| Abstrakt: |
Popular songs, which flourished in late Ming China, were often selected and juxtaposed with play excerpts in multi-register qu anthologies. Their pages were divided into two or three horizontal panels (i.e., registers), each filled with different content and genres, a practice that cultivated innovative modes of editing, printing, and reading. The association of popular songs with the broader dramatic tradition is highlighted not only through their shared tune titles and anthological space, but also via textual circulation and performative discourse. Popular songs represented theatrical plotlines or figures through multiple forms and perspectives, shedding new light on the original plays. Their varied interpretations often corresponded with changing social realities and ethical values that can also be observed in historical records and prescriptive writings throughout the Ming dynasty. Popular songs recapitulating dramatic scenes are often arranged into groups. Their wide circulation in different qu anthologies called for creative editorial strategies such as applying unified structures that belonged to a longestablished oral tradition. Framing devices included, but were not limited to, organizing a group of songs on a fixed chronological topic, such as the "five watches of the night" or the changing position of the moon outside the gauze window over the night. The group of songs, focusing on different dramatic moments and being framed within a unified framework, formed an independent song sequence that transmitted theatrical knowledge and evoked association and discourse among songs sharing similar concerns. The final type of popular song discussed in this article concerns the performers of the plays, most of whom were also singers of popular songs. The tune of Shuahai'er often likened courtesans from different regions to heroines of various plays, exemplifying diverse regional dramatic tastes. The mix of ornate dramatic language with vernacular and even vulgar dictions created an effect of improvised performance in private settings that evoked the aesthetical experience of enjoying theatrical performances and elicited intimate interaction with female performers. The interplay between songs and dramas creates a world of knowledge, entertainment, and connoisseurship that transcends the boundaries of literary composition and oral improvisation, originals and reproductions, as well as performativity and genuineness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
