories of Filial Piety was collected by Guo Juijing of the Yuan Dynasty, with many versions and mostly similar contents, recording the stories of twenty-four filial sons from the ancient times to the Tang and Song dynasties, such as Zhongyu "carrying rice for a hundred miles" and Wang Bao "hearing the thunder and weeping at the grave" and so on,which all reflect the deepest concern and respect of children for their parents, and even after their parents have passed away, they are still able to respect and raise their parents. . (Ma Yaobin 2017:101) However, there are also some foolish acts of filial piety, such as Guo Ju's "burying his son for his mother"and Wang Xiang's "lying on ice for seeking carp for mother", which are either the loss of basic humanity or foolishness, and are not worth promoting.
3.The Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty
During the Ming Dynasty, against the backdrop pf reinforced centralization of power and people’s confined minds, filial piety was advocated in a perverse way, and it was the darkest period of feudal culture. Luo Lun said in the Outline of Principle of Feudal Moral Conduct(《扶植纲常疏》): "孝者,天之经也,地之义也。国而非此不可以为国,家而非此不可以为家。’’(Filial piety is unalterable principle. Without it, the country can not be the country and home can not be home ) (Xiao Longhang 2006:9)There were many loyal subjects and many filial sons in the Ming Dynasty, but many of them were foolishly loyal and blind filial people under the dark rituals,which had a profound influence on later generations.
The Qing dynasty, as a foreign regime, after entering the country to inherit the great unity, continuously learn the Han culture and also with the power of "filial piety" to rule, and the Kangxi emperor placed emphasis on the three principles and the five rules in which the "filial piety" was put in the first place. He believed that to rule the world, the emperor should respect the rule of filial piety. At the same time, the folk power also spared no effort to promote and publicize filial piety with the help of popular teaching materials, such as The Hundred Filial Piety Charts(《百孝图》), which were widely disseminated until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republican period. (Yang Jianhai 2017:137)
4.In Modern Times
In modern times, new reform and revolutionary forces have become increasingly critical of traditional filial piety, and南京临时政府《临时约法》( the Provisional Treaty enacted by the Nanjing Provisional Government) , completely ousting Confucianism, which had ruled China for a long time, making democratic thought the mainstream ideology of the democratic revolution. (Li Renjun 2010:42)
The New Culture Movement (新文化运动)made an unprecedented rethinking of filial piety. In his essay Speaking of Filial Piety(《说孝》), Wu Yu pointed out that "the original meaning of filial piety is to gratitude." It is a social virtue for children to care for their parents, but it is wrong to derive other morals from it while Chen Duxiu believed that the adverse effect of the patriarchal system, with its emphasis on filial piety was to exacerbate social inequality." Lu Xun, who was a master of ideas in establishing a new type of ethical relationship between parents and children during the New Culture Movement, believed that love and respect was the cornerstone of establishing a new type ideology between families, "To expand this love, one must understand and take the child as the principal; secondly to guide instead of commanding or chastising; and third, to liberate, so that the child becomes an independent person." (Xiao Qunzhong 2001:124)
In short, during the New Culture Movement, these thoughts about the establishment of a new ethic of father-child relationship, which was consistent with the slogan of "democracy, science, advocating new morality and opposing old morality"at that time. (Li Renjun 2010:43)This new concept of "freedom and equality" also laid the ideological foundation for the establishment of new relations in modern times.
5.In Contemporary Times
In contemporary times, people have begun to adhere to the Marxist and rethink the current development of filial piety and its practice in our country. In recent years, when the song "《常回家看看》Come home often" has entered thousands of households, filial piety has once again become a hot topic. People are beginning to rethink the idea of filial piety in the context of the new era, and general public is focusing more on the concern and reflection on parents' emotions. (Ma Yaobin 2017:102)
Influence of Filial Piety on China
Filial piety has a long history as a traditional Chinese ethical culture and has a universal influence in society. Its strong power has played a great role in consolidating the centralized rule of feudal dynasties and stability of civil families in successive generations. (Li Renjun 2010:45) However, many of these views are feudal dregs that are having a negative impact on society.
1.Negative Influence
In our history, the concept of filial piety has had many shortcomings.
(1)Fool the People
Traditional filial piety emphasizes the "three principles and five rules" to fool the people, just as Confucius said: "民可使由之,不可使知之"(With the people, we can only make them do what we want them to do, not why they want to do it). By propagating the idea of loyalty and filial piety and polarizing it, the people were made obedient and the ministers were made loyal, not thinking of rebellion and rarely rebelling. Wu Yu points out that “China has been turned into a big factory for the production of obedient people. Such is the great role of the word filial piety!" (Zhao Qing, Zheng Cheng 1985)
(2)Inequality
The relationship between ruler and subject, father and son in traditional filial piety and the resulting hierarchical concept lead to the inequality between people. Although it involves the idea of respecting the old and loving the young, it is always the "elders" that is absolutely dominant. (Xiao Longhang 2006:29)
(3)Feudalism
Filial piety that has been transformed by the ruling class and used to rule the people, should be criticized and discarded. The meaning and role of filial piety has been mystified, and myths and legends about filial piety being able to sense heavenly things have spread throughout the world. (Li Chunhua, Yu Dahai 2006:26) As a result, there were some extreme cases and some people did inhumane things, such as hurting themselves to benefit one's parents and kill one's son to support his mother, thus exerting a bad impact on history.
(4)Conservativeness
Persevere and unity can be said to be the basic spirit of Chinese filial piety. Filial piety emphasizes respect for ancestors and treating parents well, "三年无改于父道”(He didn't change his father's ways for three years), and respect and obedience to their parents and ancestors,and if not, they are regarded as "rebellious sons" and "black sheep" and are severely reprimanded. Moreover, it is very conservative and unequal, as the sons identify with their fathers and submit to them. (Xiao Qunzhong 2001;42 )
2.Positive Influence
Despite the many shortcomings of filial piety, we cannot deny the positive role it has played in our country's history:
(1)Shaping the Character of People.
Filial piety is the basis for establishing one's character. Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty said, "治身莫先于孝”(There is no better way to sahp one's character than by filial piety.) "夫孝,始于事亲,中于事君,终于立身”(Filial piety begins with serving one's relatives and ends with serving the king,Finally, it is the foundation of shaping one’s mind.)" The scope of falial piety no longer limited to the family, but a social cause. (Xiao Longhang 2006:28)The responsibility to parents and family constitutes an inexhaustible motivation for the ancient people to build their career and dedicate themselves to the country and the nation, which promotes social progress.
(2)Promote Family Harmony
Filial piety, that is the core foundation of family harmony. Our parents are the source of our life. The affection between children and parents is deepest, and filial piety is the fundamental of being a human being. "睦于父母之党,可谓孝矣”If you are good to your parents, you can be considered filial" (Shen Shanhong 19895 ). Being filial to parents is conducive to improving family relations, creating a sense of wholeness and harmony in the family, and promoting the development of all members of the family.
(3)Enriching Chinese Culture
As traditional Chinese culture dominated by Confucian culture, with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism interlinked, filial piety is the mainstream of Confucianism, and also is found in Shi and Tao, and has contributed to the development of Shi and Tao culture. The Buddhist scriptures such as The Anthology of Hong Ming(《弘明集》) and the Taoist scriptures such as Scripture of the Great Peace(《太平经》)are also rich in filial thoughts. (Xiao Long Hang 2006:33)In addition, with the passage of time, filial piety gradually integrated into the fields of philosophy, literature, art, and folklore, playing an expanding role for the national culture.
(4)Maintaining Social Stability
“其为人也孝弟,而好犯上者鲜矣。不好犯上,而好作乱者,未之有也。”(It is rare to see the kind of person who is filial to his parents and loves his brother but likes to offend his superiors; it is even more rare to see the kind of person who does not like to offend his superiors but likes to rebel.)"“事亲者,居上不骄,为下不乱。”(Ning Yegao 1995)反之,“居上而骄,为下而乱则刑,在丑而争则兵。“(He who serves his parents is not proud when he is in a higher position, not disruptive when he is in a lower position, and not contentious when he is among the people. If you are proud in a higher position, you will perish; if you are disorderly in a lower position, you will be punished; if you are angry among the people, you will be attacked.)This kind of conduct, which has been honored for thousands of years, does have a deep meaning and a realistic role. Moreover, the value of filial piety does not lie only in loving one's relatives, as filial piety begins with loving one's parents and then moves on to love people and love society. Therefore, filial piety is conducive to social harmony.
Comparison between Chinese and Western Filial Piety
Filial piety in both China and the West emerged with family, and its initial meaning is basically the same: filial to parents. (Lian Luxia 2012:) However, Chinese and Western filial piety are based on different geographical, political, economic, and cultural conditions, which influence the differences in the Chinese and Western understanding of the meaning of filial piety.
(1) Differences in the Objects In the feudal society, parents had absolute authority. After entering feudal society, Chinese filial piety culture developed from respect for parents at the family level to loyalty to the ruler at the social level. By promoting filial culture, feudal rulers were able to achieve their political indoctrination and feudal rule. In an environment that preached the combination of loyalty and filial piety, and the integration of family and ruling (Li Xiang, 2010:52), filial piety was even bound to people as a code of conduct in ancient patriarchal societies.
In the West, the meaningful of filial culture at the social level is not significant, and its mainly refers to respect for parents. Unlike China, however, respect does not mean absolute obedience, and the West attaches more importance to the personal independence between parents and children, and it is more often reflected in the religious sphere. (Huang Shujuan 2021:190)
(2)Differences Between Chinese and Western Family Ethics
Confucius said, "事父母几谏,见志不从,又敬不违,劳而不怨。(Serve your parents, and if they are wrong, politely advise them. If you express your own opinion and your parents are unwilling to listen to it, you should still be respectful to them and not disobey them, and work for them without resentment.)" Chinese feudal society took filial piety as the fundamental of feudal rule. Influenced by Confucianism, parents and elders had absolute authority in the family, and filial piety was reflected in the attitude and behavior of children toward their parents.
The West pursues equality and believes that all men are born equal, and that the relationship between children and parents is also equal. According to Rousseau, "The most primitive society, the only natural society, is the family; the son is dependent on the father only when his protection is needed, and once this need ceases, the natural union breaks down. Each becomes equally independent of the other." (Hu Yuanjiang, Chen Haitao, 2007:48)
All in all, the differences between Chinese and Western attitudes to filial piety exist objectively, so in the face of this difference, one cannot simply judge it by good or bad and the two cultures in different countries are valuable treasures for all mankind. (Lian Lu Xia 2012:203) Today, the Chinese and Western cultures of filial piety are influencing each other and learning from each other because Chinese culture of filial piety shines with the light of humanity, while Western pension system is conducive to economic development. With the continuous development of globalization, western societies can learn from Chinese love and care for the elderly while in the face of social problems such as population aging, there should be more equal between Chinese elders and youngers.
Conclusion
Filial piety has profoundly influenced the habits, psychological qualities and national spirit of our nation. According to Mr. Wei Yingmin, "filial piety is not only applicable to one society, one class or one era, but it is super-class or cross-era, and it is applicable in several eras" (He Naichuan 2002).
In the study of filial piety culture in China, we analyze the history of filial piety as well as its values and drawbacks. We can have a clearer understanding of filial piety, and then better take its essence and remove its dross. Traditional culture is to be traced and analyzed in order to inherit and innovate.
Filial piety is not only an ethical requirement, but also a tool of the feudal rulers in history and in recent times, people have gained a deeper understanding of filial piety through the inheritance and renewal of traditional culture. Respect for elders is a need for human development, and traditional culture plays an important role in maintaining family relationships. At present, China vigorously promotes the core values of socialism, and a harmonious and stable society needs filial piety to play its positive role, so under the new situation, it is the mission to inherit and carry forward the reasonable part of traditional culture and actively explore a new way to deal with filial culture.
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英语笔译 肖冬晴 Xiao Dongqing 202170081599
Abstract
As a common linguistic phenomenon, verbal humour is an important part of our daily communication. Grice’s cooperative principle is one of the major principle of pragmatics which is ubiquitous in people’s daily conversations. Therefore, it could provide a new perspective from which we analyse verbal humour. Chinese sketch comedy, also known as Chinese Xiaopin, is an art commonly performed by a group of comic actors or comedians presenting a series of short, amusing scenes called “sketches”. This thesis intends to work out the mechanisms of verbal humour in Chines sketch comedy from the perspective of violation of cooperative principle. It reveals in this special art form the violation of quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim as well as the manner maxim in the process of analysing and proves that the violation of cooperative principle could avoid taking verbal humour at face value and arouse deeper thinking about this topic.
Key words
Verbal humour; Chinese sketch comedy; cooperative principle
Introduction
Humour plays an important role in people’s daily conversations. As a kind of lubricant of verbal communication, it creates an easy and comfortable environment, provides a happy and relaxing atmosphere and helps bring interlocutors closer. Researches and studies on this topic at home and abroad could date back to as early as the 4th century B.C. when the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan composed “There in front of me remains nothing but vastness and silence(眴兮杳杳,孔静幽默)” in his masterpiece The Nine Elegies, meaning vastness.
However, the “humour” this paper talks about is the one transliterated by Lin Yutang. At home, researches on humour have greatly progress since the 1980s. Li Lanping (2002) believes that there are intrinsic connections between the principles in pragmatics and the triggering of humour. She discussed the relationship between the two parts under the guidance of the basic principles of pragmatics and the theory of conversational implicature. Yang Ting (2020), on the other hand, analysed the linguistic phenomenon of humour to further decipher the mechanism of it from the perspective of phonetics, semantics, pragmatics, contexts, figures of speech and logic of languages respectively. Ge Lingling (2011) focused on the translation of humour texts from the perspective of verbal humour so as to figure out the translation pattern of texts of this kind.
