昆曲介绍English

Kunqu (昆曲; pinyin: Kūnqǔ;), also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera（昆山腔）, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved/developed from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Kunqu originated in the Wu cultural area. （吴越文化）

History

Kunqu boasts a 600-year history and is known as the "teacher" or "mother" of a hundred operas, because of its influence on other Chinese theatre forms, including Jingju (Peking Opera). Its emergence

ushered in the second Golden Era of Chinese drama, but by the early twentieth century it had nearly disappeared, which was only exacerbated （使恶化，使加重）by deliberate attempts to suppress it during the Cultural Revolution.

One of the major literary forms of the Ming and Qing dynasties was

chuanqi drama（传奇剧）, originating from the South. Chuanqi, an old form of dramatic opera, originates

from the nanxi in late 14th century before the kunqu opera arises.

Nanxi(南戏; or Nan-hsi) is an early form of Chinese drama, developed from ancient traditions of mime, singing, and dancing during the Song Dynasty in the 12th century AD. The name means literally "Southern drama", and the form originated in the area around Wenzhou in Southern China. Nanxi started as combinations of Song plays and local folk songs and ballads, using colloquial language and large numbers of scenes. As with Western operetta, spoken passages alternated with verses (qu) set to popular music. Professional companies of actors performed nanxi in theatres that could hold thousands of spectators. Nanxi developed into the later and more complex dramatic form known as chuanqi, and later still into kunqu.

However, in late 16 century, kunqu opera starts to dominate large part of Chinese drama.Plays that continue to be famous today, including The Peony Pavilion(牡丹亭) and The Peach Blossom Fan(桃花扇), were originally written for the Kunqu stage. In addition, many classical Chinese novels and stories, such as Romance of the

Three Kingdoms（三国演义）, Water Margin and Journey to the West （水浒传）were adapted very early into dramatic pieces.

Today, Kunqu is performed /staged professionally in seven Mainland Chinese cities: Beijing (Northern Kunqu Theatre), Shanghai (Shanghai Kunqu Theatre), Suzhou (Suzhou Kunqu Theatre), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province Kunqu Theatre), Chenzhou (Hunan Kunqu Theatre), Yongjia County/Wenzhou (Yongjia Kunqu Theatre) and Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province Kunqu Theatre), as well as in Taipei.

Non-professional opera societies are active in many other cities in China and abroad, and opera companies occasionally tour.

Kunqu was listed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001（人类口述遗产和非物质遗产）. Its melody or tune is one of the Four Great Characteristic Melodies in Chinese opera.

Repertoire

* The Peony Pavilion (Tang Xianzu) 汤显祖

* The Peach Blossom Fan (Kong Shangren) 孔尚任

* The Palace of Long Life (Hong Sheng) 洪升

* The White Snake

* The Western Mansion (Southern version, adapted from Wang Shifu's zaju)《西园记》

* The Injustice done to Dou E (adapted from Guan Hanqing's zaju) （杂剧）

* The Kite (Li Yu) 《风筝误》李渔[edit] Dramatists

* Tang Xianzu

* Kong Shangren

* Li Yu

* Hong Sheng

* Feng Menglong

Performers

* Yu Zhenfei

* Mei Lanfang

* Zhang Jiqing

* Wang Shiyu

* Yue Meiti

* Liang Guyin

* Cai Zhengren

* Ji Zhenhua

* Jennifer Hua Wenyi * Qian Yi