Traditional Chinese opera, with its unique artistic value in the world history of drama, is one of China’s cultural treasures. The performing venues have developed accordingly and become a unique attraction in the world history of architecture.
Chinese opera took shape in the 12th century, and now has more than 317 categories after hundreds of years’ vigorous development. The rise of the opera promoted the development of the performing venues, namely, the theatrical architecture. Among the various theaters, the square stage with three sides open, which was the best match for the traditional opera performance, took its basic shape since the dynasties of Tang and Song Dynasty, with slight changes in size, structure, decoration and modeling. The spectator section went through relatively more changes. The initial square-style stage was mainly on an unroofed terrace or in a roofed pavilion and the spectators watched the opera performance from the three sides in the open air. Later on, with the improvement of the theatrical architecture, more and more courtyard-style theaters appeared in developed areas which made it possible for the spectators to watch in the corridors without being exposed to wind or rain. It was during this period that the semi-enclosed theaters became the mainstream of the traditional theatrical architecture. The full-enclosed hall-style theaters didn’t appear until the middle of the Qing Dynasty to meet the demand of commercial performances, with a history no more than 200 years. Such full-enclosed theaters, limited in the total quantity, still maintained many features of the traditional theatrical architecture.
Historically the traditional opera theaters could be seen everywhere in China even in much undeveloped countryside. Thousands of traditional opera theaters were located in temples, ancestral halls and clubs as an important place for public recreational activities. There were traditional opera theaters even in imperial palaces, residences of imperial princes and rich people’s houses, providing venues for opera performances-an important entertainment for festive occasions.
The unique culture of traditional Chinese opera contributed to the unique features of the theatrical architecture, which, unfortunately, has been ignored in the world’s history of theaters. As time goes by, we hardly find any remaining historic sites of traditional theaters. The traditional theaters, mostly made of wood, were greatly damaged by natural erosion and numerous wars. In the past peaceful decades, many traditional buildings including the opera stages have been demolished for urbanization. Furthermore, the traditional opera buildings are seldom used except on very special occasions, and consequently, they are declining due to lack of maintenance. Under such circumstances, it’s necessary to make research and collect information timely. Otherwise, it will be more difficult to do so in the future.
Through years’ efforts of sorting out a large amount of literature and single site surveys over thousands of miles, Dr. Xue Linping has obtained an impressive amount of first-hand information. It’s worth mentioning that of all the 1,800-odd photos, ground plans and cross sections of the theatrical buildings collected in the book, over 80 percent are taken or drawn by the author himself. (By Wang Jiqing) |