Abroad, researches on humour are multidisciplinary, involving anthropology, psychology, sociology, linguistics, semiotics and artificial intelligence which are ultimately centred on superiority theory, release theory and incongruity theory. For instance, Charles Gruner explained that wonder is an essential element of humour and that there is always a “winner” and a “loser” in humourous contexts. Freud the representative figure of release theory analysed the mechanism of humour from the perspective of psychoanalysis and divided jokes into intentional ones and unintentional ones(Cai Hui, Yin Xing, 2005:5). Kant was said to be the first to denote humour from the perspective of incongruity theory who pointed out that humour comes from a sudden twist from expectation and the inaccessibility of it(Cai Hui, Yin Xing, 2005:5).
There are studies concentrating on the mechanism of humour in comedy. For example, Dang Fengxiao and Cheng Xiongyong(2021) studied on the humourous language in sketch comedy from the perspective of speech act theory while Wei Ya'e studied the sketch comedy presented by Mahua Funage using logic rules. Looking across the border, Adesoye Ronke Eunice (2018) investigated humour and how it is achieved using phonological processes. Parashar Poorva and Tewari Paul (2020) analysed the humour in The Lonely Island and tried to work out its essence as well as how absurdism and stupid comedy provides insight into millennial and internet psychology. Alex Clayton (2020) studied humour from the perspective of rhetoric through vivid, highly readable analyses of individual sketches.
From all the above, it’s clear that the studies on humour are basically centred around linguistics, literature and figures of speech while researches abroad are involved with more disciplines ranging from anthropology to AI. What’s worth mentioning is that although humour was first brought forward in China, researches on this topic went through a far longer history in the west which could date back to the ancient Greek times. Meanwhile, researches on verbal humour in Chinese sketches are rare. Therefore, it’s necessary to work further on this subject. This thesis will adopt the cooperative principle to analyse the relationship between verbal humour in Chinese sketches and the violation of the principle in which the theoretical basis of cooperative theory, its classification as well as the detailed analysis of its four kinds of violation in Chinese sketch comedy will be covered.
Cooperative Principle
Conversational implicature as the core principle of pragmatics theory was first proposed by Oxford philosopher Herbert Paul Grice. Grice noticed that in daily conversations people do not say thing directly but tend to imply them. He believes that there is some regularity in conversation. “Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. They are characteristically, to some degree at least, cooperative efforts; and each participant recognizes in them, to some extent, a common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepted direction.”(Herbert Paul Grice, 1975:45) In other words, we seem to follow some principle like the following: “make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”(ibid.) And this principle is known as COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE, or CP for short.
To further specify the CP, Grice introduced four key categories of maxims, namely quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim, each of which contains several specific maxims and sub-maxims. In simple terms, quantity maxim is to be informative, quality maxim is to be truthful, relation maxim is to be relevant and manner maxim is to be clear. These describe specific rational principles observed by people who follow the cooperative principle in pursuit of effective communication. Therefore, applying the maxims is a way to explain the link between utterances and what is understood from them.
Yet the use of terms such as “principle” and “maxims” does not mean that the CP and its maxims will be followed everywhere. Despite the wide use of CP in daily conversations, people would more often than not violate these principles in actual communication. When basic communication is interfered, it’s common for people to notice the violation of CP. As a result, the hearer has to make efforts to figure out the implicature so as to understand what the speaker means. Conversational implicature, in fact, is the direct cause of humour. Speaker only violates CP to achieve a sense of humour when the hearer manages to interpret the conversational implicatures under the surface and enjoys the pleasure brought by humour.
Chinese Sketch Comedy
Chinese sketch comedy first gained popularity after the Spring Festival Gala in 1984 when comedian Chen Peisi presented “eating noodles” on stage with his partner Zhu Shimao. Since then, this art form embodying acting and setting on stage sprung up like mushrooms across China and underwent refinement after years of development. Famous sketch comedians include Chen Peisi, Zhao Benshan, Fan Wei, Guo Da, Pan Changjiang, Song Dandan and so forth. The advent of the millennial witnessed the flourishing of this artistic form in which passionate performances of the younger generation, with Shen Teng, Ma Li, and Jia Ling taking the lead, engaged with great enthusiasm and produced a series of humourous yet educational works.
3.1 Historical origin
Chinese Sketch comedy got its name from art schools and performing groups. In the performing art community, the single or group performance which creates a simple scene through body and language is dubbed as “sketch comedy”, an event originally adopted to examine the basics of students of performing arts when teachers threw a topic during an interview and students were required to respond to that on the spot.
As a form of performance about small things in people's daily lives, Chinese sketch comedy has inherited qualities, and developed from other forms of comedy, such as stage play, xiangsheng, errenzhuan and comic drama and is generally believed to originate in the 1980s. Normally, sketch comedy revolves around just one topic, but with a lot of action and lively language. With the help of the promotion by the annual Spring Festival Gala, Chinese sketch comedy became a very popular artistic form in China. The first sketch comedy in China was“eating noodles” (in 1984) which was performed by Chen Peisi. Classic Chinese sketch comedy includes “Blind Date” performed by Zhao Benshan and Huang Xiaojuan in 1989, “The Adventures of Migrant Worker” led by Gong Hanlin and Zhao Lirong in 1996 and “Selling Crutches” by Zhao Benshan and Fan Wei in 2001, etc. Famous comedy groups in operation are DEYUNSHE initiated by Guo Degang, Mahua FunAge best known for its member Shen Teng, Big Bowl Entertainment led by Jia Ling, Zhao Benshan and his students, and Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture started by Li Dan, in which Mahua FunAge, Big Bowl Entertainment and Xiaoguo are still active on screen taking up sketch comedy, the Zhao’s team play “partially” for its fans in China’s northeast and DEYUNSHE mainly focus on passing on crosstalk to the next generation for the audience.
3.2 Features of Chinese Sketch Comedy
Chinese sketch comedy is sharp and witty, with simple plots, which represents as the most fundamental character that distinguish itself from other forms of art and performance. It may not be as sophisticated as other stage performances such as drama and opera, but it is able to render to its audience wisdom and thought-provoking perceptions based on its witty dialogue wrapped up in humour.
Chinese sketch comedy is also an art form that is highly narrative. As many of the topics are directly taken from the life of the people living in the grassroot, it appeals to all ages and entertains people from all works of life. Stories are the fundamental part of sketch comedies which are presented by the characters and the development of the plot interwoven with hookers of suspense, surprise and sudden changes.
Laughter is what sketch comedy aims to achieve ultimately. As the embodiment of stage play, xiangsheng, errenzhuan and comic drama, the modern sketch comedy manages to give the strengths of the artistic forms into full play with the help of modern technology, throwing humourous verbal “packages” consecutively and smoothly to the audience in the hope of eliciting ecstasy from them.
After giving a brief explanation of the theoretical basis and development of Chinese sketch comedy, the following chapter is to elaborate and exemplify the mechanism of humour in specific cases from the perspective of violation of CP in its four key categories, namely the violation of quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim.
3.3 Classifications of Chinese Sketch Comedy
Chinese sketch comedy could be divided into different types with different names in accordance with the changing measurements. For example, from the size and scale of the art, Chinese sketch comedy could be classified into two types: multi-act ones and one-act ones. When looked from the perspective of the era of its theme, it could be divided into historical and modern ones. However, if it is categorised according to the effects of its artistic expressions, there are three kinds of Chinese sketch comedies, namely tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy.
An Overview of Cooperative Principle Violation in Chinese Sketch Comedy
As the kind of sketch comedy presented on stage are plenty, the cases this thesis is to select and analyse are mainly to taken from the ones presented by Mahua FunAge and Big Bowl Entertainment. Here is the detailed analysis of the comic dialogues:
4.1 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Quantity Maxim
Quantity maxim requires that the contribution is as informative as required. In other words, the contribution should not be more informative than is required. However, this maxim is often violated in daily conversation when too much or incomplete contributions are made, which is especially common and humourous when it comes to sketch comedy jokes. For example:
Hao Jian: Oh my god! Are you feeling alright? Where did you hurt?
The old lady (lying on the road groaning): Oh, my elbow! Oh, my kneecaps! And my waist! None of them are painful!
The example above is taken from “To Help or not to Help”(《扶不扶》) in the Spring Festival Gala in 2014. In the opening part of the comedy, Hao the biker was intended to get his broken bike repaired after a car accident. On the way to the repair shop, an old lady with memory problems accidentally slipped on the ice and fell at the back of his bicycle, mistaking him to be the one who knocked her down. In this dialogue, the old lady was expected to answer where was painful. However, she adopted a funny “elimination” method carrying a bunch of irrelevant body parts as her reply. By creating a surprise contrary to what most of the audience would tend to presume, conversations of this kind produce a comic effect by violating quantity maxim.
Here is another case taken from “Making Friends”(《投其所好》) played in 2015:
Official: Is it true that you loved playing ping-pong in your spare time at your department?
Hao Jian(interrupts): I apologise. It was me being too playful. I now see that I was wrong and I swear that I’ll never play ping-pong again! If I were to commit it again, I would have my hands cut……
This satirical sketch comedy focused on the social phenomenon of “making friends” through bribery in order to get things done. In the part mentioned, what the official intended to do was to persuade Hao to practise more and try to be proficient in table tennis so as to flatter the new boss. However, Hao misunderstood the official. Instead of giving a “yes” or “no” to the question, he added up many remarks and even made an oath. It was the violation of quantity maxim in his clumsiness that made this part of acting hilarious.
4.2 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Quality Maxim
Quality maxim requires the interlocutors to be sincere and talk about true things. It has two sub-maxims, namely “do not say what you believe is false” and “do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.” But in real life, this maxim is also often violated by people who tries not to hurt other people’s feelings or who with special intensions. Here is an example from “The Real and Fake Teacher”(《真假老师》) made its debut on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in 2018:
Teacher: Nice to meet you, Madam, I’m Xiaoming’s head teacher, Ms Jia.
Cleaner: You too! I’m Xiaoming’s mother, Jia (the surname ‘Jia’ and fake are homophones in Chinese. Here the cleaner accidentally blurted it out).
Teacher: Excuse me?
Cleaner: I mean, my family name’s also Jia.
Teacher: But I remember Xiaoming’s parent is called Wang Guixiang(apparently a girl’s name)…
Cleaner: And that’s his father.
Teacher: Zhang Xiaoming actually had a father named Wang Guixiang?
Cleaner: You see, we are from a quite complicated family…
In China, it is a tradition to name the child after the surname of one of the parents, normally that of the father. In this example, the cleaner tried to make a cover-up for her accident alleging the girlish name Wang Guixiang(meaning the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus) which has nothing to do with Xiaoming’s last name, belongs to the boy’s father. By stating consciously something fake one after another, the cleaner created a sense of humour.
Here is another example violating quality maxim from “Happiness of Today”(《今天的幸福》):
Wife: Tell me a little bit about your father please, baby.
Hao Jian: My dad is a huge success in the future! You know what, he even gets his name on the Fordes list!
Husband (poking Hao, whispering): It’s Forbes!
Hao Jian: Oh, right! Forbes made it later, too. Yet he still can’t hold a handle to my dad…
"Happiness of Today" was a sketch comedy inspired by the time-travelling drama and TV series such as “Palace”(《宫》) and “Treading on Thin Ice”(《步步惊心》). In this scene, Hao Jian was asked to play the son of the wife of his friend who travelled all along from the future back to the present to reassure the “mother” who’s in labour and mitigate her prenatal syndrome. In this example, Hao Jian was making up something that was clearly not true to humour his pregnant “mother”. What made this dialogue even more funny was his lack of knowledge about the “Forbes list” and the clumsy cover-up he made after correct hints from his partner.
4.3 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Relation Maxim
Relation maxim is not only one of the most important maxims of the pragmatics theory, but also a protocol with which should be complied by all. It requires speakers to talk about things which are relevant to the topics. Violation of this maxim could bring about humour as well. The following examples are also taken from the sketch comedy “The Real and Fake Teacher”:
Xiaoming: You see, I am a high school student. Recently I have made some mistakes at school and my teacher is about to conduct a home visit. But the thing is, my parents are currently working abroad and I’m afraid my teacher be here at any minute, so I was wondering if you could, er, wow, that’s a little embarrassing…
Cleaner: Oh, I see. When will she arrive?
Xiaoming: She’ll be here at 10:00.
Cleaner: I’ll finish my job at 9:50 sharp.
In this example, what the student meant was to ask the cleaner to pretend as his mother so that there would be a parent present for the coming home visit. However, the cleaner misunderstood him and gave an irrelevant reply to the request. In this way, humour was generated.
Here is another example taken from this episode concerning the violation of relation maxim:
Teacher: You see, school education won’t do without the help of family education. After all, family is the place where goodness starts. These are the words of the famous educator Sukhomlynsky. I’m sure you must know about him, don’t you?
Cleaner: Eat… eat an apple, please.
In this case, the teacher quoted a motto from Sukhomlynsky, an influential educator from the Soviet Union to remind the “mother” the important role family and family education plays in a child’s development. However, the cleaner obviously had no idea of the educator and didn’t know how to respond. To avoid awkwardness and break the silence, she had only to hand the teacher an apple and divert her attention. In doing so, laughter was elicited from her irrelevant behaviour.
4.4 Verbal Humour Resulted from Violation of Manner Maxim
Unlike the three maxims above which focus on the contents conveyed in the process of talking, manner maxim mainly concentrates on the way how things are expressed. Its sub-maxims include to avoid obscurity of expression, to avoid ambiguity, to be brief and to be orderly. But this maxim is often violated in real life, too. Below is an example taken form the comedy “Happiness of Today” (《今天的幸福》) presented in the Spring Festival Gala in 2012:
Wife: My dear, what do you do then?
Hao Jian: (to the husband, whispering) Ah? Daddy, I don’t think we talked about this before …
Husband: Never mind. Just make up one! As if your mother were a master of the names of jobs.
Hao Jian: I scrub (the husband poking him)…wash…bathe…I study the epidermis of human beings!
Wife: Oh, you are a doctor then!
Hao Jian: You see, I specialise on dirt-ology.
In this comedy, Hao was actually a bather whose main job was to help scrub and wash the dirt off the customers in a public bathhouse. When his “mother” asked him about his job, he described it in an obscure way and even coined a term to sound more professional. His words apparently violated the manner maxim, yet it is the obscurity that made the dialogue funny.
