Paper presented for the conference on: "Urban Cultural Institutions in
Early Twentieth Century China" (April 12-13, 2002; Version April 11, 2002)
Introduction:
The Yang Yuelou case and the issue of star culture
On December 23, 1873 (Tongzhi 12) the
newly founded Chinese language newspaper the Shenbao reported a case relating to a Peking opera singer
Yang Yuelou ·¨¤ë¼Ó who was engaged at the Dangui theater ¤¦®Û¯ù¶é
as invited lead singer with
the title of kechuan «È¦ê.[1]
The case involved the marriage of the opera singer to the daughter of a
well-to-do merchant from Xiangshan district in Guangdong. The main objection by
the Xiangshan people was that Yang as an opera singer was forbidden by social
convention if not by law to enter into such a marriage; being the lowest caste
in society, they were to marry only within their own ranks.[2]
On orders of the District Magistrate, Yang was severely flogged and was given a
heavy sentence that was only commuted in 1875.[3]
The case created a considerable stir in Shanghai. With the Shenbao as a nationally distributed paper and one of the very
few Chinese language papers read by a whole range of readers in the Qing
empire, the flood of letters and editorials it published on the matter made the case and Yang Yuelou’s name into
information shared on a national scale.[4]
That such a case was deemed worthy of a
long and heated public debate highlights some of the predicaments facing a
society in a time of radical transformation. Of interest for the topic I will
deal with is the fact that it reflects on the social position of actors at the
time, and involved a particular business practice and theater organization of
the Shanghai International Settlement, namely the system of the invited guest
singers. Yang Yuelou had been invited from Peking to Shanghai in the early1870s
by Liu Weizhong ¼B
ºû ¾ , the owner of
the Dangui chayuan theater,
to be his lead singer.[5]
Such "guest singers" were regarded by Shanghai audiences as an
integral part of theater performances, and these singer were identified and
advertised by their own individual name rather than as a member of an opera
troupe, as was the custom in Peking. The social standing as well as the
financial rewards of these guest singers were on an altogether different scale
as the regular members of the Shanghai troupe they happened to be performing
with.
The event furthermore points to the new
role of the Shanghai press. As one of the earliest Chinese-language newspapers,
the Shenbao set the example of making theater matters part of its daily
reporting. In the Yang Yuelou's case, the Shenbao went beyond reporting, translating from the Western
papers, and editorializing, but opened its pages for a public debate on the case and its handling by the Ye
Tingjuan, the District Magistrate who himself happened to be from Xiangshan. No
no such kind of publication forum existed in Peking.
Finally, one of the stated reasons for the
harsh treatment of both Yang Yuelou and the young woman was Ye’s intention to
put a stop to women joining the theater audience. The presence of women in the
theaters of the International Settlement was in striking contrast to the
practice in cities such as Peking where this was strictly prohibited. At stake
in the case were thus public morals and social order. That a famous actor could
fan up such a crave in a young woman to induce her to willingly risk the name
and social standing of her family seemed to call for the magistrate’s
intervention.
All these aspects of the Yang Yuelou case
bring into focus that the foreign concessions with their unique institutional
and legal environment created a leeway in Chinese society to loosen long-held
social prejudices and to flout prohibitions and class distinctions, and a
public format to discuss such matters. The fact that the case went to court
instead of being settled by applying to the actors' gild, such as as the Jing
zhong hui ºë
¾ ·| in Peking where traditionally cases involving
an actor had been dealt with,
underlines the uniqueness of the Shanghai situation.
These three related elements of the Yang
Yuelou case serve to define the conditions and the particular features of the
rise of the actor to modern stardom and the formation of a star culture in its
initial phase. "Stars" in entertainment, persons patronized by local
elites or even the Emperor himself, were not new in China. But up to the late
nineteenth century, the fame of these individuals was circumscribed by region
or social segment. The emergence of entertainers as national stars transcending
regional and class lines only began in the late Qing. It was bound up with the
development of a new way of organizing theater productions which promoted the
individual, rather than an entire troupe; with new financial arrangements
between the individual, the owner of an opera troupe, and the theater; and most
importantly with the introduction of new cultural forms such as the nationally
distributed newspapers, together with the adoption of new technologies such as
photography and later, film. The rise of the star culture as a national
phenomenon was based on these new structures, media, and technologies.
