The bifurcated theater urban space, operatic entertainment, and cultural politics in shanghai, 1900s 1930s 4

While having a long history as a dramatic form in imperial China, serial plays achieved unprecedented popularity in early Republican Shanghai.. The major reason for this imbalance is th

Chapter 4

Syncretizing Fantasy and Science: Serial Plays, Petty

As the popularity of plays concerned with contemporary social or political issues diminished in the 1910s, local theaters struggled to find new ways to boost business One tactic was to invite Peking opera stars from Beijing, who tended to draw a larger audience than usual, to perform in Shanghai more frequently The first decade of the Republic thus saw their appearance on the stages of Shanghai one after another.1 Most of their performances were conventional selected-scene plays, while new plays composed specifically for them were staged as well Abiding by conventional performing rules more strictly than local players, stars from Beijing were applauded enthusiastically

by elite patrons of the treaty port as representative of “orthodox” Peking opera (discussed in depth in Chapter 5) However, the stars’ skyrocketing wages made it increasingly costly and risky for theater entrepreneurs to employ them

In addition, few of the stars, regardless of their reputation and talent, brought theaters long-term prosperity Therefore, their employment contracts were commonly short-term, ranging from several weeks to a few months, and few local theaters were prepared to base daily business mainly on their performances

New plays remained the principal measure of promoting business, and since plays with explicit sociopolitical significance were now on the wane, various other subjects were tried out The mid 1910s thus saw the production

of new plays with diverse subjects, ranging from ancient Chinese tales to

1 Buzhai Laoren, “Minguo shinianlai haishang lingjie zhi huisu” (A review of the theatrical

circle of Shanghai in the first decade of the Republic), Youxi shijie 9 (Feb 1922)

foreign detective stories From the late 1910s, a type of play that combined long ancient Chinese stories, especially mythical ones, and marvelous stage sets, became increasingly fashionable in Shanghai Each of these had to be segmented into a number of episodes for performance These plays were

commonly called liantai benxi 连台本戏 (serial plays) While having a long

history as a dramatic form in imperial China, serial plays achieved unprecedented popularity in early Republican Shanghai Enjoying a wide spectatorship, primarily comprised of the petty urbanites, serial plays were the mainstay of daily performances of leading local theaters in the 1920s and 1930s The prevalence of serial plays in Shanghai even exerted considerable impact upon theaters in other regions, including Beijing

Serial plays in Republican Shanghai, however, have long been ignored by historians of Chinese drama and local history Existing accounts of the theatrical landscape of early Republican Shanghai tend to focus on signature plays by opera stars based in the treaty port or from other regions, particularly Beijing In comparison, far less attention is paid to the serial plays that prevailed throughout most of the period and even became the city’s cultural symbol The major reason for this imbalance is that, dating from their prevalence in the 1920s, serial plays produced in Shanghai have long been attacked by drama critics and connoisseurs as a heterodox, tasteless type of Peking opera Likewise, scholars of Chinese drama or popular culture usually hold that such plays are too commercialized and vulgar to merit serious scholarly inquiry Consequently, little systematic, in depth research on them has been conducted to date.2 Plays once in vogue fell into obscurity, and

2 For instance, in the second volume of Zhongguo jingju shi, which examines the evolution of

Peking opera in the Republican period, only four serial plays were listed among hundreds of plays produced between the late 1910s and late 1930s With the exception of a two-page general description of stage sets of serial plays, this form of Peking opera is rarely discussed

throughout the book Ma et al., Zhongguo jingju shi (zhongjuan), pp 58-59, 138-139 The

two-volume proceedings of the Third International Academic Conference of Peking Opera Studies collects dozens of papers about Peking opera, but none of them take serial plays as

subject Du ed Jingju yu xiandai zhongguo shehui Similarly, serial plays in Republican

Shanghai have been barely examined in the English scholarship of Chinese drama For example, in his recent work surveying the evolution of Peking opera in late imperial and early

their forms and content remain unexplored, not to mention their social and cultural significance

Taking the popularity of serial plays as a significant local sociocultural phenomenon, this chapter aims not only to fill a gap in the history of Chinese drama, but also to illuminate the relationship between social reconstruction and urban culture in modern Shanghai This chapter begins with a survey of the evolution of serial plays and their popularity in Shanghai during the 1920s and 1930s The following four sections investigate in detail the production of serial plays by local theaters, including the themes and plots, stage sets, players and performances, and advertising The last three sections explore the consumption of serial plays After an analysis of the spectatorship, I probe into the meanings of serial plays to their audiences, especially the petty urbanites who constituted the majority of viewers Instead of analyzing their scripts—in fact, few complete scripts are available—I pay more attention to the modes of production and presentation of serial plays Instead of lamenting that Peking opera was corrupted by commercial culture and popular tastes, I examine the profound social and cultural significance of serial plays that underpinned their prevalence This chapter argues that the syncretization of mythical subjects and advanced technologies, conventional values and new discourses in serial plays accorded with the psychological structure of the petty urbanites in Republican Shanghai, and the consumption of serial plays facilitated the construction of their modern identities in fast-changing sociocultural circumstances

modern China, Joshua Goldstein offers a rather brief introduction of serial plays and their stage sets Attributing the popularity of serial plays to commercial tactics of local theaters,

however, Goldstein hardly analyzes their sociocultural significance Goldstein, Drama Kings,

pp 190-192

The Heyday of Serial Plays

The serial play is a conventional performance form of Chinese drama that features a complete story, winding plot, and plentiful roles The earliest recorded play can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty.3 Given their extraordinary duration and high costs, serial plays were more likely to be performed on noncommercial occasions, such as religious festivals and palace celebrations, than in commercial theaters Beginning in the mid Qing, palace

playwrights produced many da xi 大戏 (epic plays), mostly adapted from popular literary works such as Xi you ji 西游记 [Journey to the West] and