The second example in this section is another one taken from “The Real and Fake Teacher” about job inquiry:
Xiaoming’s father: What on earth do you do, Miss?
Teacher: Well, I can tell you with great proud that I am a gardener!
Xiaoming’s father: Gardener? Then why don’t you water the flowers outside right away?
The mechanism of humour in this example works a little bit differently from the one mentioned in the first place. Instead of using some obscure term to explain what she does, the real teacher Ms Jia selected the word “gardener” with dual meanings to make a self-introduction. Apparently, the package proved to be a success regarding Xiaoming’s father’s misunderstanding.
Here is another example taken from Jia Ling’s autobiographical sketch comedy “Hi, mom!” (《你好,李焕英》)debuted on the stage of “Comedy General Mobilisation”(《喜剧总动员》) in 2016. “Hi, mom!” was a play in which the heroine Jia Ling travelled through space and time to the 1980s to spend some time with her mother who had passed away in a car accident in the 21st century. In the prologue where the two heroines made their first appearance, here comes their dialogue:
Li Huangying: Come on, go inside and stay a while with your grandma!
Jia Ling: I can’t!
Li Huanying: What do you mean you can’t? She loves you a lot! How could you say such hurtful things?
Jia Ling: Because she can’t stop sewing my ripped trousers!
In the example above, Jia used ambiguity in her reply to her mother’s question. It was not until the viewers watch further that they found out why the granddaughter would be so reluctant when it comes to her grandma’s sewing trousers, an act that was supposed to seem loving and caring----it was about the contradiction in aesthetic taste between generations. In this way, Humour comes along with the explanation.
Conclusion
Humour plays an important part in people’s daily conversation which conveys abundant cultural connotations. Grice’s cooperative principle as the core of pragmatics, is also a guiding principle according to which people converse. Once CP is violated, pleasure in humour which comes along with it could be felt. As an artistic form playing an important role in modern China, Chinese sketch comedy has been entertaining its audience of all ages with its funny plots and packages embedded in verbal humour. This thesis selected the sketch comedy performed by Mahua FunAge and Big Bowl Entertainment on the stage of Spring Festival Gala as its corpus and studied the mechanism of verbal humour under the guidance of Cooperative Principle. It has been found that to a large extent, it is the violation of quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim that generated the humour in sketch comedy. As an integral part of Chinese sketch comedy, verbal humour was created through constant violation of Cooperative Principle and its maxims.
However, limitations are inevitable as a result of time and the limited knowledge of the writer. Moreover, as the theories on linguistics are becoming increasingly abundant, analysis about verbal humour should be made from different perspectives and with diversified texts as well. Only through this process could verbal humour and its mechanism be further understood and Cooperative Principle further applied in research and studies.
References
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Terms and expressions
Chinese sketch comedy 小品
Cooperative Principle 合作原则
quantity maxim 数量原则
quality maxim 质量原则
relation maxim 关系原则
manner maxim 方式原则
Spring Festival Gala 春节联欢晚会
packages “包袱”
sweet-scented osmanthus 桂花
Questions
1. What are the maxims of Cooperative Principle?
2. What’s the name of the first sketch comedy in China?
3. How do you categorise Chinese sketch comedy?
Answers
1. There are four maxims in total, namely quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim.
2. The first sketch comedy in China is “eating noodles” played by Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao in 1984.
3. Chinese sketch comedy could be divided into different types with different names in accordance with the changing measurements. For example, from the size and scale of the art, Chinese sketch comedy could be classified into two types: multi-act ones and one-act ones. When looked from the perspective of the era of its theme, it could be divided into historical and modern ones. However, if it is categorised according to the effects of its artistic expressions, there are three kinds of Chinese sketch comedies, namely tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy.
英语笔译 肖佳莉 Xiao Jiali 202170081600
1.Abstract
The hundred schools of thought are the general name of various academic schools in the pre-Qin period. Among them, the three most influential schools are Laozi, Confucius and Shang Yang, and their views are different. The period from the sixth century BC to the third century BC, that is, the Spring and Autumn and warring States period, was the rejuvenation period of all schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. This period basically laid the foundation of Chinese traditional culture or Sinology, and there has been almost no major breakthrough since then. In this article, we divide the content of the paper into three parts, and respectively discuss the thought and background of Laozi, Confucius and Shang Yang, as well as their characters, and compare the differences and reasons between them. Through the above analysis to emulate the predecessors to face the reality, put forward new problems, put forward new ideas, and open up a channel for our future survival.
Key words
The Various Schools of Thought; The Period from Pre-Qin Times; Laozi; Confucius; Shang Yang
2.Introduction
There is an interesting phenomenon that between the sixth century BC and the third century BC, a group of thinkers who established early human civilization appeared in various parts of the world. For example, Confucius and Laozi in China, such as Sakyamuni in India, and a group of scholars represented by Isaiah who created the text of the Bible in the ancient Jewish state, such as ancient Greece from Thales to Aristotle. We will find that around the sixth century BC, the birth of human civilization in various parts of the world coincided with the emergence of a group of thinkers, known as the Axis Age.
Why did this happen?
The writing purpose of this paper is not only to review the path of the development of ancient ideas, but also to let everyone know that when you are faced with a social transformation, a major social confusion is constantly spreading and the amount of information is increasing,how do you follow the example of your predecessors to face the reality, ask new questions and put forward new ideas.
3.Background of the genesis of the hundred schools of thought
The pre-Qin period is the first great social transformation of Chinese society, we open our horizons, it is actually the first great social transformation of all mankind. How to transform? It took a long time to transform from the way of gathering and hunting to the civilized way of agriculture and animal husbandry. The early days of agricultural civilization was only a marginal supplement to the hunting way of life. By around 600 BC, the civilization of agriculture and animal husbandry was fully mature, and the semi-agricultural and semi-industrial and commercial civilization of ancient Greece around the Mediterranean was also mature.
Therefore, the axis age of the world has three major characteristics. First, the first great social transformation of Chinese society took place in this period; second, this is the mature period of the first civilization of all mankind; third, this is the dazzling period of the sprout of industry and commerce in ancient Greece, and these three come together into an axis era. The pre-Qin era in China is the branch and manifestation of this axis era in East Asia.
So why has this era become a platform for many thinkers to think? There are three reasons.
First, there are a lot of problems in social transformation, which is a confused exploration and inquiry. As we all know, in the period of human social transformation, the complexity of social structure presents many social and survival problems that human beings have never seen and never happened before, and these problems will make human beings face great confusion at that time. Thinkers seek answers on the basis of this confusion. Therefore, the perplexity period is a hotbed for the birth of a new culture. Therefore, when faith is broken and confused, we should not think that it is just a bad thing, it indicates that another crop of new culture and new ideas is about to happen.
Second, the complexity of survival increases, which is characterized by the increase of the cost of survival, the more difficult and dangerous survival, and the more complex survival structure. In this case, the amount of information is soaring, so people have to face the new survival structure and living environment, which is the second feature of the axis era and the pre-Qin era.
Third, the fragmented feudal system provides a relatively free and relaxed atmosphere. In the pre-Qin period, China was typical and the only feudal era. At this time, ancient Greece was a city-state culture, that is, a small political bloc. The feudal states were also common in Europe until the Middle Ages. Therefore, it provides some social conditions for freedom of thought. For example, Confucius, if he could not stay in Lu, he could travel around the world; In modern times, Descartes and Voltaire, if he could not stay in France, he could go into exile to other countries and develop his own thoughts. So the fragmented political structure of that era provided a relatively free and relatively relaxed cultural atmosphere.
As for the cultural differences between the East and the West. Ancient Greek philosophers and Chinese sages faced different problems.Because East Asia is a closed landform, and it is one of the three primitive farming bases of human beings, it is unable to exchange in industry and commerce, so it is the most typical and concentrated agricultural civilization in the world. Agricultural civilization immediately brought about a hundred-fold surge in population, so interpersonal and resource relations were particularly tense.
So people in the pre-Qin period in China had to apply their wisdom to the discussion of human relations and social issues.
And ancient Greece, because it was faced with a small Mediterranean, could obtain food through commercial exchange in North Africa and the near East, while the geographical conditions of ancient Greece were very poor, which forced them to develop a semi-agricultural and semi-industrial way of life. In addition, industrial and commercial civilization obtained resources across regions, so their interpersonal and resource relationships were less tense than in East Asia. Moreover, its social structure is relatively simple, and its social problems are not prominent enough. At the same time, industrial and commercial civilization needs innovation and the computing power of equipment manufacturing. It makes the ancient Greek philosophers devote their main energy to natural problems and logic in geometry.
Therefore, in the face of a social transformation, it is inevitable to solve many problems, thus giving birth to great ideas.
4.Different schools of thoughts
4.1The thought of Laozi
4.1.1The introduction of Laozi
The foundation of the whole thought of Sinology in China all took place in the pre-Qin period, that is, before Qin Shihuang unified China. Since then, China has hardly made any great achievements in the development of ideology and culture. With one exception, Indian Buddhism was introduced into China in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the pre-Qin period, the person with the highest thought was Laozi, the first ancestor of pre-Qin thought. Laozi and Confucius have a teacher-apprentice relationship. Confucius left a comment on this teacher: "I see Laozi today, just like seeing a dragon." This is the famous saying of Yulong. When I saw Laozi today, I finally knew what the dragon looked like.
At that time, Laozi kept the history books in the Zhou Dynasty, which was equivalent to the “National Division”. He was the consultant of all the knowledge of the royal family and princes of the Zhou Dynasty, and he was the highest representative of the national culture. It is said that in the 22nd year of Lu Zhaogong, that is, 520 BC, a major event happened. Due to the issue of succession to the throne, more than a dozen children fought for the throne and serious royal infighting broke out. The civil war lasted for more than a decade, and the prince finally failed.
It is said that he fled to the State of Chu with a large number of Zhou royal books. And Laozi, a historian of the Zhou royal family, is equivalent to the current director of the National Archives Library. If all books and documents are taken away, Laozi will naturally lose his job, so Laozi resigned to travel around the world. This is what we say. It is recorded in the history books that Laozi is sometimes in Chu, sometimes in the State of Chen, and sometimes in the State of Song. Finally, Laozi returned to Qin and died in Shaanxi. This is the historical relics of Laozi.
In order to understand Laozi's thought, we can only start with his Tao Te Ching. The morality of Laozi is very different from our literal meaning today. The book is divided into two volumes, the Tao volume, the outlook on the universe and nature, the moral volume, and the social outlook and outlook on life. Tao is the general law of the operation of heaven and earth, and virtue conforms to the Tao of heaven. The core of Taoism is weakness, and the core of moral theory is inaction. Laozi constantly criticizes that the development of human civilization is a process of deviating from the way of heaven and losing material morality.
4.1.2The interpretation of Tao
Laozi said, "Tao gives birth to one, one to two, two to three, and three to all things." This sentence means that Tao derives a chaotic state that even heaven and earth does not appear, chaotic state derives heaven and earth, heaven and earth derives animals, plants and people, animals and plants and people finally derive all things in the world, and all things refer to life and matter. This shows that Laozi believes that all things in heaven and earth evolved gradually. The concept of evolution existed until the 18th century, and it is unusual for Laozi to hold the idea that everything evolved from a family of things 2600 years ago.
"Heaven is Tao, Tao is long" also expresses the difference between persistence and stability in this evolutionary sequence. Tao is persistent and stable. Therefore, Laozi believes that the stability of matter is gradually lost in the process of evolution.
Then he said, "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and we regard all things as ruminant dogs. If saints are not benevolent, they will treat people as ruminant dogs. " The ruminant dog here is a dog that is only sacrificed with grass, referring to lowly things. It means that heaven and earth are not as fastidious as human civilization, and he treats all things equally and will not give special care to anyone. As a result, all things follow the trend and exist forever. Then the way of man should conform to the way of heaven, so the people who manage the world should do nothing, do not use civilization to derive too many tricks, this is against the way of heaven, it will only destroy the state of human existence.
"it is as good as water, so it is like the way." Laozi uses figurative water to describe the natural way in which Heaven operates, and the best state is like water. Nourish all things without competing with them, and flow downward, in the lowest position and hated by all, which is closest to the Tao.As Liu Xiao dared to say: "the topic of 'Tao and nature' clearly marks the status of nature as the highest principle and the highest value, so its spirit permeates all aspects of Laozi's thought, without mentioning the word 'nature' everywhere.”(刘笑敢,1995)
Laozi is criticizing that the competition pattern of human civilized society is contrary to the way of heaven. In the primitive gentile society, there was public ownership of property, and no private property, and there was no competition. After privatization, a fierce competition pattern was formed, and everyone strived for the top, so the world was in disorder and life was restless. But there is no such competitive pattern in the operation of heaven and earth.
"Heaven and Earth can not be long, and people are even less likely.” The most primitive derivative of heaven and earth can not be eternal, and how weak people are. ”the softest thing in the world can control the hardest thing in the world.”To be gentle, the weakest of course refers to human beings, but people can control things that are much stronger than we are. He found that the weakest human beings with a very low degree of existence have the ability to control objects with a very high degree of existence.
Finally, the Taoist scroll summed up the word "weak", which appeared as many as 11 times in Laozi's text of 5000 words.
4.1.3The interpretation of Te
The original word of Te's oracle bone inscription is a person walking on a road with a fork , staring only at the front and moving forward wholeheartedly. In other words, to act in accordance with the way of heaven is virtue. Therefore, the morality mentioned by Laozi is not the same thing as the morality we are talking about. The general law of the operation of heaven and earth is Tao, and it is virtue to comply with the Tao of heaven.Virtue is a part of Tao.(张岱年,1982,24)
He added: “Follow the way all things run, do not have any superfluous action, means morality." He continued to criticize human beings: "when the Tao is lost, people attach importance to the promotion of virtue, when virtue is lost, people attach importance to the promotion of benevolence, then righteousness, and finally propriety." When we advocated virtue(means Te), we had already lost the Tao, so we began to talk about benevolence, and then we could not even protect the heart of benevolence, so we could only give handouts, and finally lost all Tao, virtue, benevolence and righteousness, and could only give etiquette. Etiquette is the summation of national political law and folk etiquette. It was only when we discarded all these that human civilization began the violent control of severe punishment and draconian laws.In other words, the rulers regulate the world with benevolence and righteousness, and people all over the world run for benevolence and righteousness, abandon their own nature and disguise themselves with benevolence and righteousness.(陈霞,2017)
Another sentence is also very clear: "A person with deep moral self-cultivation is like a newborn baby." only a baby born within 7 days is virtuous. Civilized people develop their own wisdom, form a highly intelligent group, release their greed, and constitute a competitive society. In fact, this is a process of deviating from the way of heaven and losing material morality.
