Closing+the+Divide,+Beijing+Opera+and+the+Cultural+Revolution+of+China+by+Mandi+Montgomery

=Cultural Revolution & Beijing Opera= ==

"Our literary and art workers must accomplish this task and shift their stand; they must gradually move their feet over to the side of the workers, peasants and soldiers, to the side of the proletariat, through the process of going into their very midst and into the thick of practical struggles and through the process of studying Marxism and society. Only in this way can we have a literature and art that are truly for the workers, peasants and soldiers, a truly proletarian literature and art."

This except used as a guideline for the "Little Red Book", is a defining characteristic to the immediate demise of traditional Beijing Opera. This Opera Theatre form suffered during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) when all traditional pieces were banned. This directive was given by Mao to correct the "olds" of society. Mao served as Chairman of the Chinese People’s Republic as chairman of the Communist Party, in May 1966 Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution and served as party chairman until his death in 1976. New versions became stories concerning "Class Struggle". The "Eight Model Plays" were a very popular theme, as were stories concerning Communist Activities, Anti-Japan sentiment, and the Civil War against Nationalists.

The traditional stories were allowed to be shown in 1978, however, by this time they seemed out of date and the productions lacked historical and theatrical knowledge. Audiences lost to more contemporary forms of entertainment were hard to replace with the exception of those who were children when the Beijing Opera was at its peak. Many who lived through the Cultural Revolution preferred the newer versions and still favor those melodies.

The effects of the Cultural Revolution directly or indirectly touched essentially all of China's population. During the Cultural Revolution, much activity was halted, with "revolution", regardless of interpretation, being the primary objective of the country. The start of the Cultural Revolution brought huge numbers of Red Guards to Beijing, with all expenses paid by the government.Railway systems were in turmoil. Countless ancient buildings, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings were destroyed by Red Guards. By December 1967, 350 million copies of Mao's __Quotations__ had been printed.

Elsewhere, the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution also brought the educational system to a halt. The university entrance exams were canceled during this period, not to be restored until 1979. Many intellectuals, including actors ,were sent to rural labor camps, and many of those who survived left China shortly after the revolution ended.

Many survivors and observers suggest that almost anyone with skills over that of the average person was made the target of political "struggle" in some way. This led to almost an entire generation of inadequately educated individuals. Some counties had illiteracy rates as high as 41% some 20 years after the revolution. The leaders denied any illiteracy problems from the start. This effect was amplified by the elimination of qualified teachers—many of the districts were forced to rely upon chosen students to re-educate the next generation.

China's traditional arts and ideas were ignored, with praise for Mao being practiced in their place. People were encouraged to criticize cultural institutions and to question their parents and teachers, which had been strictly forbidden in previously Confucian culture.

These ideas are confirmed in a Beijing Opera "Farewell My Concubine". It is 1949, and opera is in vogue once again. As time passes in the new People's Republic of China, however, the theaters are used for revolutionary activities. Xiaolou male character who plays a male) and Dieyi ( male character who plays female roles) witness the trial of Dieyi's old lover, Yuan Siye, who is accused of being a counterrevolutionary and is sentenced to death. Xiao Si, Dieyi's old assistant, who Dieyi treated horribly, is elevated in the new Communist Party. As part of the party's directive, Dieyi and Xiaolou take literacy classes. By the mid-1960s, art is looked at as a tool to corrupt people by manipulating their emotions. Dieyi's and Xiaolou's social status is greatly reduced. In 1965 the party puts Dieyi and Xiaolou to work acting in formulaic propaganda plays. Xiaolou and Dieyi both destroy their old costumes before they can be used against them.

Fear swept China as the Red Guards developed a younger following. By the mid-1960s, art is looked at as a tool to corrupt people by manipulating their emotions. As such, actors were persecuted as well. The theatre was a place of "four olds" According to Chairman Mao, the four olds were old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. Propaganda led many to believe these remnants of the old society interfered with the creation of a modern socialist society. However, the people in power arbitrarily decided whether or not something was "fourolds", and used this as an excuse to attack people and destroy property.

Chapter 8 of "Farewell my Concubine" involves teenagers being assigned to be communist Red Guards, and are let out of school so that they can loot people's houses, searching for evidence of Western or traditional Chinese culture. One night, Red Guards make their nightly raid of Xiaolou's and Juxian's ( his forced wife, who was once a prostitute ) home, where they spot the sword from Dieyi, which Juxian had hung on the wall so that it is pointed toward the portrait of Chairman Mao — a potential sign that they want Mao dead. In an attempt to save both Juxian and Dieyi, Xiaolou takes credit for the sword.

The next night, Xiaolou and Dieyi are put on trial and told to confess their knowledge of each other's past wrongdoings. At first, the two tell harmless facts about each other's past, but as the guards threaten them, the actors get vicious, revealing incriminating aspects of each other's life. Worried that Juxian will be harmed, Xiaolou tells the guards that he wants to divorce her. She is mortified. Xiao Si breaks in and talks about Dieyi's homosexual activities, and Dieyi is arrested too. Dieyi tries and fails to kill himself while in custody. Xiaolou is sentenced to be reeducated through labor, and when he goes to his apartment to gather his things, he sees that Juxian has hanged herself. The next day Xiaolou and Dieyi are put on separate trucks and taken to different work camps in remote areas of the country.

While understanding, in context, the ideals of the Red Guard, it is undeniable that the Cultural Revolution directly changed Beijing Opera. Would Beijing Opera exist in the same form today if it were not closed and lost to the Revolution? We will never know as audiences, however we can rest assured that there are those who are campaigning to bring back this lost art form!

=**__Bibliography__**= "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art" (May 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 84.

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/beijing-opera.htm

http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/m/a.htm

Lu, Xing. [2004] (2004). Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture, and Communication. UNC Press.

Peterson, Glen. [1997] (1997). The Power of Words: literacy and revolution in South China, 1949-95. UBC Press.