Drama, song and other performative genres
Songs as Sources
China has a long and rich tradition of performative literature, including drama, songs and chants, recitation narratives, prosimetrical literature (works written in alternation of verse and prose that are sung and narrated respectively) as well as many other forms, some of them locally distinctive.Wuge chunlei: shihua huabaoshan 吳歌春雷：詩畫華抱山. Chen Xiliang 陳錫良, Zhu Hairong 朱海容, eds. Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 2007.
A ballad about a late Ming rebellion in Wuxi. Unlike the conventional topics and familiar themes, which were the vast majority of the performative literature, this is an example of work that bears on local history.
During the New Culture Movement, Chinese intellectuals became acutely aware of the significance of song when studying the literature of the common folk. They believed that modern civilization and all its trappings would disrupt the cultural homogeneity of rural communities, causing the rapid disintegration of certain traditions like song. As a result, students and professors sought to record songs before they "died out." In 1922, Chang Hui, Zhou Zuoren, Gu Jiegang and others in Beijing University's Folksong Research Society published the first periodical devoted to this topic.
Geyao zhoukan 歌谣周刊. 1922-1937.
The journal included articles and a selection of folk songs contributed by collectors from different locations in China (though none from Guizhou, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, or Xinjiang). Contemporary politics also heavily influenced collecting. For instance, the New Culture movement had emphasized gender in Chinese society and as a result, intellectuals made a conscious effort to collect songs about "suffering women." Since its authors emphasized the importance of the written word, they did not transcribe the accompanying music to the lyrics.
With these biases in mind, scholars still can make good use of performative texts on conventional themes in historical analysis. For instance, Guo Qitao, Tanaka Issei and David Johnson, among many others, have used different versions of a single play or a survey of a local repertoire to draw conclusions about historical change. Another exemplary history that relies primarily on a local song for its evidence is analyzed by Chen Chunsheng.
Ritual Opera and Mercantile Lineage : The Confucian Transformation of Popular Culture in Late Imperial Huizhou. Guo Qitao. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.
"This book analyzes Confucian ideology as culture and culture as history by exploring the interplay between popular ritual performance of the opera 'Mulian' and gentrified mercantile lineages in late imperial Huizhou. 'Mulian,' originally a Buddhist tale featuring the monk Mulian's journey through the underworld to save his mother, underwent a Confucian transformation in the sixteenth century against a backdrop of vast socioeconomic, intellectual, cultural, and religious changes."
Spectacle and Sacrifice: The Ritual Foundations of Village Life in North China. David Johnson. Harvard East Asian Monographs; 315. Boston: Brill, 2009.
This book describes the ritual festivals in the villages of southern Shanxi province before 1949. Of these rituals, the Shanxi village ritual opera has the most important influence "on the symbolic universe of ordinary villagers". In the meantime, the ritual operas also shows villagers' artistry in religious creation.
Chūgoku saishi engeki kenkyū 中国祭祀演劇研究. Tanaka Issei 田仲一成. Tokyo: Tokyo daigaku toyo bunka kenkyujo, 1981.
This book has 3 volumes respectively discussing the origin, development, and spread of dramas performed at sacrificial ceremonies in China. If you are interested, Tanaka also has a relevant database 中国祭祀演劇関係写真資料 that contains many photos of dramas at sacrificial ceremonies across China from 1978 to 2012.
Cong "youhuodige" kan Qingdai Zhanglin shehui 从“游火帝歌”看清代樟林社会——兼论潮州歌册的社会史资料价值. Chen Chunsheng 陳春聲. Chaoxue yanjiu 潮學研究. Shantou: Shantou daxue chubanshe, 1993.
During Qing dynasty, Zhanglin was administrated by Chenghai County, Guangdong Province and was an important political, military, and merchant place. You may access the 遊火帝歌 here and listen to the audio performed in Teochew dialect. This website has other Teochew folk songs as well if you are interested. Chen Chunsheng had conducted fieldwork in Zhanglin area for many years, and this paper discussed the society of Zhanglin with the reference of a single song.
For popular literature, poetry, and drama from a specific locale, a good place to start is the massive collectanea Minjian wenxue jicheng 民间文学集成, also known as the Minjian wenxue santao jicheng 民间文学三套集成 for that locale. Note that works in this series are not always catalogued consistently in HOLLIS. Moreover, many localities have published collections of local stories and songs in other formats than this series. Nevertheless, vast quantities of popular literary and performative texts remain in private hands. In some places, local cultural cadres have collected and copied materials. Thus, when doing fieldwork, one should consider visiting the county cultural bureau 文化局 and, at the local level, cultural offices 文化站 to inquire about holdings.