So what are we supposed to do? Laozi said: "to wear away people's sharpness, sharpness and edges, to extricate themselves from disputes, to blend into all phenomena of light, and to mix with the dust of the earth, the greatest is also the smallest. This is called subtle unity." It means that we should close our channels of facial features, do not accept too much external information, close the door of the spiritual world, and frustrate the great aspirations of civilization. Only in this way can we resolve disputes in civilized society.
Therefore, the center of Laozi's theory of morality(means Te) is this sentence: “There is nothing to do ." Virtue means walking along the way, and nothing else is needed. It can be summed up as the word "inaction". Inaction means opposing all civilized actions.If you do nothing, there is nothing that cannot be done. “有为”(means action) means that they cannot practice "Tao". Although they are always inseparable from virtue and fame, they are purposeful, purposeful, camouflage and deceptive.(陈霞,2010)
His ideal is to return to the primitive gentile society, the country is small and the people are few, even if they have advanced tools, the people value life and death and do not leave their hometown, and they are not bound by beliefs such as brave sacrifice. Even if there are cars, boats and weapons, no one uses them. People return to the simple state and enjoy the simplest happiness of life. Countries also return to the animal kinship society, wolves will eat sheep, but wolves will never eat wolves, the same kind will divide the territory of life, there will never be slaughter. To return to the uncivilized state of existence. “The country is smaller, the people are more stupid, the things are simpler, and the things are simpler." This is Laozi's real ideal.
We all have a forward-looking perspective, and thinkers can make up for the backward perspective and mobilize our thinking to know the facts. The most important thinkers in the history of human thought, such as Laozi, Confucius, Plato and Rousseau, all expressed the tendency of anti-civilization.
4.1.4The cause of the thought of Laozi
Why did Laozi have such a reactionary moral theory and social view?
At that time, East Asian civilization was limited to the Central Plains, which was called the Central Plains civilization. He is surrounded by uncivilized people who don't have to reason logically. In the civilized Central Plains, interpersonal relations are tense, intrigues and wars are everywhere. Shang destroyed Xia, Zhou destroyed Shang, to the Spring and Autumn period, more than 180 vassal states became one, while looking around the primitive clan society, the uncivilized and uncivilized society was peaceful.
Therefore, by comparison, Laozi can find that civilization is a disaster and the trend of civilization is bad. Laozi believes that all things in heaven and earth originally developed harmoniously like Tao, but human beings gradually deviated from Tao because of their pursuit of selfish desires, resulting in conflicts between man and nature, man and society, man's body and mind and so on.(黎千驹,2022:93-101)In Laozi's text, his view of reactionary society is expressed very clearly. Many ancient thinkers held a critical attitude towards civilization, because civilization was only a small seedling at that time, they could see the whole picture and development trend of civilization, and they could see that it was a process of disaster. This is the basic social view of the Chinese sages in the pre-Qin period. This was also the cause of the tone of conservatism in Chinese culture at that time, in which there was a far-reaching vision, which laid an important foundation for China's stable survival for more than 2000 years.
4.2The thought of Confucius
Confucius and Laozi, although they are masters and apprentices, their cultural characters are diametrically opposed.Confucius is best reflected by a sentence in the Analects of Confucius, "knowing that it cannot be done". I know full well that I cannot do it, but I will still try my best to do it, expressing a cultural attitude of actively participating in social activities, which is summed up as "joining the world”.
And what about Laozi? His cultural character is extremely negative. The most representative are the words "do nothing but do nothing" in the Tao Te Cing, which means that tough I did nothing but I have done everything, which is ridiculous. In fact, it means that Tao derives all things from heaven and earth, but does not see any superfluous action. Laozi is extremely negative , summed up as "born", born out of the world. This is why Sima Qian added a special sentence in the Biography of Laozi in Historical Records, calling for different ways to conspire against each other. It means that the Tao between Confucius and Laozi is different, although the two are master-apprentice.
4.2.1The characteristic of Confucius' theory: insipid
Confucius and his Confucianism are almost the soul and benchmark of Chinese traditional ideology and culture, leading Chinese mainstream ideology for more than two thousand years. This is a situation that we can hardly see anywhere else in the world except religion. However, compared with Laozi, Confucius' theory is shallow and straightforward. Because Confucius is concerned with the real social and political problems, while Laozi is concerned with the ultimate problem. Therefore, Confucius' theory is very insipid.
In fact, the core of Confucius theory is that monarch and subjects, father and son. The first word is a noun and the second word is a verb. What he means is that the king should be like a gentleman, the minister should be like a minister, the father should be like a father, and the son should be like a son. The doctrine of Confucius is such a straightforward statement. Hegel said, he said, "Confucius' books are just full of old moral lessons." These are his exact words. He even said that it would be better not to translate his books, which would damage his glorious image. Obviously, there is a gap in Hegel's expectations of Confucius. The West was in a state of religious repression at that time. At that time, Westerners knew that there was an empire governing the country by virtue in the East, and its management model established social order on the basis of human ethics and morality, which was much milder than the suppression of human nature by the theocracy in the West. Therefore, they were extremely envious of the East, coupled with some untrue legends at that time, they thought that the East was extremely rich. Therefore, the western philosophers and academic and cultural circles at that time regarded China as the paradise of the East.
4.2.2The features of Confucius' time
1. Confucius was born at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the phenomenon of national destruction occurred constantly, and the monarch was killed constantly. Only 43 cases were recorded in the history books in the past 255 years. And everything went haywire. There is no war between human beings and animals before civilization, and the struggle within the animal species only occurs during estrus for reproductive resources, and this is also an individual struggle. As soon as the outcome is divided, the struggle stops immediately. You don't want to kill each other, let alone a collectivized war. It is only after human civilization that brutal internal killings occur.
2. In ancient times, there was no severe punishment and severe law, and the country was ruled by virtue. The clan tribal society has always maintained social stability with a soft moral system. Confucius said: "if we govern the people with government decrees and restrict them with penalties, they will be free from sins, but they will not feel it shameful to disobey the rule; if we rule the people with morality and bind them with etiquette, the people will not only have a sense of shame, but will correct their mistakes." If the society is managed by penalty, people will not touch the bottom line of the law in order to evade the punishment of the law, but there will be people to do anything that is not prohibited by law and no matter how immoral it is. Moral ties are no longer enough to maintain social stability, so they have to be regulated in a violent way. Confucius called it the collapse of etiquette and music. The more civilization develops, the more complex the society becomes, and it becomes extremely difficult to survive only with a simple heart in a highly complex society.
3. The characteristics of this period:Let's take a look at how the first great social transformation was carried out in the pre-Qin period from the economic, political and cultural aspects. Economically, with the rapid development of productive forces in the pre-Qin period, agricultural civilization tends to be stabilized, farming techniques are widely used, bronzes are widely used, and iron has appeared in farming tools. As we all know, in the early years of mankind, although agricultural civilization took place 8,000 or even 10,000 years ago, in the early thousands of years of agricultural civilization, the way of life of hunting was still dominant. Agricultural farming is still only an auxiliary part of human means of livelihood and food and food materials.
When agriculture develops to a certain scale, the scope of land reclamation becomes larger and larger, and forest vegetation is pushed far away, human beings will completely return to agricultural civilization from the way of life of hunting and gathering civilization. Therefore, the full maturity of agricultural civilization requires large-scale population development, large-scale land reclamation, large-scale destruction of trees, and then people can not reach the forest. Only at this time can agricultural civilization be completely stable. Therefore, after thousands of years, China's agricultural civilization did not take shape until the Zhou Dynasty, and hunting and gathering became a secondary source of feed for life. Not only that, in the Spring and Autumn period, the sprout of industrial and commercial civilization appeared in China's agricultural civilization. With the development of agricultural civilization to a certain extent, due to the gradual complexity of agricultural production tools, a considerable number of products are made of non-agricultural products. The early production of non-agricultural products was done by the farmers themselves. Such as building houses, weaving cloth, and even making pottery, but with the further development of the division of labor, with the further complexity of people's lives, a large number of things cannot be completed by farmers, such as more complex and diverse pottery production, the smelting of bronze, the production of tools, all these things will cause the division of labor to appear in agricultural civilization.
With the emergence of the division of labor, some people no longer work in agriculture, but only make certain products for use by others. We do not use this for our own use, but make it for use by others in exchange for goods. This product is called a commodity. As soon as the commodity appears, the exchange takes place. The exchange activity in the early years of mankind was barter, because there were very few kinds of goods. So if the variety of goods continues to increase, the other party does not need what you want to exchange, and you do not often have what the other party needs. Therefore, there is a need for some kind of unified scale of exchange and medium of exchange, also known as general equivalents, that is, such a commodity in which it can measure the value of any commodity, which is money. Therefore, the emergence of money marks the emergence of human exchange, or division of labor, or commodity economy, to a considerable extent. But in the pre-Qin period of China, money had already appeared. It indicates that China's agricultural economy matured on a large scale and the sprout of commodity economy has generally occurred in the pre-Qin period.
Let's take a look at the political form. The authority of the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty has fallen, and the original feudal social ties have been lax. Not only that, the vassal states grew up, the activities of annexation of the world continued to occur, national annihilation events emerged one after another, international wars continued to occur, not only that, it unexpectedly appeared a major change in the form of social class. As we all know, the king of Jin in the Spring and Autumn period was rebelled by four important courtiers, namely, the famous Han, Zhao, Wei and Zhi families. At this time, a famous political figure named Zhao Wut appeared in the Zhao family. He announced the liberation of all slaves in Zhao and gave away 30 mu of land. at the same time, he announced to all countries in the Central Plains that if any slaves fled to Zhao from other countries, they would liberate their lives and give away land. Zhao Xiangzi's move led to the instant collapse of slavery in the land of China. Why? Because the idea that the people are precious is a typical feudal thought. That is, for any feudal lord, his best interest lies not in the size of his fief, but in the population of his fief. Because the greater the number of families and population, the greater his tax benefits. Therefore, Zhao Xiangzi liberated the slaves and he got the people. He got two major benefits. First, labor resources, the number of people; the second soldier. Therefore, this led to the liberation of slaves all over the surrounding countries, his citizens would flee, and slavery quickly disintegrated on the land of China.
The pre-Qin period is the era in which Chinese traditional culture was fully formed.
4.2.3Confucius theory
The core of Confucius' theory is "monarchs and subjects, father and son". That is to say, Confucius used the most primitive blood social button to rectify the social structure of the super-blood unstable society. In rebuilding the order of the rule of etiquette, Confucius "did not extroversion to heaven and earth but introverted to the hearts of the people, and finally settled on 'benevolence’.”(余英时,2014)
And what is the consanguinity society? It means there is a difference in love. It has something to do with sociobiology. In the middle of the last century, biologists found that all living things and all animals live in social groups. Social biologists have found that the emotions and love of all animals are different. For example, parents love their children most strongly, followed by brothers and sisters. The cub state of any creature needs to be cared for by its elders, otherwise he will not survive. So emotionally, the relationship between parents and children is the heaviest, and then between children, followed by brothers and sisters.
Human agricultural civilization took place in the era of consanguinity society. On every mu of land, we must work together and cultivate carefully in order to get enough food and clothing. This is the basic feature of agricultural civilization. The structure of consanguineous ethnic groups is the most readily available and favorable way to form this stable cooperation.Here we talk about benevolence at most, more than a hundred times.(李泽厚,2008)
4.3The thought of Shang Yang
4.3.1The introduction of Shang Yang
The emergence of Legalism marks the retreat of Confucianism. With the high development of agricultural civilization to the pre-Qin and Spring and Autumn periods, the population has soared, class society has been divided, interpersonal relations and resource relations have gradually become tense, and the competition in human society has become increasingly fierce. It can even be said to be getting worse and worse, so the Legalists began to emerge, and the soft Confucianism withdrew. Legalist doctrine shows the darkness of human nature.
Shang Yang was the most representative figure of the Legalists, and he did a very successful thing. It was Shang Yang's reform that helped Qin realize the reform from the rule of virtue to the rule of law. Shang Yang was able to reform in the State of Qin, of course, the main credit went to Qin Xiaogong. At that time Shang Yang is only a guest minister, and he does not have any political influence in the State of Qin. And any reform must touch the interests of the original aristocratic interest groups in the State of Qin and cause the counterattack of the aristocratic groups. He relied entirely on Qin Xiaogong to bear it, so that Shang Yang could continue to reform.
Shang Yang was very lucky. although Xiaogong was under great pressure and died of illness at the age of 44, he accompanied Shang Yang's reform for more than 20 years. As soon as Xiaogong died, Shang Yang was immediately retaliated by aristocrats. Although King Qin Huiwen, the next king, killed Shang Yang, it was not easy to solve the long-term accumulation of reform for Shang Yang. And King Huiwen of Qin was well aware of the effectiveness of the reform of Shang Yang, and continued the reform of Shang Yang. After the implementation of the later six kings, the government of the king of Qin finally unified the world, and from then on he was known as the first emperor. So we can say that thanks to the reform of Shang Yan, the king of Qin unified the world and became Qin Shihuang.
Shang Yang's reform has two characteristics. First, it is determined to reform without regard for personal safety. Second, he pays no attention to the outside world. As we all know, the average politician must first be able to deal with personnel, but this is not the case with Shang Yang. Liang Qichao, the most famous scholar in the era of the Republic of China, once said that only six people in Chinese history could be called politicians, in other words, other people could only be called politicians, and one of these six politicians was Shang Yang.
