1907 In the spring, the "Spring Willow Club" organized by Japanese students in China performed the third act of the famous French drama La Traviata and The Record of the Black Slave. Later, Shanghai organized "Chunyang Society" and staged "Black Slave's Call to Heaven" again, which was the bud of China's drama. After the Revolution of 1911, members of the Liu Chun Society, such as Ou Yangyuqian and Lv Jingruo, returned to China one after another, and set up a "New Drama Comrades' Association" in Shanghai to give performances of new dramas (that is, civilized new dramas). Since then, new dramas that publicize revolution and advocate progress have gradually become popular. After Yuan Shikai usurped power, many new drama groups were dissolved, and the new drama movement also declined. However, the vigorous development of drama movement after the May 4th Movement is inseparable from the vanguard role of new drama, and Ou Yangyuqian has also become one of the important founders of modern drama in China. Modern drama literature
As an independent literary style, drama was born and developed in China, and its performance gained more and more extensive mass base, after the May 4th New Culture Movement (see the May 4th Literary Revolution). In the past 60 years, drama has not only been enduring in China, but also become one of the most important literary styles. In this process, China's modern drama appeared the trend of realism, romanticism and other artistic schools; With the continuous development and diversification of themes, forms and styles, outstanding playwrights such as Guo Moruo, Tian Han, Cao Yu, Xia Yan and Lao She have emerged.
With the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), the development of modern drama in China is divided into two periods, namely, the democratic revolution period and the socialist revolution and construction period. These two periods are both related and have their own characteristics.
The development of drama during the democratic revolution can be divided into three stages:
The initial stage (19 17 ~ 1927) launched a massive literary revolution around the May Fourth Movement, which promoted the development of modern drama movement by criticizing traditional old dramas and introducing western drama creation and theory. 1965438+In March 2007, the magazine published a letter from Qian to Chen Duxiu. Later, many famous figures of the New Culture Movement published articles one after another. New Youth published the special issue of Ibsen +09 18 in June 2008, and the special issue of drama improvement in June 2008. Qian criticized the old drama for "no ideal and extremely bad articles" and advocated "sweeping it away and overthrowing it as much as possible" and establishing "Western drama". Zhou Zuoren and Fu Sinian also advocated the exclusion of old dramas. Hu Shi is more firmly in favor of introducing drama from the west. He admired Ibsen, and the publication of this article had a great influence on the development of China's drama, which was in its infancy at that time. Although Ou Yangyuqian is relatively dull, he also thinks that "China's old plays must be preserved. However, there are too many bad habits, which must be eliminated and washed. " He pointed out that the innovation of drama should start with literary scripts. Although this criticism of the old drama absolutely denies the viewpoint of the old drama, it is not without bias, but it clears the way for the development of drama and makes modern drama establish and survive in the struggle. At the same time, the New Culture Movement vigorously publicized and introduced western drama creation and theory. New Youth and other magazines, Ibsen, Bernard Shaw, Strindberg, romain rolland, Chekhov, Wilde and other world-famous dramas, and the works of Japanese Saneatsu Mushakoji have been translated and introduced successively. All these have had a positive impact on the creation of modern drama and the development of drama movement.
