The Evolution of the Theory of Language and Prosody pf Chinese Traditional Opera in the Ming Dtnasty

In this essay, 'language' in the 'theory of language and prosody' designates the arrangement of words, the rhetorical skills, and stylistic features while 'prosody' refers to rules for the tunes, the manner of connection, and the ways to identify musical scores and compose words, and discern musical tones and rhyme. The essay, which is a continuation of the former one, 'An Analysis of Zhou Deqing's Theory of Language and Prosody for Northern Sanqu and Zaju', discusses the development and evolution of the theory of language and prosody of Chinese traditional operas in the Ming dynasty. It is divided into four parts. Part I examines the construction and inheritance of the 'embellishment of landguage and perfection of prosodic rules' of northern sanqu and zaju; Part II anayzes the divergence and variation of language and prosody of southern sanqu and zaju; Part III dwells on the varying degrees of emphases on language and prosody of southern sanqu and zaju; and Part IV investigates the refression and unification of 'embellishment of language and perfection of prosodic rules' of southern sanqu and zaju