Search

This symposium seeks to reveal the lacunae still existing in Chinese theatre scholarship. I am here interpreting the lacunae as being those in the English language. This is in no sense to undervalue writings in other languages, but it is one way of restricting the scope of an enormous subject. English is also the only language in which the research is likely to be of interest to all readers of A TJ. My other specification is to cover only research published at the time of writing (March 1993). Although I know of current postgraduate research which should go some way toward filling a few of the lacunae mentioned, I have not considered it here. It is customary to begin articles of this kind by commenting on what progress has been made in recent times. J. Thomas Rimer (1992, 215) is among those who have followed this pattern. It is not appropriate for me to diverge from the precedent, because there have indeed been quite a few major contributions in the last two or three years. Two examples of particular scholarly and analytical value published since 1991 come immediately to mind: Elizabeth Wichmann's Listening to Theatre. The Aural Dimensions of Beijing Opera and David Holm's Art and Ideology in Revolutionary China. These two excellent works are extremely different in their approach and topic, the first dealing with the aesthetics of the aural aspects of theatre, the second with cultural policy in the Chinese Communist Party's base areas in the 1940s. Yet they share in common a major attention to Chinese theatre and performance as a field of study; Wichmann considers just one style, namely Beijing opera, and Holm the folk the'atre and dance in the areas of his concern. Another work of an

According to the 1990 census, the ethnic breakdown of the People's Republic of China (PRC) showed that 91.96 percent of the population was Han, while the other 8.04 percent, or 91,200,314 people, belonged to the fifty-five minority nationalities (State Statistics Bureau 1990, 18). These nationalities have their own history, language, economic life, and culture. Some are extremely different-ethnically, culturally, and in other ways-from the Han; these include the Turkic and Islamic peoples of Xinjiang like the Uygurs and Kazakhs. Others have been to varying degrees integrated with the Han for centuries, such as the Bai of Yunnan and the Zhuang of Guangxi. Since the minorities tend to live in the border regions, there are populations of most of the more populous nationalities outside the PRC itself. Some of them, like the Kazakhs, have their own Soviet republics on the other side of the Sino-Soviet border, and a few run their own independent states, in particular the Mongolians and Koreans. 1

Have you ever wondered why some animals have a tail, or scales, or a huge nose ? And do you know why some animals have eyes on stalks, or ears that can swivel, or a sticky tongue ? Read the Why Do Animals Have books to find the answers and lots more besides.

With over 100 million people, Sichuan is China's most populous province.1 It has a rich theatre history and its capital Chengdu was the source whence the great actor Wei Changsheng (1744-1802) took his clapper opera troupe to Beijing and with it an important artistic influence leading to the rise of the Beijing opera (jingjua). Although there are known and surviving drama traditions in Sichuan dating back to the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and before, it was not until the early decades of the present century that reforms led to the integrated style currently called Sichuan opera (chuanjub). Reforms have continued since the accession to power of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949 but, despite severe suppression during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Sichuan opera remains by far the most popular form of theatre in the province as a whole. However, other forms widespread throughout China, such as the spoken drama (huajuc), Beijing opera, and song drama (gejud), are now found also in Sichuan. As in other parts of China, there exist in the old music-drama forms like Sichuan opera and Beijing opera three types of plays: traditional plays, "newly written historical dramas," and contemporary plays (chuantong xi, xinbian lishiju, and xiandai xie). This report focuses on the second half of 1985, much of which I spent based at the Sichuan University in Chengdu. I was able to see many theatre performances and to develop new contacts in the theatre world as well as renew some I had made during an earlier visit to Chengdu in 1980. In July 1982, the Sichuan CCP Provincial Committee issued a directive "to get the Sichuan opera moving" (zhenxing chuanjuf). The emphasis was on "salvaging, inheriting, reforming, and developing"

As one long fascinated by Asian drama, especially Chinese, I made a point of gathering material on the theatre of Vietnam when I was fortunate enough to visit that country in late November and December 1984. I was able to attend five theatre performances, interview the members of a cultural troupe, and visit several farms and other organizations where amateur artists flourish. The information thus gained is supplemented here by English and French-language material, including scholarly works published in the West. It is my aim, based on this collection of material, to present a general description and analysis of contemporary Vietnamese theatre set against its history and traditions.

In July 1981 and September 1982 I visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for a total of just over five weeks. On both occasions I led a small delegation hosted by the Korea-Australia Friendship and Cultural Society. As one with a long-standing fascination for Chinese theatre, I naturally tried to find out as much as I could about the theatre situation in the DPRK, and went to performances at every available opportunity. I make no pretense at being a Korea specialist, but since visits to the DPRK by Asian theatre enthusiasts are still unusual, I believe it is worthwhile to present some preliminary findings and impressions on the theatre there.

The Twelfth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) took place from September 1 to 11, 1982, and dominated the nation's domestic politics in the second half of 1982. It represented the triumph of the political line associated with Deng Xiaopinga, which had gained increasing ascendancy since the end of 1978. At that time the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee declared the conclusion of political campaigns and the transfer of all emphasis to the four modernizations of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. Deng Xiaoping's victory at the Twelfth Congress was manifested in his election as Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission of the CPC, which took place at the first meeting of that body on September 13. In November and December, the Fifth National People's Congress held its fifth session. On December 4 it adopted a new State Constitution which, among other new points, reinstated the presidency and vice-presidency of the People's Republic of China. The overall impact of the Congress was to further strengthen the Deng line and to solidify the stability set by the Party Congress and earlier meetings. From the point of view of this paper, a particularly interesting move was to increase allocations for education, science, culture, public health, and physical culture in the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1981-1985) to 15.9 percent of total state expenditure, as opposed to 11 percent in the Fifth. (Zhao 1982, 15) I spent most of the second half of 1982 at Beijing's Central Insti