From the very beginning, China's modern drama movement and creation showed the spiritual characteristics consistent with the enlightenment thought of "for life" advocated by the New Culture Movement. Oppose the shackles of feudal ideological tradition, oppose using drama as a tool of dance academy, and adhere to the close connection between drama creation and performance and social life, so that modern drama presents a vibrant and positive trend in its birth period. 192 1 year, Chen Dabei, Shen Yanbing, Zheng Zhenduo, Ou Yangyuqian, Xiong Foxi and others initiated the establishment of the People's Drama Society and the monthly Drama, while Chen Dabei advocated "loving American TV dramas" that were not controlled by capitalists and "patrons". In the declaration, colleagues in this magazine put forward that "the leisure time is over" and regarded drama as "the wheel to promote social progress. It was emphasized that drama must reflect reality and undertake the task of serving the people. Then the Shanghai Drama Association was established, and 1922 was followed by Xu, Hong Shen. They also advocate that "drama is art, not shallow entertainment" and "life should be understood from drama" (Ou Yangyuqian's theory and practice of drama reform). He also attached importance to realistic drama and actively carried out drama activities, which laid the foundation for China's drama to move from amateur to professional. In the 1920s, Nanguo Society, represented by Tian Han, and Drama Society, represented by Zhu, overcame some aestheticism tendencies in the May 30th and the early days of the Northern Expedition, and most of their plays showed the spirit of struggle against imperialism and feudalism. Modern drama literature
The drama of this period also permeated the author's concern about social life issues, which had a distinct anti-imperialist and anti-feudal color. The earliest drama in the history of China's drama is the One-Act Drama, which was published by Hu Shi on March 19 19. Although it obviously left traces of imitating Ibsen's Nora, its theme of opposing parents' interference in youth marriage is realistic and targeted. Chen Dabei's Heroes and Beauty and Lady Youlan write social problems in the form of farce, but they excessively pursue to stimulate the audience with bizarre storylines, which weakens the social significance of the works. Pu Boying's "The Turn of Morality" exposes the darkness of social reality, and its intention is similar to Ibsen's "Social Pillar". Wang Zhongxian's Good Son, based entirely on real life, describes the tragedy of "ordinary brokers" in Shanghai, and is called "the most valuable creation of that period" (Hong Shen's Introduction to China's New Literature Series). Ou Yangyuqian's two works, Bitch and After Going Home, also aroused great repercussions because they sharply criticized decadent feudal morality, praised the rebellious spirit against feudal ethics and family, and lashed the ugly soul of intellectuals under the influence of capitalist "civilization". Hong Shen's masterpiece "King of Zhao Yan" put the brushwork in the field where feudal warlords distorted and destroyed the spirit and character of farmers, and revealed the evils of feudal society in a deeper level. Struggle, published by Zheng in 1927, has attracted people's attention because it "revealed direct and clear anti-imperialist consciousness" earlier.
The appearance of romantic drama brought rich and colorful colors to the drama literature in the May 4th period. 1920 Tian Han introduced and discussed European romanticism and symbolism drama in Three Leaves Correspondence. The fire of Guo Moruo's rebellious spirit is due to the translation of Goethe's Faust: a script was inspired and began to appear in generate in the form of poetic drama. 192 1 year later, Tian Han, Guo Moruo and other dramas with beautiful poetic remarks established the position of romantic drama in the history of modern literature in China. Tian Han's birth work A Night in a Coffee Shop reveals a strong sentimental color in romantic lyricism. Before Lunch is a one-act play, which describes the struggle between workers and capitalists earlier and makes a new development for the history of Chinese drama. His Tiger Catching Night created a beautiful image of a rural girl in a sad tragedy. The poetic scene description, dialogue between characters and rich legend make this work have a strong artistic influence and establish Tian Han's position in the history of China's drama. Guo Moruo's Goddess; Media poetry and drama have a strong personality of poet's self-expression. Since then, his talent as a romantic poet and playwright has mainly developed in the direction of historical drama. His series of historical dramas of Zhuo Wenjun, Wang Zhaojun and Nie Qing from 1923 to 1925 opened up a unique world of modern historical dramas in China by describing the stories and personalities of three rebellious women.
At the beginning of China's modern drama, while extensively drawing lessons from western drama, it paid attention to absorbing and drawing lessons from different art schools and various artistic expression methods. Hong Shen's Zhao has not only a profound description of real life, but also a profound psychological description. The author uses O 'Neill's emperor jones to describe a long period of abnormal psychology and exaggerates the mystery. Tian Han's early dramas were obviously mixed with the sentimental elements of aestheticism in the romantic tone. Ding Xilin absorbed the light and humorous comedy techniques in western drama, and successively created Bumblebee and Oppression, which was famous for its ingenious structure and euphemistic satire, and opened up an original style in early drama. Xiong Foxi's Foreign Scholar and Cricket excessively pursue the life interest in the play, diluting the authenticity and appeal of the works. Patriotism, another of his realistic novels, contains symbolic meaning in realistic description, and reflects realistic thoughts through family conflicts.
