RED BOAT TROUPES AND CANTONESE ... - University of Georgia

performers were selected from ladies-in-waiting in the palace. The two other locations were in
the capitol Cheung An, then a prosperous international trade center. They hosted 1000 and 1500
trainees. Today, performers of opera in China are referred to as “Disciples of the Pear
Garden.” 28
Opera became a very popular type of entertainment during the minority Mongol-
governed Yuen dynasty (A.D. 1127-1279). 29 Opera performers, usually from very poor families,
stood at the bottom of the social ladder. They were trained as apprentices at a young age and
received very little other education. Historically, government officers, in high- level social
hierarchy, hardly mixed with performers. However, during the Yuen dynasty, many members of
the Han majority lost their jobs or resigned, due to pressure in the new regime. Mingling with
musicians and performers, some of these unemployed ex-officers started writing librettos to pre-
existing tune types. Combining music and beautiful verses and literature, a very important genre
of art, the Yuen Jap Kelk (Variety Opera of the Yuen dynasty) came into being. The Yuen Jap
Kelk included shows other than opera. The Yuen opera reflected life’s reality, more so than
operas of the previous generations. Characters in the operas depicted people from all walks of
life. 30 The Yuen Jap Kelk included recitatives and singing. Each opera had many characters, but
there was only one lead singer. Others were mute or only sung a few lines. The structure of
Yuen Jap Kelk is organized in “books.” Each book contains four acts, and each book is a
coherent story. Some long operas use two or three books, which are performed in a continuous
fashion. Each act of the play is restricted to only one kind of mode. The ending of each book is
28
Won Dat Jin, Jong kwok yin yur si [A history of Chinese Music] (Beijing: People’s Music Publication, 1994),
206, 216.
29
Ji Nan Sun and G. C. Chow, A Concise Course of General Music History of China (Shangtong: Shangtong
Education Publication, 1999), 135.
30
Jin, Won Dat, 378.
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