life, as reflected in the drama, seems one in which creed elbows creed, and superstitions are welcome whatever their origin. Of all religious traditions and doctrines, however, those of Buddhism (which had reached China long before the known beginnings of its drama) are the most prominent; thus, the theme of absolute self-sacrifice is treated in one play,[1] that of entire absorption in the religious life in another.[2] The historical Historical. drama is not unknown to the Chinese; and although a law prohibits the bringing on the stage of “emperors, empresses, and the famous princes, ministers, and generals of former ages,” no such restriction is observed in practice. In Han-Kong-Tseu (The Sorrows of Han), for instance, which treats a national historic legend strangely recalling in parts the story of Esther and the myth of the daughter of Erechtheus, the Domestic. emperor Yuen-Ti (the representative, to be sure, of a fallen dynasty) plays a part, and a sufficiently sorry one. By far the greater number, however, of the Chinese plays accessible in translations belong to the domestic species, and to that subspecies which may be called the criminal drama. Their favourite virtue is piety, of a formal[3] or a practical[4] kind to parents or parents-in-law; their favourite interest lies in the discovery of long-hidden guilt, and in the vindication of persecuted innocence.[5] In the choice and elaboration of such subjects they leave little to be desired by the most ardent devotees of the literature of agony. Besides this description of plays, we have at least one love-comedy pure and simple—a piece of a nature not “tolerably mild,” but ineffably harmless.[6]
Free in its choice of themes, the Chinese drama is likewise remarkably unrestricted in its range of characters. Chinese society, it is well known, is not based, like Indian, upon the principle of caste; rank is in China determined by office, and this again depends on the results Range of Characters.of examination. These familiar facts are constantly brought home to the reader of Chinese plays. The Tchoang-Yuen, or senior classman on the list of licentiates, is the flower of Chinese society, and the hero of many a drama;[7] and it is a proud boast that for years “one’s ancestors have held high posts, which they owed to their literary successes.”[8] On the other hand, a person who has failed in his military examination, becomes, as if by a natural transition, a man-eating monster.[9] But of mere class the Chinese drama is no respecter, painting with noteworthy freedom the virtues and the vices of nearly every phase of society. The same liberty is taken with regard to the female sex; it is clear that in earlier times there were few vexatious restrictions in Chinese life upon the social intercourse between men and women. The variety of female characters in the Chinese drama is great, ranging from the heroine who sacrifices herself for the sake of an empire[10] to the well-brought-up young lady who avers that “woman came into the world to be obedient, to unravel skeins of silk, and to work with her needle”[11]—from the chambermaid who contrives the most gently sentimental of rendezvous,[12] to the reckless courtesan who, like another Millwood, upbraids the partner of her guilt on his suing for mercy, and bids him die with her in hopes of a reunion after death.[13] In marriage the first or legitimate wife is distinguished from the second, who is at times a ci-devant courtesan, and towards whom the feelings of the former vary between bitter jealousy[14] and sisterly kindness.[15]
The conduct of the plays exhibits much ingenuity, and an aversion from restrictions of time and place; in fact, the nature of the plot constantly covers a long series of years, and spans wide intervals of local distance. The plays are divided into acts and scenes—the former being usually four in number, at times with an induction or narrative prologue spoken by some of the characters (Sie-Tsen). Favourite plays were, however, allowed Construction and conduct of plots. to extend to great length; the Pi-Pa-Ki is divided into 24 sections, and in another recension apparently comprised 42. “I do not wish,” says the manager in the prologue, “that this performance should last too long; finish it to-day, but cut out nothing”—whence it appears that the performance of some plays occupied more than a single day. The rule was always observed that a separate act should be given up to the dénouement; while, according to a theory of which it is not always easy to trace the operation, the perfection of construction was sought in the dualism or contrast of scene and scene, just as the perfection of diction was placed in the parallelism or antithesis of phrase and phrase. Being subject to no restrictions as to what might, or might not, be represented on the stage, the conduct of the plots allowed of the introduction of almost every variety of incidents. Death takes place, in sight of the audience, by starvation,[16] by drowning,[17] by poison,[18] by execution;[19] flogging and torture are inflicted on the stage;[20] wonders are wrought;[21] and magic is brought into play;[22] the ghost of an innocently-executed daughter calls upon her father to revenge her foul murder, and assists in person at the subsequent judicial enquiry.[23] Certain peculiarities in the conduct of the business are due to the usages of society rather than to dramaturgic laws. Marriages are generally managed—at least in the higher spheres of society—by ladies professionally employed as matrimonial agents.[24] The happy resolution of the nodus of the action is usually brought about by the direct interposition of superior official authority[25]—a tribute to the paternal system of government, which is the characteristic Chinese variety of the deus ex machina. This naturally tends to the favourite close of a glorification of the emperor,[26] resembling that of Louis XIV. at the end of Tartufe, or in spirit, at all events, those of the virgin queen in more than one Elizabethan play. It should be added that the characters save the necessity for a bill of the play by persistently announcing and re-announcing their names and genealogies, and the necessity for a book by frequently recapitulating the previous course of the plot.
