Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/421

CHINESE.] religious 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 perceptible ; thus, the theme of absolute self-sacrifice is treated in one play, 1 that of entire absorption in the itorical. religious life in another. 2 The historical drama is not un known 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-Kony-Tscu (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 Emperor Yuen-Ti (the representative, to be sure, of a fallen uestic. 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 t-o that sub-species 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 ge of Free in its choice of themes, the Chinese drama is like- acters. w j ge re markably 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 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 parson 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" n from the chambermaid who con trives the most gently sentimental of rendezvous, 1 - to the reckless courtesan who, like another Millwood, upbraids the partner of her guilt on his sueing for mercy, and bids him die with her in hopes of a re-union after death. 13 In marriage the first or legitimate wife is distinguished from the second, who is at times a ci-devant courtesan, and 1 The Self -Sacrifice of Tchao-Li. 2 Lal-Seng-Tchai (The Debt to be Paid in the Next World). 3 Lao-Seng-Eul. * /;;./>. /ft. The Circle of Chalk (Hoei-Lan-Ki); The Tunic Matched; The Revenge of Teou-Ngo. 6 Tchao-Mei-IIiang (The Intrigues of a Chambermaid}. 7 Ibid.; -Ho-IIan-Chan; Pi-Pa-Ki. 8 Hoei-Lan-Ki, Prol. sc. i. Tchao-Li. Sorrows of Han. 401 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 Constnu an aversion from restrictions of time and place ; in fact, tion and the nature of the plot constantly covers a long series of c ncluct 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-Tseii). Favourite plays were, however, allowed 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 per formance 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 denouement ; 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 busi ness are due to the usages of society rather A .han to dramaturgic laws. Marriages are generally managed at least in the higher spheres of society by ladies profession ally employed as matrimonial agents. 24 The happy resolu tion 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 Tartuffe, 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. 1 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 The priii noticed. The chief character of a play represents the P al l ers< author as well as the personage ; he or she is hero or a .^ heroine and chorus in one. This is brought about by the hero s (or heroine s) singing the poetical passages, or those containing 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 Poetic of the Chinese drama it will be obvious how unfair it would diction. be to judge of any of its productions without a due appre- " Pi-Pa-Kl, sc. 2. 13 He-Larig-Tan,s,ct iv ; cf. IIoe i-Lan-Ki, act iv. ]2 Tchao-Mcl-Hiang. 14 IIoel-Lan-Ki. 10 Pi-Pa-Ki, sc. 15. 18 Hoei-Lan-Ki, act i. 20 IIoe i-Lan-Ki, act ii. 23 Pi-Pa-Ki, sc. 18. 24 Tchao-Mel-Hang; Pi-Pa-Ki, 20 Ho- 1 fan -Chan. 15 Pi-Pa-Ki. 17 Ho-Ilan-Chan, act ii, 19 Teou-Ngo- Yuen, act iii. !1 Teou-A go-Yuen, act iii. 23 Tcou-Ngo-Yuen, act iv. 25 Hoei-Lan-Ki.

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