Zichen Hao

CHEN Duo's aesthetic thoughts on Xiqu are characterized by profound critical reflection and the construction of a localized theoretical framework. He astutely observed that mainstream Western drama theories, rooted in the practice of spoken theater, fail to align with the unique principles of Xiqu. He further analyzed the historical limitations of indigenous Xiqu theory development. To address this, CHEN innovatively introduced a "medium theory" perspective, defining Xiqu's essence as "drama performed through the material media of song, dance, and poetry." This reveals its fundamental trait of being "adept at expressing emotions (lyricism) rather than narrating stories." The core of his theory succinctly summarizes the aesthetic features of Xiqu in four sentences: "dance-like visuals and song-like vocals (wurong gesheng); moving the audience through emotion (dong ren yi qing); meaning dominating form (yi zhu xing cong); beauty of form prevailing (mei xing qu sheng)." This paper systematically elaborates on CHEN Duo's original aesthetic system, which is grounded in Xiqu practice and takes medium specificity as its logical starting point.

Chen Duo; Chinese Opera Aesthetics; Medium-Centric Perspective; Song, Dance; Poetry; Lyricism

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