One peculiarity of the Chinese drama remains to be noticed. The chief character of a play represents the author as well as the personage; he or she is hero or heroine and chorus in one. This is brought about by the hero’s (or heroine’s) singing the poetical passages, or those containing The principal personage who sings.maxims of wisdom and morality, or reminiscences and examples drawn from legend or history. Arising out of the dialogue, these passages at the same time diversify it, and give to it such elevation and brilliancy as it can boast. The singing character must be the principal personage in the action, but may be taken from any class of society. If this personage dies in the course of the play, another sings in his place. From the mention of this distinctive feature of the Chinese drama it will be obvious how unfair it would be to judge of any of its productions, without a due appreciation of the lyric passages, which do not appear to be altogether restricted to the singing of the principal personage, for other characters Poetic diction.frequently “recite verses.” In these lyrical or didactic passages are to be sought those flowers of diction which, as Julien has shown, consist partly in the use of a metaphorical phraseology of infinite nicety in its variations—such as a long series of phrases compounded with the word signifying jet and expressing severally the ideas of rarity, distinction, beauty, &c., or as others derived from the names of colours, birds, beasts, precious metals, elements, constellations, &c., or alluding to favourite legends or anecdotes. These features constitute the literary element par excellence of Chinese dramatic composition. At the same time, though it is impossible for the untrained reader to be alive to
- ↑ The Self-Sacrifice of Tchao-Li.
- ↑ Lai-Seng-Tchai (The Debt to be Paid in the Next World).
- ↑ Lao-Seng-Eul.
- ↑ Pi-Pa-Ki.
- ↑ The Circle of Chalk (Hoeï-Lan-Ki); The Tunic Matched; The Revenge of Teou-Ngo.
- ↑ Tchao-Meï-Hiang (The Intrigues of a Chambermaid).
- ↑ Tchao-Meï-Hiang; Ho-Han-Chan; Pi-Pa-Ki.
- ↑ Hoei-Lan-Ki, Prol. sc. i.
- ↑ Tchao-Li.
- ↑ Han-Kong-Tseu.
- ↑ Pi-Pa-Ki, sc. 2.
- ↑ Tchao-Meï-Hiang.
- ↑ He-Lang-Tan, act iv.; cf. Hoei-Lan-Ki, act iv.
- ↑ Hoeï-Lan-Ki.
- ↑ Pi-Pa-Ki.
- ↑ Pi-Pa-Ki, sc. 15.
- ↑ Ho-Han-Chan, act ii.
- ↑ Hoeï-Lan-Ki, act i.
- ↑ Teou-Ngo-Yuen, act iii.
- ↑ Hoeï-Lan-Ki, act ii.
- ↑ Teou-Ngo-Yuen, act iii.
- ↑ Pi-Pa-Ki, sc. 18.
- ↑ Teou-Ngo-Yuen, act. iv.
- ↑ Tchao-Meï-Hiang; Pi-Pa-Ki.
- ↑ Hoeï-Lan-Ki.
- ↑ Ho-Han-Chan.