Reincarnations of Zhong Renjie
Shiliao, fangfa, lilun: Lishi renleixue shijiao xia de "zhongjiu naocao" 史料·方法·理论：历史人类学视角下的“钟九闹漕”. Zhang Xiaoye 张小也. Hebei xuekan 河北学刊, vol. 24, no. 6, 162-70, 2004.The author approached the Zhong Renjie rebellion from historical anthology perspective instead of traditional peasant war research.
Shehui chongtu zhong de guan, min yu fa 社会冲突中的官、民与法——以“钟九闹漕”事件为中心. Zhang Xiaoye 张小也. Jianghan luntan 江汉论坛, no. 4, 103-106, 2006.
The author used archival and oral documents to analyze the process of Zhong Renjie rebellion. Zhang aimed to grasp the essence of the relationship between a nation and society by learning about the interaction between officials and ordinary people in the legal domain. She also pointed out her perspectives regarding legal research in traditional Chinese society.
Shengpingshu [The Bureau of Ascending Peace] 昇平署
After the Manchu conquest, the Qing inherited both the Taichangsi 太常寺 (the Court of Imperial Sacrifices) and the Jiaofangsi 教坊寺 (the Bureau of Instruction) from the Ming. The Taichangsi was responsible for the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, the imperial ancestors, Confucius, the deities of the soil and grain and so on. The Jiaofangsi was responsible for both state ceremonies and the emperor’s personal entertainment. By the Kangxi period, there were two organizations which produced performances for the personal enjoyment of the emperor, the Nanfu 南府 and the Jingshan 景山. The Jingshan was incorporated into the Nanfu during the early Daoguang period. And in 1827, Daoguang issued an edict changing the name of the Nanfu to the Shengpingshu, which ended 98 years later with Puyi's expulsion from the palace in 1924.Imperial Institutions and Drama in the Qing Court. Ye Xiaoqing. European Journal of East Asian Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 329-64, 2003.
Detailed study of the responsibility of Shengpingshu.
Qinggong Shengpingshu dang'an jicheng 清宮昇平署檔案集成. The National Library of China. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2011.
Most of the documents related to the Shengpingshu are stored in the National Library of China 中國國家圖書館, the First Historical Archives of China 中國第一歷史檔案館 and the Palace Museum 故宮博物院. This collection was published by the National Library in 2011. It consists of 108 volumes with reprints of 1803 items collected in the library. It has two sections: the first 50 volumes include archival materials documenting the daily lives of the emperor. The remaining volumes include opera scripts used in performances in the palace.
Catalogs
Mingdai zaju quanmu 明代雜劇全目. Fu Xihua 傅惜華, ed. Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1958.Zaju is a form of Chinese performance art that synthesizes prose, poetry, dance, singing and mime, and it emphasizes on comedy. This compilation contains 523 Ming zaju, and is divided into 3 volumes.
Mingdai chuanqi quanmu 明代傳奇全目. Fu Xihua 傅惜華. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1959.
Chuanqi, as a form of Chinese opera, was popular in the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty, and should be differentiated from the Tang Chuanqi that are short stories. Grew out of the older performance form Nanxi (南戲), it combines music styles and topolects, and eventually developed into Kunqu (昆曲). This book contains 950 Ming Chuanqi in a chronological order in accordance with the year of birth of the authors. Before each play, the compiler gives a brief introduction of the author, and lists all the existing versions of the specific play.
Qingdai zaju quanmu 清代雜劇全目. Fu Xihua 傅惜華, ed. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1981.
These three catalogs collect 523 Ming zaju, 950 Ming chuanqi and 1300 Qing Zaju. The plays are organized in a chronological order. A brief biography is compiled for each playwright, and the edition as well as the place of collection are introduced under each item. Useful bibliographies are appended at the end of these catalogs.
Gudian xiqu cunmu huikao 古典戲曲存目彙考. Zhuang Yifu 莊一拂, ed. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982.
This 3-volume catalog includes a total of 320 southern dramas, 1830 zaju and 2590 chuanqi. Apart from giving a biography for each playwright, this catalog also attempts to trace the earliest appearance of each play in pre-modern bibliographies and list all the editions survived today.
Guben xiqu jumu tiyao 古本戲曲劇目提要. Li Xiusheng 李修生. Beijing: wenhua yishu chubanshe, 1997.
More than 1500 plays from the Song to Qing dynasties are recorded. Every entry includes an abstract, the name of the playwright and a list of reference concerning the play.
References
Collections and anthologies of scriptsZhongguo quyizhi 中國曲藝志. Beijing: Zhongguo ISBN zhongxin.