4.3.2Shang Yang's reform
In the early days of the reform, he set up a large piece of wood at its south gate in the then temporary capital of the State of Qin, called Yueyang. Then tell anyone in the public that if you carry this wooden rafter from the south gate to the north gate, you will reward ten gold. Gold in the pre-Qin period was not gold but bronze, but a jin of wealth was equivalent to the total harvest of a peasant family in a year, and ten gold was equivalent to the total harvest of a thousand years of farmers, which was a great opportunity to make a fortune. However, all the people watched and laughed, thinking that the official words could not be trusted, because it was too strange, and it also showed that the credibility of the Qin government was not high. As soon as Shang Yang saw that no one was involved, he raised 50 gold. At this time, a young man came out. He said that I carried this piece of wood to the north gate. Even if the government lied to me, there would be no great loss. I would try to carry it over. So carrying the wood to the north gate, Shang Yang immediately rewarded fifty gold, and this man became rich instantly, which is the famous allusion of Qianmu Lixin. What is Shang Yang doing? he is telling the people of the Qin Dynasty that Shang Yang's reform is true. The fundamental spirit of Legalism is that the law is absolutely sacred and the government is not allowed to act outside the scope of the law.(梁启超,2015)Please abide by the law.We can see the wisdom of Shang Yang in practicing the law from this very small matter.
With regard to the detailed rules of Shang Yang's reform, we give a brief account of the main items.
First, to force people to learn the lowest level of etiquette, this etiquette is not a Confucian culture, but to get rid of the barbaric wind and establish a modern social configuration at that time.
Second, every citizen should be forced to have a legitimate job, and no one should be idle. What is the national occupation? Take measures to attach importance to agriculture, that is, to develop all the wasteland of Qin. Just like today's British princes are going to serve in the army for some time. Shang Yang stipulated that anyone, including the children of aristocrats and rich businessmen, who were idle, should be sent to the frontier to open up wasteland. From this we can see that Shang Yang's reform is the same as Wu Qi. If he wants to change the national policy, he must deal with the original political structure formed by the original aristocracy, which is of course a serious violation of the interests of the aristocracy.
Third, he also stipulated that a family with two adult men must be separated. There are two benefits: increasing labor enthusiasm and taxes. The reason is that in the big family system in ancient China, everyone ate in a big pot, and because communism was practiced within the family, everyone had no enthusiasm for labor. No matter how much I put in, I will share it equally with everyone and distribute it according to needs, so my enthusiasm for labor is not high. When it comes to a legal society, we should establish a tax system. Tax is based on the family, if the family is large, the tax base is very weak. For these two reasons, Shang Yang's reform requires that any man must be separated once he is married as an adult.
Fourth, reward farming. Qin people banned business, that is, the people of Qin were not allowed to do business, but only allowed to engage in agriculture. The income of commercial activities is much higher than that of agriculture, so China has adopted the national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce since ancient times to suppress businessmen, so where to deploy resources? Preferential treatment for foreign businessmen. That is, businessmen from other countries around the world will give preferential policies if they come to do business in the State of Qin. It is a bit like the situation in the early days of Deng Xiaoping's reform, which does not mean that we are advanced, but that we are similar to those of more than 2,000 years ago. Foreign businessmen went to Qin to do business to solve the problem of resource allocation, so they gave preferential policies to foreign businessmen, so the Qin people engaged in agriculture and foreign businessmen did business, forming an extremely reasonable national economic structure.
Looking at Shang Yang's reform, the degree of Shang Yang's reform is no less than any revolution. It carries out reforms not only in the economic field, but also in the political field, and it even changes the state system, which used to be a feudal system and has since been an autocratic monarchy. It is not a general political reform, it is a fundamental change of the state system. This kind of thing can usually be accomplished only through revolution. Shang Yang's reform basically adopted the way of no bloodshed and non-violence, and completed this revolutionary reform. This is very rare in history, which is why Liang Qichao said that Shang Yang is one of the only six major politicians in China.Liang Qichao spoke highly of the theory of "rule of law" of ancient Chinese legalists represented by Shang Yang, and thought that "the theory of Legalists means that no matter whether they are wise or wise, they must act within the scope of the law. This is the essence of the theory. “(梁启超,2012)
5.Conclusion
With regard to the hundred schools of thought, we discussed in detail the three major factions: Laozi, Confucius and Shang Yang. The writing purpose of this paper is not only to review the path of the ancients' thoughts, but also to let everyone know that when we are faced with a social transformation, a major social confusion and an increasing amount of information, how do we imitate our predecessors to face reality, put forward new problems and put forward new ideas? In this way, human beings will open up a channel for their future survival, which is the most important enlightening significance of this paper.
References
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Terms and expressions
- Confucius孔子
- The axial age轴心时代
- Geometry几何学
- Sinology thought国学思想
- Tao Te Ching道德经
- Public ownership of property财产公有制
- Confucianism儒学
- Bronze Ware青铜器
Questions
- 1.What is the relationship between Confucius and Laozi?
- 2.Which school does Shang Yang belong to?
- 3.Is the thought of Laozi very positive?
Answers
- 1.Confucius is a student of Laozi.
- 2.Legalists.
- 3.No,the thought of him is negative.
英语笔译 谢晓莹 Xie Xiaoying 202170081601
Abstract
Known as the quintessence of Chinese culture, Peking Opera is an intangible cultural heritage of China and the world with profound cultural heritage. Among the four basic skills of "singing, speaking, acting and combating" that Peking Opera emphasizes, "combating" is the highly artistic refinement of fighting scenes in daily life. The acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera have made great contributions to shaping the characters and enriching the plots, which has become a highly expressive and infectious dance language in Peking Opera performances. With a long history, it draws nourishment from the chivalry culture of ancient China, puts the traditional Chinese martial art culture on the stage, and develops distinguished artistic skills and aesthetic characteristics. Starting from the martial spirit and chivalrous culture of ancient China, this paper expounds the origin and development of acrobatic fighting in Beijing Opera, analyses the reasons of its significant place in Peking Opera based on its artistic techniques, and explores the development path of it in new era, so as to deepen people's understanding of the Peking Opera and carry forward the traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
Key words
acrobatic fighting; Peking Opera; martial spirit; chivalry culture; artistic techniques; inheritance and development
Introduction
Peking Opera is the most influential opera in China, with its center in Beijing and spread throughout the country. During its long artistic history, Peking Opera has continuously absorbed nutrients from the traditional Chinese culture and people’s daily life and developed into a magnificent flower in the opera garden (Zhang Yinhe 2013, 15). As the product of the merging in Peking of Anhui and Hubei opera styles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Peking Opera has a set of standardized forms of artistic expression in literature, performance, music, stage art and other aspects. There are four character roles in Peking Opera, that is, Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou, each with a set of performance procedures and distinctive skills in singing, speaking, acting and combating. Historical stories are the main content of Peking Opera. There are more than 1300 traditional operas, of which more than 300 are often performed. As an important form of expression of traditional Chinese culture, Peking Opera has a wide influence all over the country, and various artistic elements of it are regarded as symbols of traditional Chinese culture.
"Combating", one of the four basic skills of Peking Opera, is not only an indispensable means of expression, but also clearly reflects the important position of martial arts in Peking Opera performance. As a traditional Chinese national art, acrobatic fighting is a kind of stage art that borrows offensive and defensive movements of martial arts as a means of physical expression. It absorbs action materials from martial arts and enriches performance skills. In Beijing Opera, the entertainment of acrobatic fighting comes from the acrobatic nature of martial arts. In performance of acrobatic fighting, there are often combat with knives, guns, sticks and other instruments, as well as pair combat and hand-to-hand combat performances, which are so intense that they can always attract the audience and give them associations and resonance. Therefore, although some acrobatic fighting performers are not excellent in singing and speaking, they are able to create distinctive characters with their excellent martial art skills and win great reputation (Liu Haikuan 2005, 58).
The acrobatic fighting represented by Peking Opera was an inexhaustible artistic treasure house for other art forms at that time in terms of costumes, martial arts, instruments, Qupai, performances and choreography, providing rich creative space for directors, scriptwriters and actors from generation to generation. However, the decline of the Peking Opera and the operas with both singing and martial characteristics in the current society is a cause for concern, and it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of Peking Opera and explore ways to continue its development in the contemporary society.
This paper consists of three chapters. Chapter one gives a brief overview of the origin of the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, including the inheritance of the martial spirit of the Chinese nation and the influence of ancient chivalry culture. Chapter two introduces the artistic skills of the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera and analyzes the character of Zhao Yun and the performance Crossroads based on this skills. Chapter three discusses the inheritance and development of the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, such as digging out the lost plays by seeking experience from the predecessors and collecting drama notes from the veteran fans.
Literature Review
Peking Opera has a history of more than 150 years since its formal formation in the Tongguang Period in the late Qing Dynasty. Although it is impossible to give a standard answer to the question of the repertoire of acrobatic fighting in Peking opera, it is still possible to find almost all the repertoire in many books that record the repertoire of Peking opera. However, throughout the research on the artistic theory of Peking Opera for more than one hundred years, the research on the martial drama is relatively weak compared with the research on singing drama. On the one hand, the research results on the martial drama are fewer and more difficult than that on the singing drama. On the other hand, among the few articles and treatises on acrobatic fighting, most of them are about famous performers, repertoire, and techniques, while few of them are about the origins, development, current situation, and solutions of problems of acrobatic fighting in Peking opera, and few of them are about a comprehensive study of acrobatic fighting in the context of Chinese history and national psychology (Du Peng 2014, 5).
Over the past hundred years, the research works related to the acrobatic fighting can be roughly divided into the following categories: (1) The discussion of the performing skills of the acrobatic fighting. Most of the articles and books about it are summaries and records of technical skills, while some of them also have the requirements and explanations of famous artists for skills of acrobatic fighting, such as The Role of Acrobatic Fighting in Traditional Chinese Opera by He Jinhai. (2) Repertoire statistics and script compilation. As for the acrobatic fighting repertory in Peking Opera, one can find it in many books recording Peking Opera repertory, such as A Compilation of Traditional Peking Opera Scripts. (3) Collection of art criticism by famous performers. These books contain both the actors' own experience of performing acrobatic fighting and memories of fans and the drama critics who have watched the performances of these famous artists, such as The Collection of Art Criticism about Yang Xiaolou edited by Dai Shujuan et al. (4) Treatises on memory of famous artists. Most of these works were written by famous Peking Opera masters and recorded by others, which are regarded as important first-hand materials, such as A Miscellany on the Performing Arts of Peking Opera narrated orally by Qian Baosen and compiled by Pan Xiaofeng . (5) The works of the drama critics. These works not only have a good account of some of the Peking Opera's acrobatic fighting and famous schools, but also have a great contribution to the study of the aesthetics and theories of Peking Opera, such as Qi Rushan's The Art of Chinese Opera. (6) Biographies of famous performers. These works include the memory and summary of the life of the predecessors by later generations. Among them, there are performance materials of famous artists about acrobatic fighting and operas with both singing and martial characteristics, such as Song Danju's Stage Art of Song Dezhu. (7) Dictionaries related to Peking Opera. Such books summarize the expression of special nouns of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, such as Dictionary of Peking Opera Culture by Huang Jun and Xu Xibo.
Methods and Theories
Based on the research method of discovering problems, studying them, and solving them, this paper takes the development of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera as the main clue, involving the study and analysis of its origin, characteristics, current situation, and future development, and seeks effective methods and approaches for the rise and prosperity of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera while exploring the inner artistic characteristics of it.
This paper starts from the origin of acrobatic fighting, which involves social culture, social psychology, national psychology and other aspects, aiming at the analysis of performance skills of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera with justification and evidence, and also focuses on the practicality of the theory of the article with the research method of theory in practice. In addition, the breadth of the material requires a more sophisticated research method to be effective. The study of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera involves a variety of knowledge, including social psychology, history, theater and operatic studies, and Peking Opera performance studies. Only after reading and inquiring enough literature information related to acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera can we have a more comprehensive understanding of it.
Origin of the Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera
1.Inheritance of the Martial Spirit of the Chinese Nation
Throughout the five thousand years of Chinese civilization, the Chinese nation has always been characterized by the endless worship of literature and active martial spirit. They influence each other, depend on each other, and cannot be separated from each other. It is the consistent requirement of the Chinese nation for social talents to be both civil and military. Just as Liang Qichao said, " The martial spirit of the Chinese nation is its original nature" (Liang Qichao 2006, 21).
The ancient Chinese people lived in the Yellow River basin with harsh natural environment, men hunting and women picking fruits, accompanied by inter-tribal strife, resulting in the worship of the primitive ancestors of force to the extreme. In following dynasties, in order to defend the country, the martial spirit continued: During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the oftenness of war led to a great number of warriors; In the Western Han Dynasty, when the Hsiung-nu came south to invade the people, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, two brave generals who were good at fighting defeated them; In the Tang Dynasty, during the Wu Zetian period, The system of selecting scholars for martial arts examinations inspired the poets to join the army and go to the frontier; At the end of the Qing Dynasty, when the western powers invaded China, many famous boxers, such as Huo Yuanjia, defeated the foreigners with martial arts and got rid of the title of “Sick Man of East Asia”... During these wars, the cohesion of the Chinese nation increased and the lives of the common people were greatly affected. Aggression inevitably leads to resistance. Force is the most direct and effective way of wage war of aggression, and it’s also the most advocated way of anti-aggression. With the outbreak, development and end of war of aggression, the military culture has infiltrated into the traditional culture of the Chinese nation stealthily (Du Peng 2014, 20). The social environment provides a strong accumulation of social psychology and national psychology for the generation of war culture, so it can be found in every corner of the traditional Chinese culture. It is not difficult to find the existence of war culture and martial spirit in characters, poems, novels, paintings, operas and dramas.
