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Spoken
Drama
The early years of New China witnessed
vigor in the sphere of spoken drama. The Young Generation, Teahouse,
and other excellent spoken dramas had a great impact on many young
people. After the end of the “cultural revolution” in 1976, spoken
drama witnessed its prosperity again, when When All the Sounds Are
Hushed, When Maple Leaves Are Red, and other wrathful works which
complained about the crimes of the “Gang of Four” who brought calamities
to China and its people, appeared. Afterwards, such works as Chen
Yi Comes Down from the Mountain, Great General Peng Dehuai and Sun
Yat-sen eulogized the great achievements of revolutionaries of the
older generation with great admiration.
In addition, a large
number of traditional-type spoken dramas were produced. For instance,
such new costume dramas as Song of the Great Wind, Tang Emperor Li
Shimin, Wang Zhaojun, and Song-tsen Gampo were filled with the vehement
spirit of the time. Also, many rearranged or transplanted ancient,
modern and foreign spoken dramas were staged. After the Chinese Dramatists’
Association set up the Cao Yu Chinese Dramatic Literature Prize, such
excellent spoken dramas as Mayor Chen Yi, Warm Currents Outside the
Room, Duet Romance, Weddings and Funerals, Tang Poet Li Bai, and A
Crouching Tiger on Mount Zhong won the prize successively.
The
17th Plum Blossom Awards for Chinese Dramas sponsored by the China
Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Chinese Dramatists
Association were announced in Beijing in March 2000, with 39 people
winning awards for excellent performances.
Shen Tiemei of the Sichuan
Opera Theater of Chongqing, Song Guofeng of the Liaoning People’s
Art Theater, Feng Yuping of the Shenyang Pingju Opera Theater, Ding
Jiali of the Chinese Youth Art Theater and Zhu Shihui of the Peking
Opera Theater of Hubei Province won Plum Blossom Awards for the second
time. Eighteen traditional opera performers including Zhang Huoding
of the China Peking Opera Theater, Han Zaifen of the No. 2 Anqing
Huangmei Opera Troupe of Anhui Province, and Qian Huili of the Shanghai
Shaoxing Opera Theater, and ten modern drama performers including
Ni Dahong of the Central Experimental Modern Drama Theater, three
modern opera performers including Sun Yi of the China Opera and Dance
Drama Theater, and three performers of professional folk theatrical
troupes including Yang Hongli of the Jinzhong Xiaomingqin Shanxi Opera
Troupe of Shanxi Province won Plum Blossom Awards for the first time. |
