Yu le yu jiao hua: xian dai Zhong wen ge ju zai Shanghai 1920-1949 = Enlightenment and entertainment : modern Chinese opera in Shanghai, 1920–1949

Ph.D.Shanghai is the birthplace of modern Chinese opera. On-stage performances in the city between 1920 and 1949 can be broadly divided into three categories: 1) children’s opera; 2) “modern” opera, in which “modern people” are the main protagonists; and 3) “recycled” opera, in which traditional characters are introduced to modern audiences.In this thesis, I explore the tension between “enlightenment” and “entertainment” in the development of modern Chinese opera. I will analyze fierce collisions between the two functions with the intention of demonstrating conflict, competition, negotiation, and compromise in interactions between tradition and modernity, China and the West, and elite and mass culture.In the period between 1920 and 1949, different Chinese participants engaged with opera on the basis of very different interpretations of the art form and its wider social and political function. Opera was initially considered to be a means of public education. Intellectuals, literary workers, political parties and other social groups used the opera to construct “model children” and “new women”. They also “recycled” traditional Chinese female images in order to educate the masses.However, modern Chinese opera’s ability to fulfil this role, which it achieved to some extent, was increasingly challenged by the growing influence of the entertainment media and the mediums of newspapers, radio and films. As a result of its expanding influence, opera stars, and particularly female performers, became objects of public concern and interest, and their physical features and private life were subject to public scrutiny. Male actors were not free from these “voyeuristic gaze”.This thesis also argues that the education function of opera was eventually subsumed to entertainment. Bookstores, theaters, and theater companies that initially viewed opera as a means of education increasingly yielded to commercial pressures and preoccupied themselves with entertaining audiences. It should also be noted that this development occurred in a wider context, in which operas were intertwined with the ideological and political confrontations between the Kuomintang and various leftist elements, including the Chinese Communist Party.上海是民國時期進口西式歌劇以及發展中國本土歌劇的最大口岸，同時也是現代中文歌劇誕生的搖籃。本論文把1920 至1949 年間上海地區的現代中文歌劇分為三大類——兒童歌劇；依託時代背景而被創作出的、以「時代人」為主要歌唱及演繹對象的歌劇；以及對傳統人物進行「再利用」（recycle）的作品。本論文即以此三種類型的歌劇作品為研究對象，並嘗試以歌劇的娛樂與教化功能之間的張力，作為研究民國時期現代中文歌劇的視角，從而進一步理解現代中文歌劇所具有的、獨特的「現代性的經驗」。本文認為，現代中文歌劇不僅是一種新興的藝術形式，它更是一個被視為現代化的、實驗性的場域，不同的參與者按照自身對歌劇的理解、也為達到各自不同的目的而參與到歌劇實踐中。歌劇首先被視作啟蒙與教化大眾的利器，知識分子、文藝工作者與政黨等群體通過在歌劇中塑造理想的「模範兒童」與「新女性」形象，亦或是「再利用」傳統的正面女性人物形象來傳達自身的教化理念。然而，在報紙、雜誌、廣播與電影等新興娛樂媒介的推波助瀾之下，歌劇的教化功用似乎很難與其自身的娛樂因素相抗衡。其中，明星，尤其是女明星或主動或被動地參與到歌劇實踐中的行為，更使得大眾將目光聚焦於她們的身體與私生活之上，而男演員其實也未能逃離被「偷窺」的境遇。本文也指出，現代中文歌劇的發展及其教化與娛樂功能的實現，與中華書局、新東方劇場以及一些劇團的商業運作密不可分；此外，左翼、共產黨與國民黨等不同的政治力量在歌劇這一場域的角力、爭持與協商，也是現代中文歌劇得以發展的另一「推手」。賈博."2020年4月".Parallel title from added title page.Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2020.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-208).Abstract also in English.Title from PDF title page (viewed on March 4, 2022).Jia Bo