"Once the traditional thinking mode of a nation is formed, it will have the tendency to constrain the nation's mental activities, which some people call psychological stereotypes in psychology" (Jia Zhigang 1996,129). The martial spirit, which has been existing in the blood of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, has a great influence on the heroes on the stage of Peking Opera and the production of acrobatic fighting plays. The national heroes and heroines emerging in various dynasties have provided prototype materials for the characters of martial arts in Peking Opera. Out of the desire for the description of fighting and war between gods and ghosts, and the call for punishing evil and praising national heroes, a large number of acrobatic fighting elements appear in Chinese operas. Among them, the creation and expression of characters of famous generals like Ban Chao, Han Xin, Xue Rengui and Yue Fei are all from real characters in Chinese history, rather than mythological characters and stories. Although there are exaggerations, they are generally based on historical evidence, different from a large number of ethereal characters in Journey to the West.
2.Influence of Ancient Chivalry Culture
The various schools of thought and folk customs have a profound influence on the martial spirit of the state. Conversely, the martial spirit of the state also acts on the courageous characteristics of the people. In a cultural environment with orderly royal control and distinct social hierarchy, it is very unlikely to challenge the traditional social norms including royal power by force (Li Xiaojing 2013, 23). Since the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, with the profound economic, political, social and cultural upheavals, a series of unprecedented new factors constantly emerging, the chivalry culture was born.
"Chivalry" contains three characteristics: commitment, righteousness, and lightness of life and death. Life is inevitably critical, coupled with social injustice and not all-inclusive law, "chivalrous justice" is indispensable. And these chivalrous and righteous people always put other people instead of themselves first, strive to solve other people's difficulties and match their words with their deeds. During the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei was fond of making friends with chivalrous men when he was young; In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zu Ti got up upon hearing the crow of a rooster and practised with the sword day by day only to serve his country; In Tang Dynasty, many poets wrote to praise the quality of chivalrous men; In the Ming Dynasty, famous novels such as Water Margin enriched the image of chivalrous men...
With the gradual enrichment of martial novels, a large number of commentary artists changed them into various versions of sung commentaries and preached them around to popularize them. Later, the storytelling artist Deng Guangdou even created a new style of comment which added the boxing skills in storytelling. In other words, he showed the boxing skills when commenting on Wu Song, making the audience not only feel like seeing Wu Song, but also marvel at the storytellers' excellent boxing skills. This style of performance, in which the chivalry of the book is expressed in the real kung fu of the storyteller, fully demonstrates the brilliance of the chivalrous characters depicted in the novel and the richness of the storyteller's own performance techniques, and promotes the development of the book review (Du Peng 2014, 34). And these novels and book reviews depicting chivalry had a huge impact on the emergence and development of acrobatic fighting repertoire in the art of opera: The chivalrous characters in the books provided a rich cast of characters for Peking Opera; The novel reviews were interpreted into acrobatic fighting repertoire in Peking Opera; The depiction of characters in the novel reviews permeated Peking Opera costumes; Many of the language and customs from the book reviews were directly inherited from Peking Opera... Thus it can be seen that chivalry culture and crime novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties have a profound psychological impact on Chinese people, and have a direct impact on opera art, especially the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera.
Artistic Skills of the Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera
1.Aesthetic Techniques
Nourished by traditional aesthetic thought, the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera originates from traditional Chinese culture and have a consistent aesthetic sense of it. As the embodiment of the characters' valor happening in the fierce battle scenes, acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera is characterized by being absolute aesthetic, which is also the feature of the art of Peking Opera. Turning martial art into dance and then turn it into beauty, acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera makes what is originally a cruel and bloody scene into aesthetic stage art, showing the charm of Peking Opera. Therefore, whether it is a tumble or a move, it is possible to find their common characteristics in the traditional aesthetic thought of "observing objects and taking images", "integrating movement and stillness", and "combining both form and spirit". (Du Peng 2014, 60).
Due to the characteristics of the means of expression, the plot of the acrobatic fighting is relatively simple, and the psychology of the characters is not so delicate, which makes it more difficult to reflect the ideological content that makes people recall repeatedly and think deeply. The audience understands and recognizes these limitations, and even needs and appreciates them out of preference. The requirements of acrobatic fighting are different from those of singing operas. While acrobatic fighting should certainly teach people patriotism, noble virtues and historical knowledge, the direct manifestation of its value lies in its aesthetic role, i.e., to give the audience its unique healthy aesthetic enjoyment and beauty, and to enrich and enhance the appreciation of the public (Liu Haikuan 2005, 58).
The formal beauty of acrobatic fighting is typical of masculine beauty. What it generally reflects is either military hardware and magnificent battle scenes, or fierce and hand-to-hand combat, or fearless heroes with lofty ideals. These characters are brave and tenacious with superb martial power, moving forward under the fierce music on stage. They have a kind of majestic beauty without decadent and depressing mood, inspiring people to move on. And it is a reflection of the traditional moral concepts and aesthetic requirements of the Chinese people in the art of opera, which has the charm crossing time and space.
The formal beauty of acrobatic fighting has three characteristics: Firstly, the performer's skilled and exquisite somersault skills and kung fu; Secondly, the performer's shapely and beautiful bodies; Thirdly, the beauty of composition formed by the collective cooperation on the stage. The performers combine these three characteristics in a integrated manner, presenting a gorgeous picture of acrobatic fighting. They present a magnificent ancient war scene or a fierce fight in a specific situation in a limited stage space, which reflects the high artistic wisdom of the Chinese people (Liu Haikuan 2005, 58). The acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera generalizes, refines, exaggerates and beautifies life. Not only the actions of the characters are completely choreized, but also the emotions are transformed into the forms of martial arts skills. Everything is unified under the premise of paying attention to the depiction of the inner world of the characters and the authenticity of their thoughts and feelings, and is subject to the overall requirements of formal beauty.
2.Typical Characters and Performances
The martial spirit of the Chinese nation has a profound influence on Chinese culture. During the two thousand years of feudal rule, most of the warriors and generals carried the martial culture. The military generals and swordsmen of all dynasties exerted significant influence on Chinese society and culture, among which famous military generals include: Sun Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period, Bai Qi in the Warring States Period, Chen Qingzhi in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Huo Qubing and Han Xin in the Western Han Dynasty, Ban Chao in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Li Jing and Gao Xianzhi in the Tang Dynasty, Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty, and Xu Da in the Ming Dynasty. Famous swordsmen include: Zhuan Zhu and Yu Rang in the Spring and Autumn Period, Nie Zheng, Lu Zhonglian, Hou Ying and Jing Ke in the Warring States Period, etc. While inheriting the martial spirit, they make the chivalry spirit and heroic integrity known to the extreme. These characters are the common archetypes of roles of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera and the operas with both singing and martial plays. They are also the heroes that people are interested in talking about, playwrights constantly create and artists try their best to show. Among them, Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdoms Period was one of the most special, resourceful and brilliant general characters in Peking Opera. He was brave and courageous with wisdom. His rescue of the master on Steepslope Bridge was recorded and praised by later generations and presented in numerous literary and operatic works. Among the existing drama in the Yuan Dynasty, there are 21 kinds of drama of the Three Kingdoms, among which 8 are about Zhao Yun; In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are more than 20 kinds of drama of the Three Kingdoms, of which 7 are about Zhao Yun. The performances of Yang Xiaolou, Gao Shenglin and Li Huiliang have always been praised.
In addition to the image of Zhao Yun, the Peking Opera "Crossroads" is also a representative of acrobatic fighting performances. The play is about Jiao Zan, who escorted the prisoners and stayed in a hotel at crossroads in the border of Song and Liao areas, only to find it’s a ganster inn, where Ren Huitang was also there and saved Jiao Zan after fierce fights. On the one hand, this play combines Chinese martial arts and acrobatic movements into opera performances: It’s easy to find that these martial actors have outstanding martial arts skills. For example, the actor who plays the role of Ren Tanghui, strives to achieve unity and integrity from character personality, spiritual outlook to internal temperament and external image. When he appears on the scene, he raises his legs, leaves his feet and falls to the ground quickly, being light and steady. The first three flexible steps, the slight swaying of the upper body, together with the face looking around and observing the movement, show the resourcefulness and heroic spirit of this battle-hardened general. On the other hand, the play perfectly combines silent action with artistic beauty: With martial skills reaching a certain level, short-distance martial actors can perform with their bodies as light as swallow’s. The play "Crossroads" takes place in a specific place and environment, whose performance requires the actors to have such tumbling skills as "cheating legs", "seven feet". All these require the performer to go through hard exercises and profound kung fu, turning the body into a tool to reflect artistic beauty, in order to win the artistic effect of lightness of body (Fan Qiying Li Guanghui 2008, 50). When appreciating the play "Crossroads", we are often feeling the artistic perception brought by Chinese opera, which is expressiveness. In artistic creation, expressiveness is higher than reproducibility. It has long been recognized that our traditional art has incorporated expressiveness into our performance system. So it's no surprise that "Crossroads" has been so popular.
Inheritance and Development of the Acrobatic Fighting in Peking Opera
1.Current Situation of Acrobatic Fighting
In the mid-twentieth century, Chinese opera schools had rich performances of martial arts repertoire. At that time, there were hundreds of outstanding actors performing different operas. However, after the impact of the Cultural Revolution and the reform and opening up, new art forms emerged endlessly, and people no longer took the opera as a regular entertainment and leisure activity as before. The popular singing repertoire of Peking Opera has been greatly affected, and the acrobatic fighting has suffered a very obvious decline. It is very difficult to see the wonderful acrobatic fighting repertoire on the Peking Opera stage today as it was in the past. Even if there is, the quality of the performances is hardly guaranteed. And in the new performance of Peking Opera, it is hard to see any form of new repertoire that involves Wudan, Daomadan, or even Peking Opera martial arts. The shrinkage of traditional repertoire and the absence of new repertoire in Peking Opera have put the current comprehensive inheritance and development of Peking Opera and even the art of opera in a disadvantageous situation (Zhang Xiaocui 2017, 132).
The decline of acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera and the repertoire emphasizing both literary and military arts in the current society is worrying, which is caused by various reasons, both from the practitioners themselves and from the society. From the performer's point of view, the foundation of the martial arts actors is not good enough and the performance id not so authentic, so the audience is not really satisfied; Some singing actors do not pay attention to the overall development, blindly pursuing the progress of singing skills, so that a lot of operas both with singing and martial skills can not be well preserved, resulting in the shrinkage of the repertoire; The old and new inheritance system bear some difference, so many practitioners today do not practice can also get paid due to the monthly salary system, lacking the perseverance of their predecessors. In terms of the social environment, some plays were lost in the 1930s and 1940s; After liberation, some policies for maintaining unity had an impact on the repertoire of martial arts; The traditional acrobatic fighting ceased during the Cultural Revolution; There were few acrobatic fighting in the new repertoire; The number of actors of acrobatic fighting has decreased (Du Peng 2014, 108).
The disappearance of a large number of acrobatic fighting and the opera with both singing and martial skills has led to the serious division of singing and martial skills in Peking Opera performance, the loss of many acrobatic fighting plays, the deterioration of the performers' comprehensive ability of singing, speaking, acting and combating, and the serious tendency of "emphasizing the singing skills and neglecting the martial arts" in opera innovation. The innovation of Peking Opera should be a comprehensive innovation, rather than a single level of development. It can be said that such unbalanced development hinders the benign and comprehensive development of Peking Opera (Zhang Xiaocui 2017, 132).
2.The Innovative Ways of Development of Acrobatic Fighting in Contemporary Era The analysis and concern about the current situation of Peking Opera is not pure criticism, but to raise and solve problems. The cultural environment of a particular era is complicated, and the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera can not be easily recovered by shouting out a few words of revitalization. Here we try to propose some solutions for practitioners to think about.
First of all, opera schools should be the main body of the inheritance of acrobatic fighting and related repertoire. It is a realistic problem that the teaching repertoire of Peking Opera at all levels is in disorder nowadays, which restricts the development of Peking Opera and even the whole teaching of Peking Opera. Schools should increase acrobatic fighting in the teaching repertoire and standardize it. Secondly, it is necessary to restore the endangered or already lost acrobatic fighting repertoire. Some plays are performed repeatedly in various Peking Opera troupes, easily making the audience get bored. So for the sake of the troupes' future and the obligation of inheritance, it is necessary to restore the lost acrobatic fighting repertoire.
As for how to explore the lost repertoire, we can start from the following aspects :(1) ask the living predecessors for relevant performance skills and stage experience; (2) Make full use of the recordings and videos left by the seniors; (3) Collect notes from experienced theater fans. With the precious resources of the acrobatic fighting, the recovery of these plays can be considered from the following three aspects: Firstly, start restoring the repertoire from the traditional seasonal repertoire, that is, to find appropriate unpopular plays from each season of the year to resume the performance, so that the audience can not only watch the repertoire rarely seen on the stage, but also inherit and enrich the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera. Secondly, restore the repertoire from the perspective of characters: It is also a good way to restore it from point to point as time goes by until the repertoire is serialized. Thirdly, select a specific kind of repertoire for recovery: In the process of recovering traditional repertoire, we should not only do it in a solemn and stirring mood, but also learn how to use effective methods and promote acrobatic fighting to the market, believing that they can be accepted and welcomed by audiences (Du Peng 2014, 116).
Conclusion
Since the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, all the artists who became masters of Peking Opera were able to perform both singing skills and martial skills in the martial arts. They were able to break through the limitations of their own lineage, which really pushed the art of Peking Opera to a whole new peak and developed each lineage comprehensively, making the art of Peking Opera of that era wonderful and brilliant. Now, in the twenty-first century, some aspects of Peking Opera seem to have returned to the situation that existed before the masters of Peking Opera, i.e., the singing skills and martial arts are divided, and there is an unprecedented dilemma that the acrobatic fighting repertoire may be lost. There are many reasons for this situation, but the result is the degradation of the ability of actors in various roles, the loss of plays, the fragmentation of plays, the homogenization of skills and so on.