Quyi, or Chinese folk art forms, is a type of traditional performance art consists of narrative storytelling using staged monologues and dialogues. It mostly refers to spoken performance such as Chinese traditional art forms as ballad singing (唱曲), Pingshu (評書), comic dialogues (小品), clapper talks (快板) and cross talks (相聲), and should not be confused with Chinese operas. Since the mid-1980s, the Chinese state has launched the program of collecting, compiling and preserving traditional Quyi works categorized into provincial gazetteers. Starting from the 1990s, several volumes of this series have been published, some of them have online versions, others can be found in the HYL.
Minsu quyi yanshu shumu 民俗曲藝叢書書目. Minsu quyi, 285-90. Taiwan, 2012.
This series of compilation originated from a program that aimed at preserving and promoting researches on performance art associated with temple festivals with the support of the Shih Ho-cheng Folk Culture Foundation in the 1980s. Later the project expanded its horizon to include all cultural phenomenon, including religion, religious rituals, and related folklores, covering most of the Chinese provinces: Liaoning, Shanxi, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and etc. This compilation contains not only the original texts, but also fieldwork reports and research papers.
Shanxi difang xiqu huibian 山西地方戲曲滙編. Taiyuan: Shanxi renmin chubanshe, 1981.
Zhongguo minjian gequ jicheng 中国民间歌曲集成. Beijing: Renmin yinyue chubanshe.
This compilation was initiated by the Ministry of Culture and State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China to gather folk songs from each province, with an emphasis on the ethnic music of different nations. The series has 31 volumes, one for each province. Some of them have online versions on the HYL.
Ming Qing minge shidiao ji 明清民歌時調集. Feng Menglong 馮夢龍, Wang Tingshao 王廷紹, Hua Guangsheng 華廣生, ed. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987.
An online, navigable version of the text is available here.
This 2-volume anthology contains five different collections of folk ballads, all compiled at different times during the Ming and Qing periods. The first three collections were produced by late-Ming writer Feng Menglong (1574-1645): the Mountain Songs 山歌, The Hanging Branch 掛枝兒, and Oleander 夾竹桃. The last two are from the Qing: Supplementary Formulary of the Rainbow Skirts 霓裳續譜, a body of music handed down orally among musicians and compiled by Yan Zide and Wang Tingshao in 1795, and Bequeathed Songs from the White Snows 白雪遺音, published in 1828 by Hua Guangsheng. Feng Menglong's editorial predilections were decidedly low-brow: the Mountain Songs and The Hanging Branch, for the most part, consist of songs documenting the longings and lusts, frustrations and ennui of the common people. The register is correspondingly simple, and the humour salty. We hear the voices of women (frequently prostitutes), boatmen, peasants, hunters, farmers and fisherman, narrating their affairs in crude language peppered with salacious puns and euphemisms.
The 1987 edition is a reprint of a series, 明清民歌時調叢書, produced for "internal circulation" by 中華書局上海編輯所 between 1959-1962. In addition to introductory essays by their Mao-era editors, both the 霓裳續譜 and 白雪遺音 include Qing-era prefaces which expound their literati compilers' curatorial rationales.
Oki Yasushi and Paolo Santangelo's book (see Bibliography, below) on the Mountain Songs contains a useful introduction to the genre, a gloss, and some translations.
Xijian jiuban quyi quben congkan: Chaozhou gece juan 稀見舊版曲藝曲本叢刊－潮州歌册卷. Beijing: Beijing tushuguan chubanshe, 2002.
This 70 volume set, part of a series assembled by the 北京圖書館出版社, includes 1468 卷 of songs pertaining to historical events and folklore from Guangdong and southwestern Fujian (though the songs also enjoyed popularity in Taiwan and other littoral areas). Comprising mainly of rhymed verse sung without accompaniment, they were performed widely beginning in the early Qing if not late Ming period; some scholars speculate that the genre originated in the dialect-driven modification of songs transmitted from the north and Jiangnan.
Liaozhai liqu ji 聊齋俚曲集. Pu Songling 蒲松齡. Beijing: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi, 1999.
This is a collection of popular songs by Pu Songling. He wrote the lyrics and matched them with the popular tunes in his hometown Shandong. Some of the contents were adapted from his novels, whereas the others were newly created. The repertoire has been performed a lot in Shandong area even after Pu's death.
Historical Sources related to drama performance
Jubu congkan 菊部叢刊. Zhou Jianyun 周劍雲, ed. Taipei: Zhuanji wenxue chubanshe, 1974.
Qingdai Yandu liyuan shiliao 清代燕都梨園史料. Zhang Cixi 張次溪, ed. Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1988.