The emergence and development of China's modern drama is closely related to the New Culture Movement. In the past ten years, from theoretical advocacy to stage practice, from copying foreign countries to self-adaptation; From describing intellectuals to sympathizing with working people; From generally reflecting social problems to consciously involving class opposition, it indicates that China's drama is moving towards the growth stage. Especially after May 30th, inspired by the revolutionary situation, the content of anti-imperialist struggle gradually appeared in drama creation, and the artistic level was improved to a certain extent. The drama works of this period naturally had the defects of naive technology and lack of life depth in the embryonic stage.
The development stage (1927 ~ 1937) was from the failure of 1927 Great Revolution to the full-scale outbreak of 1937 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. The deepening of the democratic revolution and the establishment of the national anti-Japanese war promoted the rapid development of China's drama movement. Serving the democratic revolution and the anti-Japanese struggle more closely is an important feature of the drama movement in this period. Under the increasingly severe situation of reactionary oppression, progressive dramatists adhered to the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal tradition. During the period of 1929, drama groups developed rapidly in Shanghai, a drama transportation center. The more active ones are Nanguo Club (Tian Han), Fudan Drama Club (Hong Shen), Drama Club (Zhu) and Modern Drama Club (Chen). In order to adapt to the revolutionary situation and meet the demands of the broad masses for drama, under the leadership of China, Zheng, Zheng and others, together with a group of revolutionary and progressive literary and art workers, established the Shanghai Art Drama Club on 1929+00, and put forward the slogan of "proletarian drama" for the first time in the history of China drama. Xia Yan and others founded the specialized drama magazines Art and Salon, published the Drama Essays, and published the first batch of theoretical articles on revolutionary drama in the history of China drama, which promoted the development of Shanghai-style drama in a progressive direction and had a far-reaching impact on China's revolutionary drama movement. 1930, Shanghai Art and Drama Society and Nanguo Society were successively banned. In order to strengthen unity and persist in struggle, left-wing dramatists organized the League of Left-wing Dramatists in China, turned their main force to mobile dramas, and developed popular dramas for industry, agriculture and learning. After the September 18th Incident, the popular drama movement reached a new climax and played a great role in patriotic propaganda. 1936, in order to establish a broad anti-Japanese national United front, the "Left-wing Drama Association" was automatically dissolved; Soon, the Shanghai Dramatists Association was established to engage in the drama movement of resisting Japan and saving the nation. At the same time, the revolutionary drama movement flourished in the revolutionary base areas led by China.
At this stage, the team of drama creation has grown stronger and the quality of works has generally improved. In addition to Tian Han, Hong Shen, Ding Xilin, there are also famous playwrights such as Cao Yu, Yang Hansheng, Chen and Yu Ling. The appearance of some of their excellent works marks the maturity of modern drama literature in China. Modern drama literature
Many authors create with rich life experience and various artistic explorations, which makes the works in this period have a great leap in theme exploration and theme expansion compared with the previous stage. China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society is reflected in many aspects. Cao Yu published Thunderstorm on 1934 and wrote Sunrise the following year. Through the tragedy of his family or society, he saw the decay and evil of the upper class and the pain and misery of the lower class in old China from a macro perspective. The two plays to be completed by Cao Yu and vilen not only show the playwright's exploration of deeper social themes, but also mark the arrival of a new stage of China's drama creation. Xia Yan's historical plays "Jin Saihua", "Soul of Freedom" and the famous drama "Under the Roof of Shanghai" are all deeply concerned about social reality. Tian Han's Plum Rain, Bells in Chaos, Seven Women in the Storm and Song of Rejuvenation attempt to explore the changes in the spiritual world of young men and women in their struggle for national liberation, which are full of the fighting atmosphere of the times. Hong Shen created a series of dramas "Rural Trilogy" (Wukuiqiao, Mixiang and Qinglongtan) reflecting the opposition and struggle of rural classes earlier with keen brushwork, which opened up the scope of drama themes. In addition, such as Death of Famous Brand by Tian Han, Behind the Screen by Ou Yangyuqian, the driver's house, business and the common life of three families have exposed the darkness and ugliness of China society in the tragic fate of all kinds of characters.