As the younger generation, we should not only have reverence for the older masters and the heights they have promoted the art of Peking Opera, but also do our best to carry forward the opera skills. The Peking Opera troupes and actors of acrobatic fighting are hoped to spare no efforts to pass on the skills through constantly improving the level of business, modestly consulting and learning from the predecessors and strengthening the theoretical accomplishment, so as to inherit acrobatic skills through traditional martial plays. They’re also supposed to explore new ways of innovating acrobatic fighting according to the troupe's actual situation, to "revitalize" the acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera, so that they can be inherited, developed and innovated in the tradition, thus comprehensively promoting the prosperity of the Peking Opera performance market and better serving the socialist cultural market.
References
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Terms and expressions
acrobatic fighting 武戏
singing, speaking, acting and combating 唱念做打
Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou 生旦净丑
Crossroads 《三岔口》
Hsiung-nu 匈奴
Sick Man of East Asia 东亚病夫
Journey to the West 《西游记》
Water Margin 《水浒传》
Wudan 武旦
Daomadan 刀马旦
Questions
1.What's the significance of Peking Opera in Chinese history?
2.What are the three characteristics of "Chivalry"?
3.What are the three characteristics of formal beauty of acrobatic fighting?
4.How to explore the lost repertoire?
Answers
1.Peking Opera is the most influential opera in China, with its center in Beijing and spread throughout the country. During its long artistic history, Peking Opera has continuously absorbed nutrients from the traditional Chinese culture and people’s daily life and developed into a magnificent flower in the opera garden. As an important form of expression of traditional Chinese culture, Peking Opera has a wide influence all over the country, and various artistic elements of it are regarded as symbols of traditional Chinese culture.
2.Commitment, righteousness, and lightness of life and death.
3.1)The performer's skilled and exquisite somersault skills and kung fu;
2)The performer's shapely and beautiful bodies;
3)The beauty of composition formed by the collective cooperation on the stage.
4.1)Ask the living predecessors for relevant performance skills and stage experience;
2)Make full use of the recordings and videos left by the seniors;
3)Collect notes from experienced theater fans.
英语笔译 熊嘉玲 Xiong Jialing 202170081602
Abstract
Yue Opera, an important local opera in China, is one of the five types of Chinese opera. From the original "Chinese Folk Rap"(落地唱书), it has developed into the second most popular opera in China and is one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, Yue Opera plays a very important role in China's art field. This article will give a general introduction to Yue Opera. The first is a brief introduction to the general situation of Yue Opera; In the first chapter, the author will introduce the historical origin and development of Yue Opera. In the second chapter, the author will focus on the introduction of the performance characteristics of Yue Opera, including its singing voice, role of business and so on; In the third chapter, the author will talk about the value of Yue Opera, such as its cultural value, social value and so on. The fourth chapter will mention the inheritance and development of Yue Opera. As one of Chinese operas, Yue Opera has a long history and rich cultural connotation. In today's cultural diversity and economic globalization, it can promote the spread of traditional Chinese culture to let the world see and hear Yue Opera.
Key words
Yue Opera;traditional Chinese culture;Chinese opera
Introduction
Yue Opera (Yueju in Pinyin) is the second largest opera genre in China, and some scholars consider it to be "the largest local opera genre". It is also one of the five major Chinese opera genres (Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yue Opera, Pingju opera and Henan Opera). Originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang province, prosperity in the whole country, spread to the world, it has experienced a historical evolution from male to female Yue Opera.In the development, it absorbed the elements of kunqu opera, drama, Shaoxing opera and other operas. It is called "Chinese opera" abroad. It is also known as "the most popular local opera". Yue Opera is long in lyric, mainly singing, beautiful voice, real and moving performance, beautiful and elegant, with the spirit of jiangnan. Most of them are based on the theme of "talents and beauties", and there are various artistic schools. There are as many as 13 recognized schools. It was mainly popular in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui and other southern regions, as well as most northern regions such as Beijing and Tianjin. In its heyday, professional troupes existed all over the country except xizang, Guangdong, Guangxi and a few other provinces and autonomous regions. (Qian Hong, edited by the editorial board of Chinese Yue Opera Canon,2006)
Yue Opera is also the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Among the modern emerging operas in China, the Yue Opera bred from the regional culture and modern art of the Yangtze River Delta is undoubtedly the most influential. Once upon a time, "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" produced by "Shaoxing Women's Literary Opera" and "Shaoxing Women's Opera" were popular in Shanghai. The heroic deeds of the ten Sisters of Yue Opera, represented by Yuan Xuefen, against the bullying of the dark forces shocked the Chinese cultural circle; After the founding of the People's Republic of China, With the help of the movie a Dream of Red Mansions, Yue Opera became a national hit. Premier Zhou Enlai took the film liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai as one of new China's diplomatic means to promote the Opera overseas.(Liu,2022)
The Historical Origin of Yue Opera
Shengzhou, The Birthplace of Yue Opera
Yue Opera is one of the five major operas in China and the second largest in China at present. Yue Opera is called "the second in China" in terms of the number of performances and social popularity. In terms of its performing arts history and popular areas, it is probably far inferior to kunqu opera and Huangmei Opera. Due to language limitations, it is mainly popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Yue Opera is generally spread in Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu and other places which are usually said wu language area. So Yue Opera is still a typical local opera. It originated from Shengzhou of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, which is the shengzhou city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province today. It is evolved from local folk songs and formed by absorbing the characteristics of Kunqu opera and Shaoxing opera in the development process. Shengzhou, the birthplace of Shaoxing opera, has been attracting celebrities from all sides to visit with its unique charm since ancient times. The beautiful scenery here, surrounded by beautiful mountains, with a long history, and its unique dynamic temperament, has created a unique charm and beauty in Shengzhou. The enchanting natural scenery has given here the magic charm, attracting the high sages and celebrities in succession to enjoy the scenery, leaving many immortal chapters spread through the ages for the later generations. With the growing popularity of folk poetry and lyrics, shengzhou people who are good at singing have integrated songs into their lives. Versatile shengzhou people thus became the original creator of Yue Opera art, Shengzhou has also become a fertile soil for the birth of Yue Opera art.
The Real Birth of Little Choir, the Predecessor of Yue Opera
From the year of 1906 , Yue Opera entered the stage role playing period. Therefore, it can be regarded as the origin of Yue Opera as the identity of opera. However, the little choir did not come into being suddenly, nor did it start out dressed up for the stage. From the xianfeng period in the 1850s and 1860s, it went through decades of embryonic stages. In terms of art classification, Chinese Folk Rap does not belong to opera, but to quyi. Therefore, it can not be called the "predecessor" of Yue Opera, but its original form of performance.
The origin of Chinese Folk Rap is that when farmers were resting in the fields after work, many people would compose and sing ditty that could reflect the aspirations of the common people, which always aroused the praise of farmers and gradually spread among them. The last few popular songs, everyone can sing. Researchers on the history of Yue Opera generally believe that the sign of the emergence of Chinese Folk Rap is that Jin Qibing and others began to sing Buddhist songs and folk tunes in front of rich households in the nearby countryside in order to make a living.(Pan,2009)
The early Chinese Folk Rap performers did not completely break away from agriculture while singing Chinese Folk Rap. For many performers, farm work is the main thing to support their families and is the job left to them for generations. It is unimaginable for them to completely break away from farm work. Therefore, during the spring ploughing season from January to February and March, the artists went back to their hometown in Sheng County to work on their fields. Qian Jingsong, Li Shiquan, Gao Binghuo and other artists who had been invited to the "stage" in Yuhang and Yuqian (now part of Lin 'an) talked with the villagers about their debut experience, which aroused the interest of many villagers. They urged artists to do the same at home. Guangxu period (1906) on the qingming Festival on the third day of march in the lunar calendar, on the vacant lot of dongwang village in Sheng County, the village civilian used rice barrel, the door panel set up the stage, invited many artists coarsely-dressed up to sing the Chinese Folk Raps, unexpectedly caused a stir in the countryside, attracted people from many villages to watch. The popularity of this form of singing book in the village even exceeded the artists' expectations.(Edited by Cultural and Historical Data Committee of Shengxian CPPCC,1992)
So they began to think about organizing theater groups to put on more scripted performances, and they came up with a low-key and elegant name for the form: Little Choir". In general, such performance formula has met the basic conditions of opera, so many researchers have always regarded this performance as the origin of Yue Opera. Stage at this time, not only clothing is very simple, Musical Instruments are also very simple. Although the form of "Little Choir" is primitive, the singing is monotonous, and the costumes are simple, but this pioneering move alone is enough to leave a brilliant first in the history of Yue Opera. Since the birth of the "Little Choir" in Sheng County, it has spread quickly to the surrounding areas. As a literature and art originating in country life, it is not surprising that it first established itself in the country. At the same time, it is constantly exploring transformation, slowly infiltrating into the city, After 1907, the "Little Choir" has been all over Athens County, and gradually to the neighboring Xinchang, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Yuyao, Fenghua and other places spread, both in the village and the town theater, where are warmly welcomed. For example, in Xinchang, only three or five years after the first contact with the "Little Choir", the number of newly established local opera troupe has reached 30 or 40 classes.
Performing in the countryside, the troupe must suffer from displacement. Therefore, it is always the ideal of the troupe to perform in a city with a large population, both male and female. Large and medium-sized cities for "Little Choir", is always tempting. On the one hand, large and medium-sized cities have strong consumption capacity and can obtain higher economic benefits. On the other hand, the fact that "Little Choir" can establish itself in big cities is the recognition of "Little Choir" by higher-level audiences, which is a kind of honor.(Pan,2009)
Shaoxing Civil Opera Period
In 1922, the development of Shaoxing Opera entered a new historical stage, that is, the Period of "Shaoxing Civil Opera". Because "Little Choir" was born in Shengzhou, which is subordinate to Shaoxing Prefecture, and the content of "Little Choir" is more focused on family ethics and love, so it is called "Shaoxing Civil Opera". Shaoxing Civil Opera period is the mature stage of the development of Yue Opera. It can be divided into two periods. In the early stage, there are all male actors, so it is called Shaoxing Civil Opera Male Troupe; in the later stage, there are mixed performances of male and female actors, and the transition to female troupe is called Shaoxing Civil Opera Female Troupe.
The Period of Women's Improvement in Shaoxing Civil Opera
In the history of The development of Yue Opera, the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War is an important dividing line. Before this, Shaoxing Civil Opera, which was dominated by male classes, was in its heyday, with famous actors concentrated in Shanghai and female classes flourishing, but the activity area was mainly in Zhejiang. Although there were female classes in Shanghai, most of them were mobile, so their status was not high and their influence was limited in the whole Cultural pattern of Shanghai.
In the late 1930s, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of female classes came to Shanghai for development and rose rapidly. At the same time, male classes declined sharply and were soon replaced by female classes, gradually forming a kind of operas featuring all-female performances. Almost all the famous actors and drama companies were concentrated in Shanghai. The social and cultural environment of Shanghai has provided rich nutrition for the progress of Yue Opera art, promoted the reform of Yue Opera in the new environment, and provided a rare historical opportunity for its rapid development.
"New Yue Opera" Period
The reform of Yue Opera, which started in October 1942, opened up a new era in the history of Yue Opera and had a profound influence on the establishment of the form and style of Yue Opera. The "new Yue Opera" rising in the wave of reform in this period is obviously different from the original women's Yue Opera in terms of repertoire, music, stage image, deconstruction and operation mechanism of troupe. During the period of "New Yue Opera", Yue Opera achieved rapid development. A group of young actors, such as Yuan Xuefen, Yin Guifang, Fan Ruijuan and Fu Quanxiang, became the representatives of the new generation of Yue Opera.
The Development of Yue Opera After Liberation
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, opera art began to enter the process of planned, deployed and focused reform, and Yue Opera also began to adapt to the new era of profound reform. In the early 1950s, a drama reform movement was launched nationwide. During this period, professional drama troupes in Shanghai and Zhejiang carried out the work of "Three reforms" to different degrees successively, which brought new changes to the appearance of Yue Opera. In March 1955, Shanghai Theatre was formally established, gathering a large number of professional talents with high artistic quality in the field of yue Opera, such as editing, directing, acting, music, beauty and so on.
The Revival of Yue Opera in the New Period
The "Cultural Revolution" that began in 1966 severely destroyed Yue Opera. After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", especially after the third Plenary Session of the eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978, Yue Opera began a comprehensive revival in a new period, ushering in a new spring in the development history of Yue Opera
Under the influence of historical conditions, the revival of Yue Opera started from the modern opera performed by men and women. In 1977, the Shanghai Yue Opera reenacted the drama with a co-performance of male and female and was a great success, setting off the wave of the revival of Yue Opera. Soon after that, Shanghai Film Studio made "Xiang Lin's wife" into the first color widescreen style art film of Yue Opera and screened it in the whole country, re-expanding the influence of Yue Opera in the whole country. Traditional and historical operas have also been resumed, and women's Yue Opera has gained recognition and new vitality. In 2006, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yue Opera, it was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural Heritage list with the approval of The State Council. The future of Yue Opera will be more brilliant.
The Performance Characteristics of Yue Opera
First, the selection of materials for the Yue Opera plays is mainly based on the love and marriage stories of ancient talents and beauties. Such as Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, Fan Li and Xi Shi, Lu You and Tang Wan and so on. These stories have long been written and interpreted into various literary and artistic works and passed down from generation to generation among the people. After these stories were compiled into The Yue Opera, the artistic atmosphere of the story and the tragic color of the characters were enhanced, giving people a more vivid and profound impression.
Second, the music of Yue Opera is good at showing the feelings of young men and women. The singing style is based on the "Chinese Folk Rap" of Wuyue water town in the south of Yangtze River, absorbing the folk music of Sheng County. After Yuan Xuefen and lute zhou Baocai cooperation, so that the opera singing form a gentle lingering lyric style.