Sanguo yanyi 三国演义 [Romance of the Three Kingdoms], which increased

the duration and magnificence of Chinese dramatic performances to an unprecedented level.4 It usually took several whole days, or even more, to stage one play from the beginning to the end, and the cost was astonishing Such plays hardly suited the daily programming of commercial theaters in Qing Beijing which accommodated different troupes under a rotation system, each performing for just a few days Only one troupe was known to have staged serial plays regularly, and spectators who favored these performances, mostly ordinary people, had to follow the troupe from one theater to another.5

In late Qing Shanghai, commercial theaters with resident troupes integrated serial plays into daily performances About one hundred Peking opera serial plays were produced in the late nineteenth century; their length ranged from two to forty episodes.6 Some of these were quite well received

According to one bamboo-branch poem, when Wucai yu 五 彩 舆 (The

3 Meng Yuanlao et al., Dongjing menghua lu (wai sizhong) [Dreams of splendor of the

Eastern Capital (and four others)] (Shanghai: gudianwenxue chubanshe, 1956), p 49

4 Liao, Zhongguo xiqu shi, p 122 For some of the scripts of serial plays for the Qing palace, see Guben xiqu congkan bianji weiyuanhui ed Guben xiqu congkan jiuji [The ninth collection

of ancient scripts of Chinese drama] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1964)

5 Ruizhu Jiushi, Menghua suobu [Miscellaneous notes of dreams of splender], in Fu ed., Jingju lishi wenxian huibian, Qingdai juan, Vol 1, pp 500, 502

6 Chen Hu, “Shanghai Jingju liantai benxi jianbiao—Shenbao yanchu guanggao jilu,” [A brief

table of Peking opera serial plays in Shanghai—a compilation of performance advertisements

in Shenbao], Zhonghua xiqu 37 (Jan 2008): 377-394

Multicolored Sedan Chair), one of the earliest serial plays produced in Shanghai, was staged by the Red Cassia Teahouse in 1872, it created a sensation among the public.7 In December 1893, the Heavenly Immortal

Teahouse brought out Tie gongji 铁公鸡 (Iron Rooster), a play about the

warfare caused by the Taiping Rebellion in the mid nineteenth century Such was its popular that it was performed continually for more than one year from start to finish.8 The production of serial plays by local theaters was highly market-oriented and flexible, which distinguished them from those staged on noncommercial occasions Few plays were rigorously planned and completely scripted beforehand As long as a play proved to be profitable, the theater usually kept producing subsequent episodes until it lost appeal to the audience Therefore, the length of a play often depended more on the market situation than on the development of dramatic plot As a rule, one or two episodes were presented each performance, and each episode might be staged repeatedly, with the number of repetitions also depending on attendance The time interval between performances of successive episodes ranged from several days to more than one month

Serial plays remained a common form of new plays in early twentieth-century Shanghai Many reformed new plays were serial, including

A Wronged Soul in the World of Opium Addicts, The New Camellias, and Blood of Hubei As reformed new plays declined, local theaters in the mid

1910s began trying various other subjects that mostly had little to do with contemporary social and political issues This shift reflected the general depoliticization of popular drama in the early Republican period Two plays,

namely Hong bi yuan 宏碧缘 (Fate of Hong and Bi) staged by the Great

7 Haishang Zhuxiufu, Xu hubei zhuzhici [Sequel of northern Shanghai bamboo-branch poem], May 18, 1872, 4 The Multicolored Sedan Chair is a play about Hai Rui, an incorruptible,

upright official of the Ming Dynasty Initially a Hui opera play, it was adapted into Han opera and Peking opera subsequently, and had been performed in all three genres in Beijing before

its first performance in Shanghai See Zhang Hong, “Wucai yu liantai benxi yanjiu” [Study on the serial play of The Multicolored Sedan Chair], Zhongshan daxue yanjiusheng xuekan (shehuikexue ban) [Journal of the graduates of Sun Yat-sen University (social sciences)] 28, 3

(2007): 2-8

8 Lin, You Shenbao xiqu guanggao kan shanghai jingju fazhan, pp 195-196

Stage in 1915 and Jiushi wo 就是我 (It is Me) by the New Stage in 1916,

turned out to be fairly successful.9 The former was produced based on a

popular novel Lü mudan 绿牡丹 [Green Peony], which told an ancient

Chinese story combining chivalry and romance.10 It is Me was claimed to be

adapted from a French detective novel with the same name.11 Despite their different themes, both were long serial plays with twisting plots, each comprised of sixteen episodes Continually staged for years, they exerted considerable influence upon serial plays produced thereafter

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, three plays stood out, achieved extraordinary successes, and heralded the heyday of serial plays in Shanghai

On December 7, 1918, the New Stage premiered a new play Jigong huofo 济

公活佛 (The Living Buddha Jigong) The protagonist, Jigong, was a popular historical figure who was believed to have supernatural powers and always punish the evil and praise the good Drawing materials mainly from a mythical

story Jigong zhuan 济公传 [Biography of Jigong] and related folk tales, the

play was an instant hit, and was eventually developed into a twenty-two-episode series that was constantly performed for six years The

New Stage reputedly made from the play a total profit of about 800,000 yuan

from the play, a record for local theater enterprise at the time.12 In June 1920, the case of Yan Ruisheng 阎瑞生, a bank clerk in Shanghai who robbed and murdered a famous prostitute named Wang Lianying, created a great sensation

in local society Five months later, the Great Stage presented a three-episode

play titled Yan Ruisheng, which attracted a large crowd of spectators Several

similar plays were soon produced by other theaters, and the one by the New Stage proved to be the most popular Incredibly, its first episode was ceaselessly restaged for about three months, with the exception of just three

9 Kanwai Ren, Jingju Jianwen lu, p 297; Ouyang, Zi wo yanxi yilai, p 121

10 Wang ed Xi kao daquan, Vol 3, p 807

11 “Xin Wuati xinpai qiqiguaiguai xinju” [Strange new play newly arranged by the New

Stage], Shen bao, April 21, 1916, 9.