This two-volume book collects 51 works related to opera performances in Beijing in the Qing dynasty. It covers the developments of troupes, biographies of actors and anecdotal accounts. You may also access 正編 and 續編 through Ctext.
Zhongguo gudian xiqu xuba huibian 中國古典戲曲序跋彙編. Cai Yi 蔡毅, ed. Jinan: Qilu shushe, 1989.
Zhongguo gudian bianju lilun ziliao huiji 中國古典編劇理論資料匯集. Qin Xueren 秦學人, Hou Zuoqing 侯作卿, eds. Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1984.
Zhongguo jindai xiqu lunzhu zongmu 中國近代戲曲論著總目. Fu Xiaohang 傅曉航, Zhang Xiulian 張秀蓮, ed. Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 1994.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Zhongguo dabaikequanshu xiqu quyi 中國大百科全書戲曲曲藝. Beijing: Zhongguo dabaikequanshu chubanshe, 1983.
This is a section under the Encyclopedia of China specifically for drama, opera, and folk songs. You can access the online database here (人文与社会——戏曲 曲艺).
Zhongguo gudai xiju cidian 中國古代戲劇辭典. Zhang Yuezhong 張月中, ed. Ha'erbin: Heilongjiang renmin chubanshe, 1993.
Zhongguo quxue dacidian 中國曲學大辭典. Qi Senhua 齊森華, Chen Duo 陳多, Ye Changhai葉長海, ed. Hangzhou: Zhejiang jiaoyu chubanshe, 1997.
Zhongguo yinyue wudao xiqu renming cidian 中國音樂舞蹈戲曲人名詞典. Cao Chousheng 曹惆生, ed. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1959.
This dictionary includes 5200 names that are arranged based on the stroke numbers of the initials. Each entry usually indicates the person's basic information (i.e., name and alias, dynasty, and place of origin) first, and then briefly recounts relevant anecdotes, lists the person's work if there is any, and states its sources.
Jingju qumu cidian 京剧剧目辞典. Zeng Bairong 曾白融, ed. Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1989.
This dictionary includes 5300 selected scenes from the Peking opera. Each entry usually describes the antecedent and relevant research of the selected scene. Sources of the primary text is listed in each entry. Table of content is organized by dynasty based on the historical setting of the play.
Xiqu ciyu huishi 戲曲詞語彙釋. Lu Dan'an 陸澹安. Shanghai: Shanghai jinxiu wenzhang chubanshe, 2009.
Contains 8000 entries mainly from 院本雜劇 pieces, with examples of usage. Available on Apabi. The 1981 version can be accessed here.
Shi ci qu xiaoshuo yuci dadian 詩詞曲小說語辭大典. Wang Guiyuan 王貴元, Ye Guigang 葉桂剛, ed. Beijing : Qunyan chubanshe, 1993.
Contains more than 20,000 entries from poetry and baihua literature from the Tang to the Qing.
Zhongguo huaben xiaoshuo suyu cidian 中國話本小說俗語辭典. Tian Zongyao 田宗堯, ed. Taibei: Xinwenfeng chuban gongsi, 1985.
First Chinese-English dictionary for old baihua, in part based on Lu Dan'an's 戲曲詞語彙釋.
Databases
Tokyo University Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia 雙紅堂文庫.The database has 2185 entries of drama and song related content. Majority of the entries have high-resolution digitized scripts that can be downloaded freely. It is easy to search by title, subject, or call number.
Taipei National University of the Arts Library 國立台北藝術大學圖書館.
Use the "Search/館藏查詢" tab to browse the bibliographical guides. Most of the resources are related to song, drama, art, etc.
Bibliographies
Going to the People: Chinese Intellectuals and Folk Literature, 1918-1937. Hung Chang-tai. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985.Chinese drama: an annotated bibliography of commentary, criticism, and plays in English translation. Manuel D. Lopez. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1991.
The Columbia anthology of Chinese folk and popular literature. Victor H. Mair, Mark Bender, eds. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
Shan'ge, the mountain songs: love songs in Ming China. Oki Yasushi, Paolo Santangelo. Boston: Brill, 2011.
Opera and the city: the politics of culture in Beijing, 1770-1900. Andrea Goldman. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2012.
Prosimetric and Verse Narrative. Wilt Idema. Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, 343-412, Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Zhongguo yinyue shupuzhi 中国音乐书谱志 : 先秦－一九四九年音乐书谱全目. Beijing: Renmin yinyue chubanshe, 1994.
A bibliography in Chinese covering music related primary and secondary sources from the Pre-Qin period to 1949. Table of content organized by period and subject.