An overview of Ming and Qing drama

The general situation of Ming and Qing drama is as follows:

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ancient society of China entered a late stage. The commercial economy is relatively developed, and the social life is extravagant and corrupt. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the literati class pursued the rise of hedonism, and the opera gained more convenient conditions for survival and development. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, southern operas had spread to the southeast coastal provinces and developed to the mainland and southwest with strong momentum. By the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it had become a kind of opera tune widely circulated in the whole country, and Kunqu opera was widely circulated because of the favor of the literati class.

Although the influence of zaju is gradually weakening, it still has a long-term performance in the northern folk. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, a new opera voice cavity-string rope and bangzi-was gradually formed in the northern region on the basis of folk ditties, and their rise influenced the face of national operas in the Qing Dynasty. After the Qing dynasty, these traditional operas spread and multiplied all over the country, and new local operas were formed in various places, which became the wonders of Chinese drama culture.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a large number of literati and opera writers emerged and created a large number of works, which prospered the life of opera. The motives and purposes of literati engaged in opera creation in Ming and Qing Dynasties were different from those in Yuan Dynasty. If Yuan Zaju writers are afraid of their mouths and stomachs, then the legendary writers in Ming and Qing dynasties mainly use drama as a tool to express their feelings because of game rhetoric, playing melody and singing harmony.

Due to the extensive and close combination of drama and folk culture, drama has penetrated into all fields of social life. For example, by participating in folk activities such as offering sacrifices to social fires, it has become a folk art that integrates people's religious ceremonies, New Year celebrations, spring prayers and autumn newspapers, weddings and funerals, and has become the main carrier of folk culture and entertainment. Traditional Chinese opera has also had a great influence on the spread of historical knowledge and the shaping of cultural character of the lower classes, and has become their textbooks and enlightenment.

Recommended operas in Ming and Qing dynasties

1, Peony Pavilion

The Peony Pavilion was written in the 26th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1598). Author Tang Xianzu was born in a scholarly family. He refused to be attached to powerful people all his life, nor was he a gangster. He resigned in his later years. This writer, whose official career is not smooth, has created great dramatic works such as Four Dreams of Tang Yuming. 16 16, Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare died in the same year. Because of their talent and literary achievements, they were called the Gemini in the world drama literature by the late Buddha.

2.peach blossom fan

Peach Blossom Fan is a legendary play by Confucius, a writer in Qing Dynasty. It was completed in June in the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (1699) and first published in the forty-seventh year of Kangxi (1708). Peach Blossom Fan is a historical drama close to historical truth. All major events are true, but some details have been artistically treated. The play has been circulated for more than 300 years, and it has been adapted into Huangmei Opera, Peking Opera and Drama, and has been staged frequently.