12 Meihua Guanzhu, “Xin Wutai paiyan Jigong huofo zhi qianyin houguo” [The cause and result of the New Stage arranging The Living Buddha Jigong], Xiju yuekan 2, 5 (Jan 1930)

days, and brought the theater a profit of more than 100,000 yuan.13

In terms of influence, however, neither The Living Buddha Jigong nor

Yan Ruisheng was comparable to Limao huan taizi 狸猫换太子 (The Fox

Cat Substituted for the Crown Prince, hereafter The Fox Cat), which the Heavenly Toad Stage premiered in June 1921 Largely adapted from a late Qing popular novel, the play depicts an astounding conspiracy and power struggle within the royal family of the Northern Song Dynasty The performances created an enormous stir in Shanghai, and the second episode alone was continuously restaged for nearly half a year.14 The business flourished so much that, it was reported, gangsters attempted to extort 2,000

yuan from the theater in December 1921.15 The twelve-episode play finally reached its conclusion in 1924 During the three years of its performances, numerous relevant reports, reviews, and even folk poems were published in newspapers and magazines A milestone of Peking opera’s evolution in

Shanghai, the play generated extensive, far-reaching impact upon the local

theater world On the heels of the Heavenly Toad Stage, other theaters brought out different versions of the play one after another in 1922, with the longest one by the Great Stage consisting of thirty-six episodes.16 The late 1920s and 1930s saw the emergence of several more plays with the same title Moreover, the play greatly shaped the appearance of serial plays in the following decades

An article published in 1928 held that The Fox Cat was the synthesis of

innumerable new plays that local theaters had produced since the late nineteenth century; it advanced Shanghai-school new plays to a golden age,

13 Qiufan, “Xia Yuerun yixi tan” [A night talk by Xia Yuerun], Xi zazhi 7 (Apr 1923); Sheyu,

“Haishang ge wutai zhi zhuangkuang” [The situation of theaters in Shanghai], Xiaoshuo xinbao 7, 1 (1922) The play was sometimes called Qiangbi Yan Ruisheng (The Execution of

Yan Ruisheng) as well

14 Tiandan, “Tianchan Wutai sanben Limao huan taizi” [The third episode of The Fox Cat Substituted for the Crown Prince (Hereafter, The Fox Cat) by the Heavenly Toad Stage], one, Shen bao, May 17, 1922, 18

15 “Xiazha Tianchan Wutai zhi hanjian,” [Blackmail letter received by the Heavenly Toad

Stage], Shen bao, December 19, 1921, 15

16 Even a civilization-play society and a Fujian floating troupe presented plays with the same

title A Hong, Shanghai wutai de jinzhuang [Recent situation of theaters in Shanghai], Xi zazhi

4 (Sep 1922)

and those that appeared thereafter were nothing but its “disguised” versions.17While such a statement might be an oversimplification, the play indeed marked the maturation of serial plays in Shanghai

By the early 1920s, serial plays had become the mainstay of daily performance in most local theaters A survey published in 1922 reveals that the business prospects of leading theaters relied heavily on the serial plays they produced.18 Most theaters had signature productions that were staged for months or years at a time According to an article in 1921, these plays were even more attractive to the local audiences than performances by leading stars such as Tan Xinpei and Mei Lanfang.19 The popularity of serial plays made the local theater enterprise prosper In 1921, a sojourner from Beijing found that, due to the charm of serial plays, most Peking opera theaters in Shanghai were enjoying thriving business; each theater was nearly filled to capacity by eight o’clock in the evening, far outmatching those in Beijing.20 Reading

advertisements in Shen bao in the mid 1920s, one finds that nearly all theaters

were staging serial plays during the prime slots of their daily shows The play’s title was normally highlighted in extra-large characters, followed by a brief but alluring description of its plot and features In short, serial plays had become the predominant form of public operatic entertainment in Shanghai The prevalence of serial plays reached its climax in the late 1920s when

the Heavenly Toad Stage presented Fengshen bang 封神榜 (The Investiture

of the Gods) The play was adapted from a sixteenth-century popular novel,

Fengshen yanyi 封神演义 [Romance of the Investiture of the Gods], which is

a romanticized retelling of the overthrow of Zhou Wang 纣王 (King Zhou), the last ruler of the Shang Dynasty, by Wu Wang 武王 (King Wu), who founded the Zhou Dynasty in place of Shang in the eleventh century before Christ The novel intertwines numerous Chinese mythological elements,

17 Xu Xiaoting, “Jingpai xinxi yu Haipai xinxi de fenxi” [Analysis of the Beijng-school new

plays and Shanghai-school new plays], Xiju yuekan 1, 3 (Aug 1928)

18 Sheyu, “Haishang ge wutai zhi zhuangkuang.”

19 Yanwu, “Jin shinian Shanghai liyuan bianqian shi,” one

20 Youyou, “Shanghai zhi benxi” [Serial plays of Shanghai], Shen bao, July 16, 1921, 18

including deities, immortals, and spirits The sixteen-episode play was average

in length, but achieved astonishing success The first episode premiered on a rainy day in September 1928 to a spectacular crowd: “The accumulated water caused by steady rain was level with the step at the theater’s gate, and boards were set up to let the spectators pass Even so, by six o’clock the theater had been filled up by thousands of spectators, so crowded that no water could seep through, which was indeed amazing.”21 Furthermore, according to a report the very next day, the play was so anticipated that, upon the audience’s request, its first show started half an hour ahead of the scheduled time.22 Only eight episodes were produced within two years, with the performances of each lasting for three months on average, a record to which few other plays could match up.23 Prevailing for three years, The Investiture of the Gods was widely

regarded as the peak of serial plays in Republican Shanghai (Figure 11)