The rise of the actor to national star put Shanghai in
direct competition with Peking. Peking opera enjoyed continuous patronage from
the Qing court which had been instrumental in its development. This was still
true in the late nineteenth century with the pivotal role played by the Empress
Dowager Cixi (1835-1908). The historical record is quite clear that from the
mid-1880s to her death in 1908, Cixi was largely responsible for the revival of
opera performances as part of the regular activities of the court, and this included
patronizing opera troupes as well as individual actors. The question in this
paper is not so much which center -- Shanghai or Peking -- played a more important role in the rise of
the star culture, but where the shift in terms of institutional change took
place that regardless of personal taste, paved the way for this development?
I will map the rise of the star and star
culture by looking, first, at the theater as a business enterprise, in
particular how with the development of a new and different type of theater business structure, Shanghai offered a
radically different approache to patronage and marketing compared to that of
Peking, thus laying the institutional foundation for the emergence of the star
(in a similar way in which Hollywood’s studio system transformed the film
industry in the 1930s);[6]
second, at the Shanghai factor reflected in the policy changes of the Office of
court entertainment -- Shengping shu ª@ \ ¸p -- during period when the Empress Dowager controlled
the court; and third, at the mass media as the main engine spreading and
promoting the culture surrounding the star, in particular, the all-important
commercial aspects of image building and advertisement.
It is a well-established historical fact that Peking
opera was born in the city of Peking when troupes from Anhui province
representing it earlier style came to the city to perform during the
celebrations of the Qianlong emperor’s birthday in 1790. This emperor had a passion
for the stage and most of the theater venues in Imperial Palace were built
during his reign. The laws and rituals governing theater and theater troupes
developed during the following century; at times emperors, motivated by the
question of public morals or the public perception of austerity at court, would
resort to extreme measures to control the new fad. During the Jiaqing
(1796-1821) and Daoguang (1821-1851) reigns it was prohibited to invite outside
actors to perform in court. And in 1799, the Jiaqing Emperor made it a law that
all opera troupes were banned within the city walls. During the Tongzhi reign
(1862-1875) even a lover of theater such as Cixi did not dare to openly break
these long-standing court rules. Only since her rise to power during 1880s, she
was able to alter these measures.
Thus Peking opera troupes after a high point of
enjoying the Qianlong Emperor's patronage, had to resign themselves to provide
an entertainment very popular among urban dwellers. The troupes settled outside
of the city gate Zhengyang men (Qianmen),[7]
and during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries commercial
theaters sprang up in and around this area.[8]
[Fig. 1]
The institutional structure of the
best-known troupes in the capital was as follows: There is the head (banzhu ¯Z \D ) of the troupe; he is normally a well-establish actor
himself who commands a great deal of professional respect. The troupe consists
of outstanding actors for all major roles (sheng \Í --male hero, dan \¹
--female impersonator, jing ²b -- painted
face, and chou ¤¡
-- the clown), with a cast of supporting
actors and musicians. An actor can join the troupe by invitation from the
troupe's head, or apply for admittance. In either case, the financial
conditions are the same. Before the late nineteenth century, there is no clear
hierarchy among the top actors in a given troupe. The troupe is conceived more
as an artistic unit with an emphasis on its ability to offer a wide range of
programs. Being the chief meant shouldering the primary responsibility for the
survival of the troupe. The troupe was not really regarded as a business
enterprise that could be bought and sold. This fact can be seen in the numerous
examples of a troupe being handed to someone on the merits not of his being the
heir of the previous owner, but based solely on the ability to lead and manage
without any payment being made for this transfer.
The relationship between the actor and the
troupe was contractual. Contracts were normally set up on an annual basis. After
agreeing on the financial terms, the actor would sign a contract with the
troupe, called baoyin \] »È . The contract would specify that the actor would
receive a part of the money at the
beginning of every quarter during the period of the contract. His own
obligation was not only to show up for work and perform to the best of his
abilities, but he was also strictly forbidden, during the period of the
contract, to participate in performances of other troupes or perform privately.
This rule was hard to enforce, and therefore the punishment for breach of
contract was extremely harsh: he would be kicked out of the profession by the
actor's guild Jinghui hui. Sometimes a very popular actor could have his baoyin paid in half or in full when the contract was signed.
