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 be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. ISBN: 978-962-996-457-3 THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Chinese University of Hong Kong Sha Tin, N.T., Hong Kong Fax: +852 2603 7355 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.chineseupress.com Printed in Hong Kong To my husband Daniel and my son Ian ) 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.