21 Jinliang, “Fengshen bang zuichu chuyan zhi huiyi,” [Memory of the premiere of The

Investiture of the Gods], Xiju zhoubao 1, 10 (Dec 1936)

22 “Fengshen bang kaiyan zhi shengkuang” [The spectacular premiere of The Investiture of the Gods], September 15, 1928, 15

23 Shuliu Shanfang, “Luanqibazao de benxi tan” [On disordered serial plays], Xiju yuekan, 2,

11 (Jul 1930)

Figure 11 One scene of The Investiture of the Gods by the Heavenly Toad Stage

Source: Shanghai dang’an guan ed., Zhongguo jinxiandai huaju tuzhi [The

pictorial chronicle of the spoken play in modern China] ( Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu wenxian chubanshe, 2008 ), p 83

The prevalence of serial plays in Shanghai extended into the 1930s Almost all major local theaters cancelled the conventional “summer break” in

1931 due to the popularity of serial plays they were staging.24 A Shanghai guidebook published in 1934 reads: “Peking opera entertainment at the present time is dominated by newly-arranged serial plays in which mechanical sets

were utilized, such as the Heavenly Toad Stage’s Guanyin dedao 观音得道 (The Goddess of Mercy Attains the Way), the Common Stage’s The Fox Cat, and the Three Stars Stage’s Penggong an 彭公案 (Cases by Master Peng)

All of these were constantly performed for months or years.”25 The following

two years saw the production of two popular plays, namely Huoshao Honglian

Si 火烧红莲寺 (The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple) by the Common

Stage and Journey to the West by the Great Stage With thirty-four and

forty-two episodes respectively, they were two of the longest serial plays in Republican Shanghai, and their performances lasted for about four years During the twenty years between 1918 and 1937, some 160 serial plays were produced in Shanghai, eight per year on average, not including those that theaters plagiarized from one another.26 Popular plays were often introduced

into other regions For example, when The Fox Cat swept local theaters in the

early 1920s, many troupes in other cities sent people to Shanghai to observe the performances, and the play soon became fashionable in cities along the Yangzi River.27 By 1923, theaters in Beijing had imported the Fox Cat as well

as some other serial plays from Shanghai, and they often turned out to be well received.28 The impact of The Fox Cat was so broad that even Hu Shi 胡适,

24 San Jiangjun, “Ge wutai de jingqi xianxiang” [The thriving conditions of theaters], Liyuan gongbao, July 20, 1931

25 Zhongguo Lüxingshe, Shanghai daoyou, p 185

26 Statistics based on Chen, “Shanghai Jingju liantai benxi jianbiao.”

27 Zhang Defu and Qiu Wenbin, “Xiao Dazi zouhong de qianqianhouhou” [Before and after

Xiao Dazi came to the fore],Shanghai xiqu shiliao huicui 5 (Sep 1988): 16-17; Zhang Guyu,

“Cong Sida Mingdan dao ‘Shanghai Sida Mingdan’” [From the Four Great Female

Impersonator to the “Four Great Female Impersonator of Shanghai”], Shanghai xiqu shiliao huicui 5: 7

28 “Guanju yumo” [Extra notes on theatergoing], Shishi baihua bao [Practical things

vernacular news], October 19, 1922, 3; Baipin, “Beijing jujie zhi chaoliu” [The trend of the

theatrical circle in Beijing], Xi zazhi 7 (Apr 1923)

the flag-bearer of the New Culture Movement who used to advocate abolishing “backward” Peking opera, published an article in 1925 investigating the evolution of its original story.29

Themes and Plots

To understand the prevalence of serial plays in Shanghai, we must explore at least two dimensions: their production by local theaters and their consumption

by spectators While the former demonstrates the characteristics of serial plays

as both a form of performing art and a commercial product, the latter helps us understand their sociocultural significance at that time This and the following three sections examine in detail the configuration of serial plays and the ways

in which they were created and performed, starting with their themes and plots

While serial plays in the late 1900s and early 1910s often took foreign stories or domestic current events as their subjects, local theaters since the later 1910s had gradually turned back to conventional themes The vast majority of serial plays produced thereafter were derived from ancient Chinese legendary stories that can be roughly categorized into several types according

to their main characters: deities and devils, swordsmen and knights, emperors and generals, talented scholars and beauties, and detective officials Several plays adapted from China’s current affairs can be found as well, but few foreign subjects were adopted Though there were popular plays in each

category, those about deities and devils, such as The Living Buddha Jigong,

Journey to the West, and The Investiture of the Gods, were the most

fashionable As a matter of fact, folk religious elements existed in almost all plays to varying degrees Leaving the audience’s taste aside, there were at

29 Hu Shi, “Limao huan taizi gushi de bianqian” [The evolution of the story of The Fox Cat], Xiandai pinglun [Contemporary review] 1, 14 & 15 (1925)

least two pragmatic reasons for this For one, as an old saying of the theater circle goes, “When dramatic materials are inadequate, supplement with deities”

(xi bugou, shenxian cou) The insertion of popular religious figures into plays

had long acted as a panacea when new material was needed, and their emergences could open up new paths for the dramatic plot.30 Another reason was simply that mythical stories facilitated the use of marvelous stage sets and props in performance, which was of great significance to the popularity of serial plays

