Ascendant Peace in the Four Seas: Drama and the Qing Imperial Court

348 Pages·2012·1.851 MB·English

by  Xiaoqing Ye

Ascendant Peace in the Four Seas

Ascendant Peace in the Four Seas
Drama and the Qing Imperial Court
Ye Xiaoqing
The Chinese University Press
Ascendant Peace in the Four Seas:
Drama and the Qing Imperial Court
By Ye Xiaoqing
© The Chinese University of Hong Kong 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
ISBN: 978-962-996-457-3
THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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To my husband Daniel and my son Ian

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Figure 1.
Seal of the Shengpingshu (昇平署)
(In courtesy of First Historical Archives of China)
The fortunes of opera institutes in Qing court rose and fell along with
the dynasty. The Shengpingshu’s precursor the Nanfu (南府) was
subsidized lavishly due to the prosperity the empire enjoyed at the
time. The Shengpingshu and its financial backing, however, were scaled
back substantially as Emperor Daoguang (道光) decided to minimize
his court expenditures. The Shenpingshu was finally abolished with
Puyi’s (溥儀) expulsion from the palace in 1924.
Figure 2.
The Shengpingshu’s portrait of Empress Dowager Xiao (蕭太后)
(Collection of Meilanfang Memorial Museum)
The Manchurian royals were highly aware of their ethnic identity. They were zealous in the
reconstruction of their roots and history, identifying with ancient ethnic minorities residing
in Northern China. Because of this, ancient ethnic characters often appeared in court opera.
For example the Empress Dowager Xiao, a historical Khitan figure was dressed in Manchu-
rian garb. Racial representation of these ethnic characters was a major focus in the
censorship of operas both inside and outside the court.
Figure 3.
Photo of Mei Qiaoling’s (梅巧玲) Empress Dowager Xiao
(Collection of Meilanfang Memorial Museum)
Court drama left a long-lasting and significant influence on the development of Peking
Opera from generation to generation. Court painters’ drawings of famous drama characters
not only authentically preserved the detail and elegance of that era, but also provided future
generations with valuable references for opera performances. The prestigious Peking Opera
artist Mei Qiaoling, when playing Empress Dowager Xiao, was dressed in a painstakingly
similar style to court paintings, adorning himself with an antique beauty.
Figure 4.
Painting of Peking Opera played in a Teahouse in Peking during Guangxu’s (光緒) reign.
Along with the maturation and commercialization of Peking Opera, the performance itself gradually
evolved from entertainment for elites to a popular pastime for ordinary people in old Peking and
Shanghai. During Guangxu’s reign, men from different classes could afford to enjoy this art form in
tea houses, and in the Late Qing period even women were allowed to attend performances in theaters.