Film, Video Kunqu: China's First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition

About this Item

Title
Kunqu: China's First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition
Summary
Marjory Bong-Ray Liu presented "Total Theatre -- The Art of Kunqu, China's Earliest Classical Opera" as part of the Benjamin Botkin lecture series sponsored by the American Folklife Center. Chinese opera, especially Kunqu, is particularly noted for its graceful dance movements and gestures that are an integral part of the total art form, unlike many western operas where the aural aspect is predominant. Kunqu classical opera was perfected in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.). It uses four main acting roles: sheng, a young male scholar-hero; dan, a female role; jing, a male warrior-statesman; and chou, a comic. Kunqu demonstrated sophistication in relating total speech to melody patterns, and it integrated the arts of dance, poetry, music, mime, symbolism and drama into a complete aesthetic experience that is still admired and enjoyed today.
Event Date
September 04, 2008
Notes
-  Marjory Bong-Ray Liu was born in Nanjing, China, and spent her first 20 years absorbing both Chinese and Western musics and operas. She later enhanced her studies of Kunqu in Taiwan and mainland China. In 1981, she spent half a year in residence at the prestigious Jiangsu School of Opera in Nanjing, where she was able to observe the daily vigorous training techniques for the young opera students. Since then she has continued to study the complex art of Kunqu.
Related Resources
American Folklife Center: https://www.loc.gov/folklife/
Running Time
48 minutes 21 seconds
Language
English
Online Format
video

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

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Chicago citation style:

Kunqu: China's First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition. 2008. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-4472/.

APA citation style:

(2008) Kunqu: China's First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-4472/.

MLA citation style:

Kunqu: China's First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition. 2008. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/webcast-4472/>.

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