Without specialized playwrights, scripts of serial plays were usually collaboratively produced by local players Though Peking opera players in Republican Shanghai, like their colleagues in other regions, rarely had much education, many of them were literate and sophisticated in devising new plays Commonly, an experienced player acted as the script director and set the general outline of a play, while other major players contributed their suggestions and additions The method of the Heavenly Toad Stage in the late 1920s was said to be exceptional Each episode was basically created by the leading players who would perform in it, and the director only took care of the arrangement of supporting roles and the coherence of successive episodes.31

In order to sensationalize a play, the theater sometimes declared that it had an

“authoritative” script For instance, both of the scripts for the Also Stage’s

Zhuge Liang zhaoqin 诸葛亮招亲 (Marriage of Zhuge Liang) and the

Heavenly Toad Stage’s The Fox Cat were claimed to be rare, secret texts from

the Qing palace, although they were in fact largely products by affiliated players.32 Petty scholars might be invited to polish the scripts on occasions, but local players undoubtedly dominated the production of serial plays

30 Xi Zhuchong, “Tan paixi paixi dianxi” [On arranging, assigning, and inserting plays],

Banyue jukan [Semimonthly theatrical journal] (published in Shanghai) 1, 3 (Aug 1936)

31 Xiuzhuo, “Tianchan jiaju Fengshen bang” [Fine play by the Heavenly Toad Stage, The Investiture of the Gods], Shen bao, September 8, 1928, supplement (2)

32 Tuian, “Limao huan taizi jiaoben zhi chuchu” [The origin of the script of The Fox Cat], Xi zazhi 8 (Aug 1923)

scripts.33

Except for those about current events, few serial plays were completely original In most cases, a serial play was arranged based on several existing selected-scene ones that were interrelated with each other Making reference

to popular fiction and other sources, local players creatively connected them into a coherent story and added new figures and plot to extend it For example,

The Fox Cat integrated at least five existing plays, and a new comic character

was added to make the performances more entertaining.34 Many serial plays

in the Republican period actually had their precedents in late Qing Shanghai

For instance, the Heavenly Immortal Teahouse staged the six-episode Jigong

jiahua 济公佳话 (Stories of Jigong) in 1877, and the ten-episode Limao huan zhenzhu 狸猫换真主 (The Fox Cat Substituted for the True Emperor)

in 1906; at least two serial plays that shared the theme of The Investiture of the

Gods were produced in late nineteenth-century Shanghai.35 While these early versions might have exerted influences upon serial plays in the Republican period, the plots of the latter were usually much longer, as the producers added new materials derived from other sources or fabricated with little basis For

example, several local theaters presented The Fox Cat in the early 1920s, and

when the original plot neared its conclusion, they extended it by incorporating stories from other historical fiction As a result, several strikingly different versions of the play appeared.36

Given the fierce business competition, a theater’s choice of the subject of

33 For example, a xiucai (scholar who passed the imperial examination at the county level) was invited to polish the script of the second episode of The Investiture of the Gods that were

initially produced by the leading players Yang Yuhua, “Huiyi Zhou Xinfang bianyan erben

Fengshen bang de jingguo” [Recalling the process of Zhou Xinfang’s composing and performing the second episode of The Investiture of the Gods], in Zhou Xinfang yishu pinglun ji: xubian [A collection of reviews on Zhou Xinfang’s reviews: a sequel], ed Zhou Xinfang

yishu yanjiuhui (Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1994), pp 178-179

34 Zhou Xinfang, Zhou Xinfang wenji [A collection of works by Zhou Xinfang] (Beijing:

Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1982), pp 344-345

35 See Chen, “Shanghai Jingju liantai benxi jianbiao,” 378-382

36 Buzhai Laoren, “Minguo shiyinian Shanghai lingjie de huisu” [A review of the theatrical

circle of Shanghai in the eleventh year of the Republic], two, in Youxi shijie huibian [A compilation of The World of Games], eds Zhou Shoujuan and Zhao Tiaokuang (Shanghai: Dadong shuju, 1925); Zhou, Zhou Xinfang wenji, p 345

a new play appeared to be rather speculative Few plays were completely scripted and rehearsed before their premieres, and theaters usually arranged a new episode when the previous one was on show The length of the whole script was determined largely by the market, rather than the dramatists Some scripts were published in Republican Shanghai, but very few copies survive.37Many plays were probably produced in haste and never formally scripted Due

to the differences in the players’ literary ability and talent, the scripts they produced were uneven in quality A good script was both comprehensible and entertaining, had numerous roles and absorbing plot, with each episode ending with a suspenseful moment that would make the audience eager to see the next installment In addition, to make the performance more amusing, humor was

an almost indispensible element of a successful play Given their themes and producers, the performances of serial plays had to be fairly comprehensible to ordinary people

Mechanical Sets

One of the most noticeable features of serial plays produced in Shanghai from the late 1910s onwards, is the intensive use of intricate, tricky sets in performances, which was facilitated by the improvement of stage facilities and equipment The adoption of the proscenium stage centralized the audiences’ viewpoint, while advanced lighting further promoted visual effects Besides painted backdrops, mechanical devices and magic tricks came to be widely applied in performances to present fantastic scenes.38 Therefore, stages sets in

this period were usually termed as jiguan bujing 机关布景 (mechanical sets)

which literally means “tricks and sets,” and serial plays were commonly called

jiguan bujing xi 机关布景戏 (mechanical-set plays)

37 For some incomplete scripts, see Wang ed., Xi kao daquan

38 Zhang and Sun eds., Zhongguo xiqu zhi: Shanghai juan, p 469

The intensive application of tricky mechanical sets was probably inspired

by foreign movies Premiering in 1916, the New Stage’s detective play, It is

Me, was said to be the first play to heavily employ mechanical sets.39

According to Ouyang Yuqian, such plays were influenced by the foreign serial detective films that were in style at the time and attracted audiences largely by make-up and mechanical sets.40 Zhou Shoujuan, a noted film and drama critic

in Republican Shanghai, also suggested that serial plays produced by local theaters appeared to be quite similar to contemporary American serial films in terms of both magic tricks and long disorganized plots.41 Yet it was The