Many playwrights pay attention to shaping the image of workers and peasants rebels in their own creations, and some new figures representing progressive social forces begin to appear on the stage of drama. The images of Lu Dahai in Cao Yu's Thunderstorm, the worker singing labor songs behind the scenes in Sunrise, Qiu in Yuan Ye and other young peasant insurgents in the novel have brought new brilliance to the stage and audience of the drama. Kaohsiung Han, an overseas Chinese youth in Tian Han's Song of Rejuvenation, is also a newcomer created by the melting pot of resisting Japan and saving the nation. Revolutionary and progressive dramas are expanding their horizons to deeper social fields. They pour their enthusiasm and hope into the new people who represent the direction of social progress.
Playwrights in this period actively explored various artistic styles and expression methods. Many playwrights pay more attention to the characterization of characters than the novelty of plots or stories. The main contradiction in social life in the past 30 years has been deeply reflected in many plays through the shaping, development and completion of characters' personalities. There are many unique characters on the stage. Many writers have gradually explored and mastered their own drama styles. Cao Yu's profundity, Tian Han's enthusiasm, Xia Yan's simplicity and Hong Shen's persistence have all made beneficial explorations for the diversification of drama styles.
In the mature stage (1937 ~ 1949), after the full-scale outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, there was a situation that "China has never played such a huge and significant role in the country and nation since its own drama". After the July 7th Incident, the Chinese Dramatists' Association was established in Shanghai, recommending You Jing (Yu Ling), Hong Shen, Chen, Song Zhide, et al. 16 to create Defending the Lugou Bridge, which officially premiered on August 7th, and received unprecedented strong response, which opened the prelude of the Anti-Japanese War drama. The "August 13th" war in Shanghai was tense. The Shanghai Theatre Salvation Association concentrated on the backbone organization 13 Salvation Drama Team, and went to the front line of Shanghai-Hangzhou-Nanjing Line and behind enemy lines to publicize and mobilize the people to cooperate with the armed struggle. At the end of 1937, the All-China Drama Anti-Enemy Association was established in Wuhan, and it was clearly announced that drama would "go to the battlefield of national flesh-and-blood struggle", thus "drama art will gain new life". From 194 1 to 1942, a historical drama was staged in Chongqing and other places. 1February, 944, Tian Han, Ou Yangyuqian and Guilin held the unprecedented "First Drama Exhibition in Southwest China". The "Isolated Island" drama movement in Shanghai, in which A Ying and Yu Ling participated, is an important part of the drama movement in the Anti-Japanese War, and has also made contributions to the war. During this period, the drama movement in the base areas and liberated areas became a new page in the development history of China's drama literature.