For transportation to venues, an actor would receive an extra sum equal to
about 10% of the baoyin. The
financial responsibility remained fully that of the head of the troupe.[9]
It is hard to make a general assessment of the amount
paid to the actors. The range given for actors between the 1820s and the 1880s
was from several hundred liang for
the top singers to 20 or 30 liang or
less for the lower ranks.[10]
The earnings of those who were considered "super stars" of their
days, such as the "li yuan sanjie" ±ù ¶é ¤Tµ´ , marked the high end: Cheng Changgeng µ{ ªø °
(1811-1879),
head to the famous Sanqing troupe ¤T¼y¯Z received 660 diao per annum for his baoyin (equivalent to $478 silver dollars in Republican
terms); Xiu Xiaoxiang ®}
¤p » (1831-?), and He Guishan ¦ó
®Û ¤s (1841-?) who were
both members of this Sanqing troupe, received during the 1860s and 70s 440
diao (about $318 silver dollars). The
price for a ticket in those days was one diao (10 copper coins in the Republican terms); different
seats did not carry different prices.[11]
In Peking, opera troupe and theater were
two different business enterprises who would enter into a contractual
relationship. An opera troupe maintained itself by performing in commercial
theaters, at private parties, on public festivals and now and then at the
court. Records show that from the middle of the nineteenth century, commercial
theaters were signing contracts with different troupes in the capital so that
each month they had set days for the performance of a certain troupe. A troupe
would during the years sign contracts with different theaters in the city and
would circulate among them. During the nineteenth century there were about
eight main troupes actively involved in performing in some nine major theaters.[12]
In this system the troupes were rotating through different locations throughout
the year.[13]
Financially, troupe and theater remained independent during the early period.
The troupe paid a set fee to the theater and any financial loss and gain
concerned only the troupe. By the end of the nineteenth century we find new
financial arrangement with a shared risk (refereed to at the time as bizhang ¼A ±b ): rent was
reduced, and the two parties would share the box office receipts. Later in the
Republican area, things evolved back again into a purely rental arrangement. [14]
The theater thus was a pure business institution, it had no direct dealings
with individual actors and its only concern was to rent out a locale to opera
troupes to perform in.
Up to the last decade of the nineteenth
century, this was by and large the arrangement between actor and troupe, troupe
and theater. The troupe’s emphasis was on the collective and a collective
identity, and the theater’s on a purely financial deal.
From the time when Peking opera first came
to be performed in the Shanghai Foreign Settlements, business arrangements
followed a very different path.
The fact that Peking and Shanghai had two
radically different system of theater organization is well established. While
in Peking opera troupe and theater were two different business enterprises,
since the introduction of Peking opera in the Foreign Settlements during the
1860s these two institutions were organized here as one.
Prior to the founding of the Shanghai Foreign
Settlements the theater scene in the old Shanghai walled city was very typical
of other such small towns in the region with troupes from Suzhou featuring
Kunqu opera coming to perform. All these troupes fell apart during the Taiping
War. After the war one or two theaters were built in the walled city, but they
did not last long. From this period on almost all of the theaters were built in
the Foreign Settlements. During the 1860s, the theater Mantingfang º¡®xªÚ was founded by Luo Yiqing ù¶hë, a British subject, who was in the gambling business
until it became illegal. The theater established two new features for Shanghai
theater entertainment. Well connected, Luo built a theater modeled on the
Peking style and as there were no Peking opera troupe around, he sent his
people to Tianjin to hire one and to purchase the necessary Peking opera
costumes and stage props. According to one source, this troupe consisted
entirely of women performing bangzi ±õ ¤l -- a Northern style of local opera.[15]
The theater was built on Baoshan Road Ä_µ½µó in the
English concession (then already part of the International Settlement) in 1866
and opened for business in 1867. It was the first time Peking opera was
performed in Shanghai with actors invited from the North. It was at first a
great success.[16]
Unfortunately this only lasted one year since competition appeared as soon as
it opened.