Living Buddha Jigong by the New Stage that made mechanical sets

fashionable Given its mythical theme, numerous supernatural and miraculous scenes in the performances provided the ideal content for the application of elaborate, tricky mechanical sets A mountain peak flew in and landed on the stage;42 when a Taoist priest and a Buddhist monk fought with theurgical powers, snakes and insects with hundreds of legs fluttered around the stage, and the priest was able to breathe fire while the monk sprayed water from his hand;43 a mourning hall transformed into paradise in a flash, and at the same moment, a coffin became a lotus throne.44 These spectacles dazzled spectators and greatly contributed to the play’s lasting popularity

Stimulated by the New Stage’s success, local theaters from the early 1920s started to adopt mechanical sets more widely for serial plays.45Regardless of their subject matter, intricate mechanical sets were used in almost all new plays to stage increasingly spectacular scenes, especially

39 Ma et al., Zhongguo jingju shi (zhongjuan), p 138; Haishang Shushi Sheng, “Liyuan jiushi linzhua lu,” seven, Xiju yuekan 1, 8 (Feb 1929)

40 Ouyang, Zi wo yanxi yilai, p 102

41 Zhou Shoujuan, “Yingxi hua” [Film reviews], quoted from Chen, Cong geming dao gonghe,

p 214 Zhou’s reviews were published between 1919-1920

42 “Jigong huofo sanben shouyan guanggao” [Premiere advertisement of the third episode of The Living Buddha Jigong], Shen bao, December 24, 1918, 8

43 “Jigong huofo siben chongyan” [The fourth episode of The Living Buddha Jigong is

supernatural ones It became commonplace to spend thousands of yuan on set

construction for just one episode of a play Without any video sources, we can only reconstruct the scenes based on surviving pictures and verbal accounts, like advertisements in which local theaters boasted about the splendidness of

their stage sets For instance, the premiere advertisement of The Fox Cat by

the Heavenly Toad Stage in June 1921 enumerated ten amazing scenes that would be presented in the performance In one scene, a celestial bridge would suddenly appear while a palace house was burnt down, and then an imperial concubine would fly away sitting on a lotus.46 When the theater staged the

first episode of The Investiture of the Gods in September 1928, even more

detailed descriptions of scenes were provided in advertisements One depicting the emergence of three devils read: “a fox … suddenly runs to the mouth of the cave and transforms into three skeletons; after a while, the skeletons turn into three beauties… Moreover, lights are always on and the performances take place just in front of the audience’s eyes.”47

While advertisements in Republican Shanghai tend to be sensational and exaggerative, drama reviews and personal records provide more reliable

accounts of what actually happened in performances One review of The Fox

Cat in October 1923, for example, described the scene of Justice Bao’s capture

of Pang Ji thus: Pang ran into an empty cabinet on the stage, but, in the blink

of an eye, nothing remained in the cabinet; Bao entered the cabinet to capture Pang, and suddenly numerous people swarmed out from it; at last, Bao found himself locked in an steel cage suspended in mid-air, and when a cannon was fired towards it, with flames radiating in all directions, Bao had already been replaced by another person The scene, the author sighed, exhausted all means

to “please the eye and startle the heart.”48 In another example, from October

46 The advertisement of The Fox Cat by the Heavenly Toad Stage, Shen bao, June 23, 1921,

1930, one spectator attended the performance of Journey to the West in the

Reform Stage and was amazed by several incredible scenes In one, when the Monkey King took his post in the heavenly stable, the two fake horses nodded their heads and wagged their tails, so lifelike that no sign of counterfeit could

be found at all (Figure 12).49

As Ma Yanxiang points out, local theaters during this period were still following the path that the New Stage pioneered in the 1900s and “made better use of modern scientific, electrical, and mechanical material civilization.”50The leading theaters were all equipped with basic mechanical facilities, such

as turning gears, blocks and tackles, steel cables, and leverages, while each theater might have had its distinguishing features More complicated devices were often constructed to create marvelous scenes, such like an ocean with

49 “Kexuehua de Xi you ji” [Scientific Journey to the West], Liyuan gongbao, October 21,

1930

50 Ma, “Qingmo zhi Shanghai xiju,” 225

Figure 12 One scene of Journey to the West by the Reform Stage

Source: “Gengxin wutai erben Xi you ji zhi yimu” [One scene of Journey to the

West by the Reform Stage], Xiju yuekan (Drama Monthly) 3, 4 (Jan 1931)

surging waves, a ghost flying in the air, or a man on a horse flying over a

mountain stream In one scene of The Investiture of the Gods by the Common

Stage in the 1930s, when an immortal, showing his divine powers, cut off his own head and flung it up, a crane flew in right at that very moment and carried his head off Creating such a breathtaking scene required eight technicians to operate a set of complex mechanical devices in tactical cooperation (Figure 13).51

Magic tricks were frequently used in performance, and mechanical sets

were therefore sometimes called moshu bujing 魔术布景 (magic sets) One

advertisement for the New Stage in 1921 asserted brashly: “Stylish stage sets

at the present time, to be frank, are nothing but magic tricks.”52 Though magic

51 Xu Xiangyun, “Dangnian Shanghai Gong Wutai zhi jiguan bujing” [Mechanical sets of the

Common Stage in old Shanghai], Shanghai xiqu shiliao huicui 5: 104-121

52 “Xin Wutai shiqiben Jigong huofo” [The seventeenth episode of The Living Buddha Jigong

by the New Stage], July 23, 1921, 12

Figure 13 Mechanical sets for one scene of The Investiture of the Gods by the

Common Stage in the 1930s

Source: Xu Xiangyun, “Dangnian Shanghai Gong wutai zhi jiguan bujing”