With the development of drama movement, drama creation has also entered a period of vigorous vitality. Although the collective creation in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War was bumpy, it timely cooperated with the political situation of the national Anti-Japanese War. It was not until the fall of Wuhan that dramatists were as excited as ordinary people, and drama began to go deep into the front, rear, countryside and market towns. Therefore, most of the dramas at this time are small one-act dramas created collectively based on local materials. According to statistics, in the first year of the Anti-Japanese War, more than 60 plays/kloc-0 were created. One of the most famous is "Put Down Your Whip" adapted by Chen Liting and Cui Wei on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, accusing the Japanese invaders of their aggression and atrocities and inspiring the people's enthusiasm for the war of resistance. At that time, there were performances all over the country, which played a great role in the anti-Japanese war propaganda. Modern drama literature
Modern drama literature
In the process of deepening the Anti-Japanese War, dramatists have deepened their understanding of reality, improved their ideological concepts and artistic level, and a large number of outstanding works have emerged, reflecting the real life of the Anti-Japanese War from all angles on a broad screen. Cao Yu described the dross of the old regime with strong brushwork, and revealed too many ideals and joys in the description of the new officials in the Anti-Japanese War. Xia Yan's Guardians of the Mind, Song of the Water Village, Fascist Bacteria and The End of the World depict people's mental outlook in the national anti-Japanese war from all sides, expose the atrocities of the enemy, and mold positive knowledge into images. Being good at capturing the dramatic conflicts full of the flavor of the times in daily life shows that the author's artistic creativity is more mature. Yu Ling's "A Night in Shanghai" and "A Long Night's Journey" convey the theme of resisting Japan and saving the nation with sharp and pungent writing and ingenious and novel structure, or describe the hardships of fleeing, or describe the struggle between intellectuals and the enemy and puppet. At this time, many writers active in the Kuomintang-controlled areas have created various variations around this theme and formed their own unique artistic style. Ding Xilin's three-yuan coin, Yuan Jun's eternal model, Shen Fu's little rhapsody, Lao She's residual fog, face problems, etc., all became famous works at that time.
No matter they are famous playwrights in 1930s or newcomers during the Anti-Japanese War, they are all driven by the complex contradiction between society and life, and they think deeply about various social realistic problems. Life and decline, good and evil, beauty and ugliness are intertwined in the description of characters and their contradictions in writers' works, which makes these plays have the depth and breadth of enlightenment significance in lashing out social darkness and exploring personal destiny. Cao Yu's Peking Man pursues the essence of life like Chekhov (before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day ── written by Mr. Mao Dun Liu Xiwei), with a deep and moving artistic style, which shows the internal contradiction of feudal families' increasing happiness and its ultimate collapse in a suffocating atmosphere, suggesting the historical trend of the inevitable demise of the old society. The play shows the familiar artistic creation with its complete drama structure, real characters, profound stage dialogue, lush atmosphere and strong local color. His adaptation of "Home" based on Ba Jin's original work has a new artistic conception, which makes the ideological concept of accusing the feudal marriage system present a subtle and profound atmosphere. Wu Zuguang, a young playwright, showed his creative talent with his first novel Phoenix. His masterpiece Return on a Snowy Night, published on 1942, shows the author's life ideal that "one should treat oneself as a human being" through the love tragedy between a famous Peking Opera dancer and a wealthy concubine. The whole plot plate is compact, the narrative technique is concise, the characters are simple and sincere, and the local color is bright and strong, which highlights Wu Zuguang's artistic style. Li Jianwu, who also thinks about reality and philosophy of life, is good at light comedy. His "Just Spring" and "Yellow Flower" are humorous and fluent in dialogue, dramatic in plot and strong in national flavor.
During this period, many dramatists experienced from excessive optimism at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War to disappointment and resentment after the deepening of the Anti-Japanese War. The hatred of ugliness and darkness makes writers look for new ways of expression and explore new ways for drama to serve reality. The emergence of satirical comedy creation trend and the erection of large-scale historical drama movement are inevitable historical phenomena after the collision between China's dramas and real life. Ding Xilin and Li Jianwu both showed their talents and characteristics in this respect. The artistic exploration of the new generation playwright Chen Hesong has achieved fruitful results. During this period, Chen created more than ten long plays and one-act plays. His famous plays include Gone with the Wind, Marriage March and Cold Night. The most influential satire "Promotion Map" depicts two robbers sneaking into an abandoned house in order to avoid being chased, dreaming of promotion in a gloomy atmosphere. The script sees truth in absurdity and shows truth in exaggeration, which makes the audience turn from meditation to anger in laughter. With its unique artistic power, it played a great fighting role at that time. In the early 1940s, Song published five plays, such as Whip (Foggy Chongqing) and Motherland Calling, which revealed irony in the description of characters. After the Anti-Japanese War, his satirical play "Monkey" exposed the darkness of officialdom by running for the "National Congress" and made some achievements in comedy art.
