Research on Contemporary Traditional Chinese Yuan Dynasty Dutuo Liberation Opera
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Tung, Yi-Chun
Abstract
The Yuan dynasty was a period of intense contradictions between openness and intolerance. The spirit of openness, reached its highest expressions in tolerance for religious freedom; intolerance however was manifest in the social stratification on the basis of ethnic and national origins, and discriminatory policies. It is thus during those unique times, that what had originally been an art form prominent among the common people, suddenly began to receive the attention of the literati, many of whom sought an escape from the pressures and frustrations (especially the lack of opportunity to join the civil service because the civil service nationwide exams had been essentially banned) of their day to day lives through the escapism offered by retreat into the creative processes of composing and writing traditional operas. Adding to these motivations was the thoroughgoing lawlessness of the society and wanton corruption of officialdom and the bureaucracy, as the people lived a tormented life of uncertainty and desperate struggles to survive, naturally they sought to place their hopes for a better tomorrow in the comforting prospects of spiritual emancipation through faith. This multiplicity of factors synergized to yield the explosive growth in Yuan Dynasty opera creation, much of which emphasized the Taoist Dutuo religious themes of common concern to the ordinary people as to the literati seeking a means of expression for their desire for liberation through the guiding protection of the immortalized Taoist saints. This paper studies the lyrical content of the Yuan Dutuo opera style, as it developed in all of its aspects, applying multi-perspectival lens examining this popular religious art from the point of view of religious faith, culture, the literary arts, the operatic performing arts, and the deep motivations of her literary creators, to gain a profound understanding and appreciation of the deep structural meaning of Yuan Dynasty Dutuo opera. he first chapter focuses on the conceptual definition and breadth of the repertoire of Dutuo Liberation Opera as well as analysis of its structural formalism.The second chapter examines things from the religious perspective, revealing the Dutuo opera thematic contents to be derived from the All True Taoism (Chuan Chen Taoism, Quanzhen Taoism, Zensha-Kyo ) ideologies regarding elimination of destructive human vices such as alcoholism, sexual immorality, and ostentatious living, through a contented simple life to yield salvation, showing that the operas contain a wide variety of popular theological concepts. Among these are included the footprints of the metamorphoses of the Taoist emphasis on the external martial arts to the inner meditative arts; and the themes of religious succession, dissent and legitimacy among authentic religious communities, as revealing the Taoist sectarian strife amidst Buddhist denominational divergence and the complexity of popular faith.The third chapter looks at the literary and arts expressions of the richly varied imagery of the immortal saints, and why the operatic aims to impart the means of emancipation through Taoist chanting are transformed into the literary forms of five and seven Chinese character religious and moral aphorisms? Additionally, besides the comedic role of buffoonery in opera, this aspect of the operas reveals the profound depth of the Tao of Laughter.The fourth chapter emphasizes the political and social environments against which the Yuan Dynasty culture was developing to explain the prominence of the literati class’ creation of Dutuo liberation librettos. Naturally while no doubt these works represent the intense personal struggles of their authors to engage and transform their innermost desires for freedom, they also manage to serve as the treasure chest vaults in which were hidden away the contemporary literati and intelligentsia’s contradictions and sense of frustration. Through analysis of the private and personal inner struggles of the literary classes to overcome their powerlessness against raging contradictions we hope to elucidate the spirit of the age as distilled from the liberation opera.
Subjects
Yuan Dynasty Opera
Dutuo Opera
Taoist Chating
Taoist Meditation
Type
thesis
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