The Stage in the Temple

Ritual Opera in Village Shanxi

David Johnson

• Publisher: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
• Year: 2022
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781557292025
• Subtopic: Chinese History
• Index: History

Villages in China's Shanxi province celebrated the birthdays of local gods with large festivals. The celebrations included solemn rituals performed in the god's temple. They also included grand banquets of food and programs of opera. Temples in the countryside always included stages. The stages faced the statues of the gods in their great hall, who were the real audience, though villagers were also present. Both stage and great hall were in the temple compound, hence the title of the book. The operas were based on stories from Chinese history. Love stories, crime and punishment stories, and farces were not allowed. These ritual operas were called "Za Opera" in Shanxi and many other regions as well. Za Opera first appeared in capital and countryside in the eleventh century. As other operatic genres appeared in later times, Za Opera became strictly village opera. It was virtually ignored by educated town and city dwellers until recently. Hence it changed little and provides important information about the history of Chinese drama.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Notes to this edition
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Epigraphs
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Scripts of Za Opera
• 2. History of Za Opera
• 3. Village Opera in Performance
• 4. Questions and Conclusion
• Appendix 1: List of Early Stages in Shanxi
• Appendix 2: Note on the Authenticity of Our Scripts
• Appendix 3: List of Za Opera Manuscripts
• Bibliography
• Glossary-Index
• Back Cover