Competition came from the Dangui chayuan ¤¦®Û¯ù¶é which opened in the same year and along the same idea. The
owner Liu Weizhong ¼Bºû¾
had fled north during the Taiping War and found shelter with the
Sanqing troupe in Peking where he made friends with Cheng Changgeng.[17]
In the process, he gained an intimate knowledge of the stage. When he returned
to Shanghai in the 1860s, he opened the Dangui chayuan which was to become a landmark in the history of
Shanghai theater. He had it built by carpenters whom he sent to Peking to learn
the style; it had two floors and he divided the second floor into private boxes
separated by walls, a feature that did
not exist in the Peking theaters. Costumes and props were specially ordered and
custom-made in Canton. For singers, Liu personally journeyed to Peking to
elicit help from his old friends in the business. He was thus able to present
to the Shanghai audience a cast of able singers from Peking. Some of these
singers remained with Dangui and became permanent members in the troupe. Liu
continued to seek out well-known or promising young singers from Peking for
short term appearances. Some years later Liu had financial troubles; after the
trial of Yang Yuelou when Liu tried all he could to help the guest-star he had
invited to Shanghai, his resources were depleted and he sold the Dangui. The
theater, however, remained in operation for the next thirty years.[18]
Financial management of theaters in Shanghai greatly
differed from that in Peking. The major expenditure was the sum the theater
owner paid the visiting actor. In the 1860s and 1870s when Yang Yuelou was
first invited to sing at the Dangui, he was paid more than $1,200 silver
dollars per year.[19] Zhou
Fenglin P
»ñ ªL was paid $ 2,000,
and Wang Guifen ¨L
®Û ªâ $ 3,000. When
Sun Juxian »^
µâ \P came to Shanghai in the early 1870s, he suggested to
the owner of the theater that instead of receiving a lump sum they should share
the profit; this got him $2,000 a month![20]
Tan Xinpei ÃÓøÊ°ö raised the sum to new highs: in 1901 he received
$2,000 for one month’s performance, by 1912 he reached $15,000, and in his last visit in 1915 he
received $8,000 for a ten days visit. At the same time the theater grossed in
these ten days 30,000.[21]
There are also accounts which claim that by the end, Tan's fees reached
$24,000.[22]
There is the well known story that when Mei Lanfeng was first invited to
perform in Shanghai, as a fairly unknown actor, he was offers $1,800 for a one
month engagement, while Wang Fengqing, the leading dan actor at the time, was offered $3,200; this was of
course the famous visit which put Mei on the road to stardom.[23]
From these numbers it is clear that the Shanghai theater paid vast sums for
visiting actors from Peking, sums that easily exceeded the yearly income in
Peking. For the basic troupe member, however, Shanghai kept to the traditional baoyin system, and this lasted well into the Republic area
when Peking had already changed its system. The sum these actors received in
Shanghai was likely to be the equivalent to that made by the Peking actors at
the time, or slightly higher.
With the Mantingfang, and especially with
Dangui theater, Shanghai constructed a
unique theater system which differed from the rest of the Empire. (1)
The unit of the business is the theater i.e. the building plus a permanent
troupe owned by the theater owner as part of the business. Like a business
company, theater often founded on investors money. This structure gave the
owner more control and flexibility, and allowed him to be directly in touch
with his market, satisfying the changing tastes and demands of the audience
with ever new novelty and attraction. It allowed for competition between
different theaters rather than different schools and styles. To establish a
theater as a business enterprise, furthermore, was considerably simpler in
Shanghai than in Peking. All one needed to do was to register with the
Municipal Council and pay taxes each year.[24]
By contrast, to establish a new troupe in Peking one has to first gain the
support and agreement from the Jingzhong hui, the semi- official theater guild that worked in conjunction
with the court’s Shengping office, a topic which we will come back to. The
Shanghai theaters with their troupes were owned largely not by lead singers as
in Peking but by businessmen and investors who saw the enterprise mainly as profitable
investment. It was in fact an excellent business opportunity, and many Peking
Opera stars such as Sun Juxian, Huang Yueshan ¶À¤ë¤s and Li Chunlai §õ￢K¨Ó eventually seized upon it by opening their own theater businesses. Shanghai did not produce its own lead actors, it
imported them and made them into stars.
From the very beginning, the Shanghai theater was
founded on a "star system" that combined the permanent local basic
troupe, bandi ¯Z³, with lead singers,
jiaoer
¨¤¨à, hired from Peking on
short-term contracts. The importing of talents thus became an intrigal part of
its operation. The business strategy of the Shanghai theater owner was not to
buy talent for keeps but for their value as “sensation.” This necessarily involved
creating a high profile through intense publicity. This new system of running
the business of the theater brought about the term kechuan marking the ‘guest star’ as an integral part of
Shanghai Peking opera performance.[25]
Since the 1870s, this term began to be used to announce the arrival of
short-term visiting lead singers such as
Sun Juxian and Yang Yuelou; it appeared on advertisements posted at the
main gates of the theaters and also on the pillars of the stage.[26]
[Fig. 2] With the aim to continuously offer something new to the Shanghai
audience, and to make it worthwhile for the lead singers to come, a combination of extremely high monetary rewards
for the singing and intense publicity became the insignia of the star; part of
his fame was made by the public rumors of what fortune it took to bring him
here.