[Mechanical sets of the Common Stage in the old days], Shanghai xiqu shiliao

huicui [Collection of historical materials about traditional drama in Shanghai] 5:

120

tricks had been occasionally used in operatic performances in imperial China, their intensive application by commercial theaters in Republican Shanghai had much to do with the import of Western magic Modern Western magic was introduced into China in the late nineteenth century, and some foreign magicians were invited to perform for Chinese spectators in local theaters Western magic became increasingly popular in the 1910s, and the 1920s witnessed the emergence of a number of local magicians who performed modern magic.53 It was during this period that local theaters started to integrate magic tricks into operatic performances widely In the 1930s, magic tricks were so intensively used that they constituted one of the primary selling points of serial plays For instance, one advertisement for the Reform Stage in

June 1936 claimed that in the eighth episode of Tangseng qujing 唐僧取经

(Pilgrimage of Monk Tang), “the quantity of mechanical sets was especially increased, which creates the highest record of theatrical performance, … outmatching tens of sets of Chinese and Western magic.”54

In addition to mechanical devices and magic tricks, other modern technologies were used in performances as well As the film industry thrived

in Shanghai, filmic fragments were sometimes integrated into operatic performances, showing outdoor scenes that were difficult to present onstage or supplementary plots that helped audience understand the story.55 In 1922, the

Heavenly Toad Stage adopted X-ray technology for the performances of The

Fox Cat; in another play staged in 1926, it was announced that hypnotism

would be employed to augment the visual effects of mechanical sets.56

53 For an examination of the introduction and transmission of Western magic in modern

China, see Pang, The Distorting Mirror, pp 190-191

54 “Kaiyan baben Tangseng qujing” [The premiere of the eighth episode of Pilgrimage of Monk Tang], Shen bao, June 23, 1936, 13

55 Zheng and Xu, Shanghai jiuhua, p 128 For instance, in Journey to the West by the Reform

Stage, a literary allusion was illustrated through film to help spectators apprehend a speech in

which the allusion was quoted Yingning, “Ji Gengxin Wutai Zhi siben Xi you ji” [Recording the fourth episode of Journey to the West by the Reform Stage], Liyuan gongbao, June 29,

Besides these, one could also find the use of various chemical substances, such

as luminous powder, magnesium lights, and solidified carbon dioxide, which helped technicians create magic-like scenes.57

Despite the wide application of various modern facilities and technologies, mechanical sets were in fact largely designed and constructed by domestic technicians who did not possessed much formal education, let alone academic training in set design.58 Primarily from Fujian and Wuxi, set technicians were trained under the traditional master-apprentice model and learned mainly through imitation and self-exploration.59 Meanwhile, magicians were hired for the use of magic tricks in performance.60 Under the supervision of an experienced director, technicians and magicians dominated the design and construction of mechanical sets An article from 1925 criticizing the vulgarity

of mechanical sets read: “How much knowledge and what a precise mind a competent theatrical set technician needs! But if we go and investigate local theaters, all we see are magicians, lacquer painters, old masters with smoky faces, and young apprentices who always open their mouths speaking of secret manuscripts that have been passed on for nine generations, and so forth.”61Aside from specialized technicians and magicians, other theater staff, including even the entrepreneur himself, sometimes participated in the design and construction of mechanical sets For example, Yao Junqing 姚俊卿, an intelligent player affiliated with the Great Stage who had studied electricity on

57 Xu, “Dangnian Shanghai Gong Wutai zhi jiguan bujing,” 114

58 Theaters sometimes claimed that foreign designers or technicians were employed for set

construction See, for instance, “Gong Wutai pinqing meiren ganzhi sanben Xi you ji caijing”

[The Common Stage hires American technicians for the set construction of the third episode

of Journey to the West], Shen bao, October 16, 1929, supplement (3) But statements as such

were difficult to verify, for few relevant records could be found in other sources

59 Xu and Cai, Shanghai Jingju zhi, p 296 For example, Xu Xiangyun, one of the third-generation Fujianese set technicians, joined Gong wutai in the mid 1930s and started learning scenic drawing as an apprentice of a master technician Xu, “Dangnian Shanghai Gong Wutai zhi jiguan bujing,” 104

60 For instance, Mo Wuqi, one noted set designer of the Heavenly Toad Stage was a magician

Shi Zhengquan, “Liantai benxi zai Shanghai” [Serial plays in Shanghai], in Xiqu jingying, ed

Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi shanghaishi weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao gongzuo weiyuanhui, p 6

61 Tang Yueshi, “Wutai wujing tan” [On stage sets], Shen bao, September 18, 1925,

supplement (2)

his own and was also proficient in magic, constructed mechanical sets with his own hands for a couple of serial plays in the late 1910s and 1920s.62 Zhou Xiaoqing, the boss of the Reform Stage in the late 1920s and early 1930s, was celebrated as the “King of Mechanical Sets” for his outstanding talent in set design It is said that Zhou used to work as a chef on a steamship, and later learned scenic drawing from an old master.63 Yao and Zhou certainly were not the only exceptions