Third, the performances of Yue Opera are vivid, natural, elegant and moving. They are full of beauty and talent in the south of the Yangtze River, especially the performances of young girl's role, which combine the scholarliness of scholars with the beauty of young girls. The principle of "virtuality" and "stylization" and the aesthetic pursuit of "symbolism" and "freehand style" formed in the long-term artistic practice of Chinese opera performance have provided a theoretical basis for the formation of the performing art of young women in Yue Opera, so that female actors can play male roles without being restricted by their own gender. Under the guidance of virtual drama and freehand brushwork principle, the female students can not completely imitate the performance of men and force the unity of actors and roles, actors can use stylized performance to look at the male roles in the drama from the perspective of women. What she interprets is not the man in real life, but the man in the woman's mind, that is, the man that the woman idealizes, the man that the woman plays to the audience. This is just like the plum blossom and bamboo painted by Chinese painters in traditional Chinese paintings. They are not plum blossom and bamboo in nature, but plum blossom and bamboo in the artist's mind. Of course, the course of this success is not follow one's inclinations, is not subject to any condition, also need actors themselves have a certain external conditions and mental qualities, such as the tall figure, elegant temperament, generous demeanor, etc., so as to better shape the character image, conveys the verve of male role. Various schools of Yue Opera have blossomed.
Fourth, the stage presentation of the Yue Opera is fresh and elegant, which is often refreshing. The makeup of Yue Opera has absorbed the methods of drama and film, and is characterized by being close to nature, fresh and elegant, rather than exaggerated and colorful. Based on the paintings of ancient ladies in costume, the costumes are changed from complex to simple and gorgeous to clear and beautiful with the characteristics of simplicity and clarity. The scenery is simple and lively, the combination of virtual and real, with the performance of the actors, making full use of modern sound and light technology, giving people an immersive artistic feeling.(Liu,2022)
The Value of Yue Opera
Cultural Value
Cultural creation is based on traditional culture and under the influence of modern culture, absorbing new tunes, new choreography, new themes, new talents and new music of modern culture to generate a new round of cultural wave and a "new culture" that is different from the past and more adaptable. Yue Opera is "rich in expressive force, plain and smooth melody, fresh and beautiful with local flavor". It has beautiful melody, graceful and touching pronunciation, beautiful appearance but not coqueness. Both civic and military opera have their own strengths, and it is different from the softness and beauty of Peking Opera. It has a very high viewing value, which is why in recent years, Yue Opera has gained more and more audience's love, causing more and more attention. This is the cultural creation value of Yue Opera.(Jin,2012)
From the point of view of Marx's theory of literature and art, all arts (including literature, calligraphy, architecture, painting, opera, etc.) are the reflection of people's lifestyle and cultural psychology in a particular era and region. In the field investigation, we found that most of the people who adhere to Yue Opera are the older generation, because it used to be a part of their life, carrying their joys and sorrows, and relying on their understanding of life. Yue Opera touches the softest part of the heart of a generation in a casual way at some point. These cultural memories, no matter joyful, sad, beautiful or ugly, will become a kind of cultural nutrition and melt into the bones and blood of the whole regional culture and even the national culture, giving us reasons and directions to move forward. This is the cultural creation value of Yue Opera.This is the cultural inheritance value of Yue Opera.(Yang,2021)
Social value
Yue Opera originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang province, China, so it is easy to explain why all the people in Shaoxing and Shengzhou can hum it and find pleasure in it. Obviously, in the region where It originated and developed, It has become a topic of conversation among the masses after dinner. In the folk, people are also used to organizing various performances and singing competitions of It to enrich their amateur cultural life. Therefore, in the traditional cultural matrix of Yue Opera, there is a kind of aesthetic value called social value, which has laid a solid foundation for extensive social communication among the masses. Therefore, Yue Opera gradually became a social means, which was of great significance in promoting social harmony and stability. Of course, with the continuous expansion of the overseas market of Yue Opera, it is also playing an important role in developing sino-foreign relations, consolidating sino-foreign friendship and realizing the combination of Chinese and foreign culture and art.(Jin,2012)
The Entertainment Value of Yue Opera.
As a unique type of traditional culture, History and culture have endowed it with a unique development environment, unique artistic charm, which make It a popular art form among the public. From the emergence and development of Yue Opera to its prosperity and growth, its entertainment value has been accompanied by it. Yue Opera can not only give people visual and auditory satisfaction, but also give the audience great psychological satisfaction, so as to relieve the pressure for the masses and delight the masses physically and mentally. A large number of excellent Plays of Chinese traditional Yue Opera, such as Butterfly Lovers and Peony Pavilion, brought people spiritual sustenance and was one of the important ways for people to interest their heart and soul at that time. For example, the twists and turns of the Story, the beautiful love story and the artistic stage design of the Yue Opera Peony Pavilion not only relieved people's living pressure, but also promoted people's self-cultivation.(Ye,2016)
The above research on the value of Yue Opera shows that this local opera has strong charm and development potential. Thus, we can see the reasons behind the "centennial brilliance" and strong influence of Yue Opera. Yue Opera has rich cultural value, including cultural creation value and cultural inheritance value. Shaoxing Opera also has certain social communication value, which can be called a social means. Yue Opera not only promotes social harmony, but even plays a great role in promoting the spread of Chinese culture and cultural exchanges. In addition, Yue Opera has its entertainment value. In daily life, it has enriched the lives of ordinary people and provided them with certain spiritual sustenance, which is of great significance.
The Inheritance and Development of Yue Opera
Yue Opera is one of the most important local operas in China. It has developed into the second most popular opera in China from the original Chinese Folk Rap. However, with the popularization of TV, the establishment of cinemas and the continuous expansion of the Internet, the influx of pop songs, European and American blockbusters and the change of modern people's value orientation, the traditional Yue Opera has been plunged into unprecedented crises. In today's era of vigorously protecting intangible cultural heritage and building a new socialist countryside, how to protect, inherit and develop folk Yue Opera is not only related to the survival of the opera itself, but also an important topic of "intangible cultural heritage" protection, as well as an important content to be studied in mass cultural work.(Zhang,2010)
Review the Inheritance Status of Yue Opera
Through visits to local cultural departments and literature review, we know that the performance of Yue Opera is faced with fewer and fewer audiences, and the troupe cannot survive. The number of professional Yue Opera troupes has decreased from more than 260 in the 1950s and 1960s to less than 35 now. Most folk yue troupes mainly cover the rural market, but because the market is small, they can not get a greater development. However, under the influence of various cultural and entertainment activities, the audience is mainly around 40 years old, and the younger generation is less interested in it. It can be seen that the audience of Yue Opera rarely come from the youth group, and the audience of Yue Opera is increasingly aging. Although Shengzhou is the birthplace of Yue Opera, its inheritance and development are not good. In terms of relic buildings, the original buildings about Yue Opera are very rare, and the original birthplace of Yue Opera for women can only be found in the only small village. The exhibition stand protecting the original Yue Opera props is also in disrepair and covered with dust. In terms of museums, most of the objects in the museum are restored by later generations. Props, costumes, Musical Instruments and singing stage are re-made by later generations.(Yang,2021)
Problems Faced by the Development of Yue Opera
From the early 1980s to the present, the significant reduction in the number of Yue Opera troupe is the primary problem facing the development of Yue Opera. In the early 1980s, there were seven professional Yue troupes and two professional folk Yue troupes in Jiaxing, while in the mid-1980s, there were only two professional yue troupes. Secondly, from the city to the countryside, the audience of Yue Opera is getting smaller and smaller, and the performance market is getting smaller and smaller. In the past, a company could put on a new play for two or three months. Now it can only put on two or three performances. The audience's enthusiasm for watching Yue Opera has also declined significantly. The third problem facing the development of folk Yue Opera is talent. The performance of Yue Opera has high requirements for talents. It not only requires actors to have beautiful looks and a loud voice, but also to be able to perform. Generally speaking, a good actor can play a role on the stage, no ten or five years is not out, that is to say, one minute on the stage, ten years of work off the stage. Now there is a shortage of talent in the field of Yue Opera. Fourth, repertoire creation is increasingly contracted. In the mass culture system, Yue Opera also received unprecedented cold. At present, cultural centers and art centers around the country mainly focus on the creation of music, dance and fine arts, and there is little interest in the Yue Opera of traditional Chinese opera. There are also few full-time cadres of Yue Opera of drama. In some cultural centers at the county level, full-time cadres of Yue Opera no longer exist.
The Reason Why Yue Opera Faces Confusion
Confusing in today's Yue Opera face of reason is various, but the main reason is that with the change of society and the continuous improvement of living standards. The broad masses of TV and home theater has been gradually into the people, families, people's interest constantly updated, more diverse cultural needs, and a variety of popular songs have taken young people's life. Culture is diverse, Yue Opera was gradually forgotten; Secondly, the propaganda of Yue Opera is not enough. Although the traditional Yue Opera has been quite popular with the masses, the propaganda is far less than that of Peking Opera in the whole country, which causes the dilution of Yue Opera in people's mind. The third is the lack of new strength of Yue Opera. Since the 1990s, fewer and fewer young people like Yue Opera, even fewer professional Yue Opera actors, and now the children basically do not even know what Yue Opera is; Fourth, the operating mechanism of the troupe is not working. It is far from enough for the professional troupe to rely on the financial allocation from the government alone. They have to perform outside to increase their income. (Zhang,2010)
Thoughts on Inheritance and Innovation of Yue Opera
1. Intensify Efforts to Cultivate Professional Yue Opera Actors
In the early 1950s, the period when Yue Opera flourished and developed was also the period when a large number of Art masters of Yue Opera came out. They internalized the art of Yue Opera into their lives, and their personalities and drama forms reached a harmonious unity, which became the highest condensation mode of Yue Opera art. Even when people at that time recalled the development of Yue Opera, the names of a large number of Yue Opera actors first appeared in their mind. Therefore, training a number of young actors to carry forward the Yue Opera with independent artistic life will be the first condition for Yue Opera to obtain its new development.
2. Intensify the Creation of Scripts for Yue Opera
In particular, the audience should choose the most concerned good subject matter, in the spread of "Butterfly Lovers", "Xianglin Sister-in-law" and other classic bridge based on the new culture and people's appeal, innovation. If shaoxing opera wants to get enough attention and attention in the contemporary era, it must have scripts that can reflect the values of The Times and express the demands of the people as a guarantee. This should give enough care and attention to the playwright, establish a long-term mechanism to stimulate and protect their creative enthusiasm.
3. Innovate the Promotion Method of Yue Opera
In the past, the art of Yue Opera was born as a kind of market culture of residents, but now, as a cultural heritage, Yue Opera is gradually transforming from popular culture to elegant art. Therefore, when it comes to effectively dealing with the cultural watch and spiritual breakout of Yue Opera, the first thing we need is to adjust our mentality towards the cultural phenomenon of Yue Opera. We do not advocate the Yue Opera itself directly to change to become a new culture, but should be advocated through the way of improvement and innovation make Yue Opera culture gradually in the masses of the people has the characteristics of a new era of traditional culture, such as development "Yue Opera" series of gen, create IP with Yue Opera character animation image, using new media communication way, Through a number of new channels, such as "live streaming of Internet celebrities", "school-enterprise cooperation" and "star endorsing", the new culture serves the traditional culture of Shaoxing opera and spreads the melody of Yue Opera among a wider social group. (Yang,2021)
Conclusion
As a traditional Chinese culture, Yue Opera has its own unique appreciation value. In today's multicultural world, we cannot abandon our traditional culture. We should try our best to inherit and carry forward our traditional culture, so that they can adapt to the changes of The Times and keep pace with The Times. But at the same time retain the traditional culture, let the world hear the voice of China.
References
- Jin Yingzi金英子(2012). 越剧传统文化基质和审美价值研究[Study on Traditional Culture Matrix and Aesthetic Value of Yue Opera]. 音乐探索Explorations in Music(02): 39-41.
- Liu Wenfeng刘文峰(2022). 扬长补短,再创辉煌——关于越剧传承发展的思考[Develop Strengths and Complement Weaknesses to create Brilliance -- Reflections on the Inheritance and Development of Yue Opera]. 中国非物质文化遗产China's Intangible Cultural Heritage(01): 35-39.
- Pan Yuqi潘玉琪(2009). 越剧的诞生、发展及其人文背景研究(1906-1949)[Study on the Birth, Development and Cultural Background of Yue Opera (1906-1949)].复旦大学Fudan University.
- Qian Hong, edited by the editorial board of Chinese Yue Opera Canon钱宏主编,《中国越剧大典》编委会编著(2006).《中国越剧大典》[The Grand Ceremony of Chinese Yue Opera].杭州市:浙江文艺出版社、浙江文艺音像出版社Hangzhou: Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, Zhejiang Literature and Art Audio and Video Publishing house.
- Yang Ruyuan杨汝远(2021). 论非遗文化在现代化进程中的守望与传承——以越剧为例[On the Watch and Inheritance of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Modernization Process -- Taking Yue Opera as An Example]. 汉字文化Sinogram Culture(06): 175-177.
- Ye Haixiong叶海雄(2016). 越剧传统文化基质和审美价值探讨[Discussion on Traditional Culture Matrix and Aesthetic Value of Shaoxing Opera]. 戏剧之家,Home Drama(06): 52.
- Zhang Peiying张配英(2010). 浅论民间越剧的传承与创新[On the Inheritance and Innovation of Folk Yue Opera]. 大舞台Great Stage(10): 79.
- Edited by Cultural and Historical Data Committee of Shengxian CPPCC嵊县政协文史资料委员会编(1992)﹐《越剧溯源》[The Origin of Yue Opera]. 浙江人民出版社Zhejiang People's Publishing House(5): 23
Terms and expressions
Yue Opera 越剧
Chinese Folk Rap 落地唱书
Pingju opera 评剧
Little Choir 小歌班
Shaoxing Civil Opera 绍兴文戏
Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭
Questions
1.What are the five major Chinese opera genres?
2.Where is the birthplace of Yue Opera?
3.How to inherit and innovate Yue Opera?
Answers
1.Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yue Opera, Pingju opera and Henan Opera.
2.Shengzhou
3.Firstly, intensify efforts to cultivate professional Yue Opera actors.Secondly,intensify the creation of scripts for Yue Opera. Thirdly, innovate the promotion method of Yue Opera.