Before and after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Sai Jinhua and Free Soul (also known as Biography of Qiu Jin) were published, and Chen published a large-scale historical drama Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and published a number of historical dramas such as Blood Flowers (a grudge in the late Ming Dynasty) under the pseudonym, all of which confirmed the real struggle with the spirit and lessons of history, lashed the decadent and dark reality and called for national consciousness of uniting against the enemy. 194 1 after the southern Anhui incident, the climax of historical drama creation appeared, which was characterized by satirizing the present through the ancient. Many writers adopt this form, which is the product of tortuous struggle in the dark reality and the product of restricted freedom of speech; At the same time, it has also brought fruitful results to this dramatic art form. The trend of historical drama since the May 4th Movement has reached a mature peak at this time, and Guo Moruo is the most outstanding representative in this creative climax. Qu Yuan is the most famous of the six historical plays he created during this period. Starting from the realistic political struggle, it takes the struggle between Qu Yuan, who represents the patriotic line, and Nan Hou, who represents the traitorous line, as the main line, which constitutes a dramatic conflict and shows the theme of not fearing tyranny and persisting in fighting for the motherland. The play was performed in Chongqing, which had a strong response and played a very important political role. Guo's historical plays are bold in conception, peculiar in structure, poetic, passionate, distinctive in personality and colorful, forming a unique romantic style. In addition, for example, Yang Hansheng's masterpiece "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Heavenly Kingdom" and Ou Yangyuqian's large-scale historical drama "Loyal King Li Xiucheng", we can all choose one side in this important historical event of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and dig out a realistic and targeted theme. The latter also used China traditional opera and film techniques to supplement the shortage brought by the time and space limitation of drama and enhance artistic expression.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang authorities stepped up their repression, and the struggle was tense and there were few scenes. The more important ones are Tian Han's Two Ways, Mao Dun's Before and After the Qingming Festival, Yu Ling's Liu Qing Wan Li, Qu Baiyin's Train Southbound and so on. Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day is Mao Dun's only play. The writer grasped the theme of "Golden Case" which caused a sensation in Chongqing on the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and profoundly showed the author's curse on the dark reality. It was a masterpiece at that time and was called "the sequel of midnight". Modern drama literature
The achievements of drama in revolutionary base areas have brought new breath to the development of China's drama. After the "Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art", the direction of literature and art serving the workers, peasants and soldiers was clarified, and the new yangko movement and the creation of new operas flourished. He has successively produced classic works of new operas, such as White-haired Girl, drama Seeing Far, Comrade, You are Wrong, and the Struggle Against Overturning. These works have undergone extensive and profound changes in content and form, "gradually creating new styles and forming the embryonic form of the new China drama" (Zhang Geng: drama in the liberated areas). Heroes and ordinary people, who were born in the national War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the people's democratic struggle, also transformed their difficult course in the struggle to transform history and poured into the center of drama performance. Many works try to absorb the excellent traditions of the nation, especially folk literature and art, pay attention to learning the artistic methods of traditional operas, and portray the characters' characters with simple, natural and vivid popular language after processing and washing, which makes a new exploration for the nationalization and popularization of new operas and new dramas.
During the democratic revolution, the modern drama movement in China developed from scratch, gradually cultivated a strong drama team, and always actively played the role of drama art to meet the needs of the people's revolutionary cause in various periods. At the same time, in the process of growth and development, it has been continuously improved in art and technology, laying a good foundation for the development of new China drama.
Drama in the period of socialist revolution and construction is the continuation and development of China's drama revolution tradition since the May 4th Movement. It combined with the new era and the wider masses of the people and produced fruitful results.
Writers who have contributed to the drama creation in New China generally come from three aspects: some are old writers who have been insisting on drama creation since the May 4th Movement; Part of them are writers who have been trained by wars in liberated areas and are familiar with the life of workers, peasants and soldiers; Some of them are young writers trained after the founding of New China. Thanks to their hard work and passionate creation, the content and form of drama have made great progress in the past 30 years, although the development of drama has experienced twists and turns.