Given the producers’ background, it is surprising that various defects and inadequacies could be found in stage sets For example, a backdrop might have been elaborately drawn but devoid of common sense, such as a commercial street without pedestrians Yet a more serious problem was that,

as mechanical sets prevailed, their importance sometimes superseded dramatic plots This tendency was attacked by critics For example, one article in 1925 held that mechanical sets had usurped drama in local theaters, while everything else onstage, ironically, had become subsidiary.64 In order to dazzle the audience, local theaters strove to adopt surreal sets in performances, and some of them actually did not match the plots When the Reform Stage

produced Journey to the West in the early 1930s, the plot was even arranged

according to Zhou Xiaoqing’s mechanical set design, which was contrary to normal procedures.65 Notwithstanding various imperfections, the achievement

of set technicians was fairly impressive and admirable, especially considering their low educational levels Their openness to modern technologies, dedication in learning and innovation, and creativeness in practice embodied the sprit of enterprise of local theaters As the fashion of mechanical sets spread beyond Shanghai, many technicians were employed by theaters in other Chinese and even Southeast Asian cities, where they showed off talents and

62 Zhou, Zhou Xinfang wenji, pp 382-383

63 Zhou Xiquan, “Jingguan bujing dawang Zhou Xiaoqing he Gengxin Wutai de Xi you ji” [The King of Mechanical Sets Zhou Xiaoqing and Journey to the West by the Reform Stage], Shanghai xiu shiliao huicui 3: 65

64 Tang, “Wutai wujing tan,” supplement (2)

65 Zhou, “Jingguan bujing dawang Zhou Xiaoqing he Gengxin Wutai de Xi you ji,” 65

skills, as if “persons especially favored by the heaven.”66

Players and Performances

While the mechanical sets contributed greatly to the popularity of serial plays, the players’ acting was also of great importance Almost all local players performed in serial plays, and some built their fame mainly through these performances.67 Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that leadings stars from Beijing seldom got involved in serial plays during their stays in Shanghai, because such performances were widely despised by critics and connoisseurs and would harm their reputation.68 Only some rising stars who had not yet established great fame and longed for a larger following might possibly participate For example, Shang Xiaoyun 尚小云 and Xun Huisheng 荀慧生 performed in serial plays produced by local theaters when they first visited Shanghai in 1917 and 1919, respectively.69 However, that rarely happened again after they became two of the hottest stars in the 1920s In contrast, local players basically had no choice Appearing on the stage almost every day, they could hardly attract the audience by staging old plays Therefore, even the most talented ones devoted themselves to the production of serial plays during this period Between 1915 and 1923, Zhou Xinfang staged just fifty traditional

66 Zheng and Xu, Shanghai jiuhua, p 96 In the 1930s, set technicians from Shanghai were

hired by Chaoju (Chaozhou opera, regional drama originating in Chaozhou, Fujan) troupes in Bangkok See Yung Sai-shing “‘Sheng guang hua dian’ dui jindai zhongguo xiqu de yingxiang” [The impact of sound, light, chemistry, and electricity upon modern Chinese

drama], in Xianggang xiqu de xiankuang yu qianzhan [The current situation and prediction of

traditional drama in Hong Kong], eds Lee Siu-yan, Cheng Ling-yan, and Tai Suk-yan (Hong Kong: Xianggang zhongwen daxue yinyuexi yueju yanjiu jihua, 2005), p 360

67 Shi, “Liantai benxi zai Shanghai,” p 201

68 Xi Zhuchong, “Ba jingjue de hetong” [Epilogue of contracts of Beijing stars], Lü he, June 2,

1928, 3.

69 Zhao, Tian and Zhu eds., Jindai Shanghai xiqu xinian chubian, p 283; Wang Jiaxi, “Xun

Huisheng zaoqi zaihu yanju huodong shiliao (xuan)” [Historical materials about Xun

Huisheng’s early performing activities in Shanghai (selection)], Shanghai xiqu shiliao huicui

5, 46-52.

plays, but many more serial ones.70

As some critics suggest, it was not an easy job to perform in a new play, because while a player could just follow conventional ways in an old play, he had to exercise creativity and innovation in a new one in order to entertain spectators.71 This contributed considerably to the popularity of serial plays From the late nineteenth century, Peking opera players in Shanghai were known for their innovative and exhibitionist performing style, such as singing melodies flexibly and acting out breathtaking martial moves.72 This style was advanced to a higher level in serial plays during the Republican era Players created various new melodies for Peking opera and often integrated arias of other genres into performances In particular, a special style of singing

commonly called liantan 联 弹 (collaborative singing), which seldom

appeared in traditional operatic performances, became so prevalent that it could be found in almost every play Combining choruses with alternating and antiphonal singing by a number of players at the same time, it was rhythmically exciting and melodious, and the plain lyrics were comprehensible even to people who did not often listen to Peking opera.73 In one play staged

in 1923, for example, there was a long collaborative singing act with hundreds

of lines, in which many players performed arias from Peking opera and a number of other genres.74 Some arias from serial plays were so popular that they were made into records for sale Almost each episode of a serial play had

a spectacular fighting scene in which all martial players participated, striving

to display their original moves and special skills to impress the audience It was like a friendly competition, according to a critic then, and players usually

70 Li Zigui, “Zhou Xinfang sanjin Dangui Diyi Tai” [Zhou Xinfang joined the Red Cassia

Stage three times] In Zhou Xinfang yu qipai yishu [Zhou Xinfang and the Qi-style art], edited

by Li Xiao and Huang Jusheng (Shanghai: Huadong shifan daxue chubanshe, 1994) p 176

71 Rexin Lengyan Ke, “Tingxi yu kanxi de yanjiu” [Research on listening to opera and

watching opera], Xiju yuekan 1, 2 (Jul 1928); Zhang, “Shanghai jingju yiwang,” pp 218-219

72 Ma et al., Zhongguo jingju shi (shangjuan), pp 277-278

73 Zhou Shoujuan, Ximi zizhuan [An autobiography of a opera fan] (Hangzhou: Zhejiang

wenyi chubanshe, 1992), p 98

74 “Hui Qing erdi juzhong zhi jingcai” [The splendidness of The Two Emperors Hui and Qin],

Shen bao, November 30, 1923, 18