Kunqu, recognised by UNESCO in 2001 as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is among the oldest and most refined traditions of the family of genres known as xiqu or “Chinese opera.” Having survived the turmoil of the Chinese twentieth century, the art form’s musical and performance traditions are being passed on by senior artists in several major cities of the Yang-tze River basin as well as Beijing. Xiqu studies have so far focused on the textual basis of performance, while the transmission of performance technique and the shifts and refinements of tradition have been left largely unexplored. This book consists of explanatory narrations, selected and translated from among an extensive Chinese-language collective endeavour in Chinese. Each translated account by a master performer sheds light on the human processes—technical, pedagogical, ideological, social— that create a particular piece of theatre and transmit it over time. These translations allow actors’ voices to be heard for the first time in international theatre and performance studies, while the annotations allow the reader to place these narratives in historical, literary, discursive, and aesthetic contexts. Close critical attention to the nature of transmission shows how concepts such as “tradition” are in fact the sites of constant elaboration and negotiation. Far from being a museum genre, kunqu reveals itself through these explanatory narrations as a living and changing art form, subject to the internal logic of its technique but also open to innovation. Methodologically, this work breaks new ground by centering the performers’ perspective rather than text, providing a different gaze, complement, and challenge to performance-analysis, ideological, sociological, and plot-based perspectives on xiqu.
Hing / Stenberg
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Weitere Infos & Material
Introduction; Lecture 1 “Enquiry of the Rat” (“Fangshu”) from Fifteen Strings of Cash; Lecture 2 “The Stirring Zither” (“Qintiao”) from The Jade Hairpin; Lecture 3 “The Mad Dream” (“Chimeng”) from Lanke Mountain; Lecture 4 “Descending the Mountain (“Xiashan”) from Ocean of Sin; Lecture 5 “The Tavern” (“Jiulou”) from The Palace of Lasting Life; Lecture 6 “Instating the Statue, Lamenting the Statue” (“Yingxiang Kuxiang”) from The Palace of Lasting Life; Lecture 7 “Playing the Ballad” (“Tanci”) from The Palace of Lasting Life; Lecture 8 “The Stroll in the Garden” (“Youyuan”) and “The Dream Interrupted” (“Jingmeng”) from The Peony Pavilion; Lecture 9 “Sword Meeting” (“Daohui”) from Single Sword Meeting; Lecture 10 “Writing the Accusation” (“Xie Zhuang”) from Tale of the Mermaid Silk Handkerchief; Lecture 11 “The Tryst” (“Jiaqi”) from The Western Chamber; Lecture 12 “The Inn on the Lake” (“Hu Lou”) from To Win a Peerless Beauty; Postface; Appendices; Index
Yip Siu Hing is the creator and compiler of Masters’ Lectures on One Hundred Kunqu Scenes, of which this volume is an annotated English selection. He is well known for his activities and writings in support of kunqu. Josh Stenberg is a Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney. He is the author of Minority Stages: Sino-Indonesian Performance and Public Display (2019) and Liyuanxi—Chinese “Pear Garden Theatre” (2023).
