Drama and oral performance vary greatly by region across the vast land
of China in sometimes obvious--but often subtle--ways. Yet the various
regional forms and genres are tied together by common themes that travel
widely in the Chinese literary heritage. The course will focus its survey
on the kinds of regional variation found in oral and dramatic performance,
including opera, storytelling, and shadow plays, while exploring the themes
and storylines of their shared cultural ancestry. The class will be conducted
in a lecture and discussion format, supplemented by videos, slides, and
audio tapes. Students will have regular assigned readings in translations
of primary source material and relevant secondary studies. Students will
be evaluated on the basis of quizzes, a midterm, a group report, a final
exam, and class discussions.
Assignments: In addition to simply doing the readings, you will be required to lead class discussion of the readings at least once or twice during the term. I will explain how this will work the first or second week of class. You will also join in preparing a group project that will be presented at the end of the semester. Each group will be given 5-10 minutes per person/group member for their presentations (for example, a 3 person group will have up to half an hour). The presentation will include a written report that you can write individually or as part of the group. Reports should be 4-6 double-spaced pages per person and will be due in April. The report must follow normal conventions of style for college term papers and must include a bibliography. You may be creative with your group projects--they can be in any format that you choose and they may be on a topic or theme regarding any aspect of traditional Chinese drama or performance that is of common interest to the group. Some ideas that you can consider include:
Quizzes: There will be two quizzes. The first will be on the dating of Chinese historical periods. The second will be on Chinese geography. I will provide you with further information on these quizzes later. No make-ups will be given for missed quizzes.
Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam covering the material presented in class and the readings.
Grading: Final grades will be based on attendance and participation in class, discussion leadership, the final presentations and any other written assignments, quiz results, the midterm, and the final. Your final grade will be calculated approximately as follows:
The Stagecraft of Peking Opera : From Its Origins to the Present Day. By Pan Xiafeng. Beijing: New World Press, 1995. (Available from Cheng & Tsui in Boston.) ISBN: 0614161827
Six Yuan Plays. By Jung-En Liu (Translator). New York: Penguin USA, 1972. ISBN: 0140442626 [ALEX PL2658.E5L5]
Scenes for Mandarins : The Elite Theater of the Ming. (Translations from the Asian Classics.) By Cyril Birch (Translator). New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0231102623 [DGLSS PL2386.B57 1995]
The Story of the Western Wing. By Shifu Wang; Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema Translators. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. ISBN: 0520201841 [ALEX PL2693.H75E5 1990]
The Peony Pavilion (Mudan Ting). By Hsien-Tsu T'ang; Translated by Cyril Birch. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. ISBN: 0253357233 [DANA PL2695.M8E5 1980]
The above texts should be available from the Cook/Douglass Student Cooperative
Bookstore at Nichol Avenue and Lipman Drive, the University Bookstore at
One Penn Plaza, opposite the New Brunswick train station, and also probably
from New Jersey Books, 108 Somerset St. I have also requested that these
books be placed on reserve at Douglass Library.
Week 9
Crump, J.I. Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980.
Dolby, William. A History of Chinese Drama. London: Paul Elek, 1976.
Gernet, Jacques. Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion 1250-1276. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1970.
Giskin, Howard. Chinese Folktales. Chicago: NTC Publishing Co., 1997.
Johnson, David, ed. Ritual Opera Operatic Ritual: "Mu-lien Rescues His Mother" in Chinese Popular Culture. Papers from the International Workshop on the Mu-lien Operas. Publications of the Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1. Oakland: The Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1989
Kao Ming. The Lute: Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi. Translated by Jean Mulligan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980.
Liu T'ieh-yün (Liu E). The Travels of Lao Ts'an. Translated by Harold Shadick. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. [selected passages]
Mair, Victor H. T'ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China. Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series No. 28. Harvard: Council on East Asian Studies, 1989.
----------. Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian Genesis. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988.
McDougall, Bonnie S., ed. Popular Chinese Literature and Performing Arts in the People's Republic of China 1949-1979. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Rawski, Evelyn S. et al., eds. Popular Culture in Late Imperial China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Renditions. Numbers 33 & 34 (1990)--Special Issue: Classical Prose. (A Chinese English Translation Magazine published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Centre for Translation Projects.) [selected passages]
Simmons, Richard VanNess. "A Note on the Oral Transmission of a Late Nineteenth Century Harngjou Lyric." CHINOPERL Papers #18 (1995): 45-59.
----------. "A Recording of the Story and Song of a Venerable Harngjou Raconteur." The Yuen Ren Society Treasury of Chinese Dialect Data. 1 (March 1995): 79-106.
----------. "Hangzhou Storytellers and Their Art." Kai Pian: Chûgokugogaku kenkyû 9 (1992): 1-25.
----------. "Hangzhou Oral Performances." Kai Pian: Chûgokugogaku kenkyû 8 (1991): 34-37.
+1+ 264aNote.htm +2+ 264Notes2(a).htm