Title

The Evolution of Peking Opera’s Audio-Visual Media: The Encounter of Material Culture and Non-material Culture (A Peking Opera Perspective, Part 1)

Author

Lee, Yuan-how  

Genre

Article  

Pages

171-194  

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese  

Key words

material culture, audio-visual media, Peking Opera, phonograph (wax) cylinder, records, recording    

Abstract

         Peking Opera originated in the late eighteenth century, spread to a wider audience as part of a craze, and reached its peak by the early twentieth century. It was also in the late nineteenth century that modern recording technology arrived in China. This research explores the interactive relationship which developed between the technology and the art. As the recording industry began to take shape worldwide, Peking Opera recordings became the most important cultural product in China. Recordings boosted the popularity of Peking Opera and, in turn, the popularity of Peking Opera boosted the circulation of recordings. This made China the largest record-making center in East Asia for multi-national companies. In the 1950s, as Taiwan and mainland China began producing records of their own, both sides gradually gained a footing in the manufacture of audio-visual technology, producing products such as audio tapes and discs. However, Peking Opera lost its popularity after the 1950s, resulting in a shrinking market for these records. Even though the later fad of “model drama,” promoted as “eight dramas for eight hundred million people,” was successful in monopolizing China’s audio-visual media, Peking Opera still failed to make a comeback. By 2000, Peking Opera, once a part of pop culture, had become an icon for traditional art. Over the twentieth century, audio-visual media recorded the transformation of Peking Opera from pop culture to classic art form. For Chinese opera studies, audio-visual media provide abundant detail of this change that written language cannot possibly offer. They are especially helpful in understanding the development of media used for Peking Opera; the impact of material culture on Peking Opera; the role of audio-visual media in establishing Peking Opera paragons; and the effect of audio-visual media on promoting Peking Opera as a “new classic” that transcended political divisions. All of these aspects can enhance our understanding of the relation between technology and culture.