The "star system" arose from the
Shanghai theater business practices since the 1860s. Individual singers were
singled out as potential stars marked by the power to make their art translate
into profit at the market place. Once one of them arrived in Shanghai he was
known not in connection to the troupe to which he belonged, but as a individual
representing one of the highlights in the Shanghai theater season with his name
resounding throughout the city through the media and advertisement, and from
here making it into minds and mouths throughout the country. The system created
a cult of the individual both as a artist with the power to move and excite and
as an icon associated with glamour, fashion, decadence, and, needless to say,
Shanghai success.
"The Empress Dowager Cixi spent a
very busy and exciting year in 1883," states Yao Shuyi in her article on
Peking opera and the court during the late Qing period.[27]
After the radical reforms of 1827 by
the Daoguang emperor which saw the complete ban of actors from outside the
court, a drastic reduction of actors within the court, and an overhaul of the
organization of the office which managed the court’s opera entertainment, Cixi
eventually found the power to undo them. In March 1883, she lifted the ban
restricting the court from bringing in actors from outside and gave orders to
start asking individual actors from
outside to come and perform in court. She began to plan the creation of a
private opera troupe under her own directorship.[28]
On June 12th, one day after the official mourning period for Empress Dowager
Cian ended, Cixi openly enjoyed herself by indulging in a ten hour opera
performance! On October 10, she celebrated her 49th birthday, and for this
occasion ordered performances on Oct. 2, and again on Oct. 9th which included
17 programs. A year later, when she turned 50, in a twenty-one day celebration from October 1 to the 20th no less than
sixteen days were devoted to theater performances. To prepare for this event,
the Shengping shu in 1883 selected 20 actors to join the court under the title
of "Attendants of the inner court" (gongfeng neiting ¨Ñ ^ ¤º
§Ê ). From then on such selection
became routine in the daily tasks of this office. Thus after the great but
long-gone days of court sponsorship for the opera under the Qianlong Emperor,
it was Cixi who revived this legacy once again. With the death of her husband
Emperor Xianfeng in 1874, the new Tongzhi Emperor being just a small boy, and
the death of Empress Dowager Cian, by 1883 Cixi came to gain absolute political
power, and she brought about the second high point of theatrical life in the
Qing court.
The decision to once again invite outside
actors for performances in the court had the most profound effect on the
development of Peking opera. It was by far the most controversial decision to
be made by Cixi, since the imperial decree by the Daoguang Emperor had been
quite explicit that the decision of evict outside actors from the court was
never to be rescinded.[29]
Cixi had to find a way around this, and the question was with what pretext to
bring back the outside singers? (In fact they had already been temporarily
reinstalled by the Xianfeng emperor between 1860 to 1863). From the time of
Daoguang, theatrical performances in court had been performed by court
performers selected from the eunuchs and bannermen under the office of the
Shengping shu. Acting as a middleman and power broker, this office now
established the link between the court and the theater world outside. To
satisfy Cixi’s wish to see these outside performers without seeming to to go
against the Daoguang rule, the Shengping shu made these actors into
court-appointed teachers, referred to as minji jiaoxi \Á Äy ±Ð ²ß, to instruct court singers by putting on performances
as “demonstrations.”[30]
Thus from 1883 onward, inviting individual singers became part of the system in
the Qing court. From 1893, Cixi also was able to stretch the rules further by
inviting entire troupes to come and perform. It was during these performances
that she was exposed to, and became fond of, certain singers.
The Shengping shu had been established in
1827 to replace the Nanfu «n ² .[31]
It was under the control of the interior ministry. Other than to organize and
manage opera performances in court, its responsibility was also to oversee
opera troupes operating in society. This was done through the actors guild
Jingzhong hui.[32] Although
the office was theory in under the interior ministry, its chief (zongguan Á` ºÞ )
reported directly to the Emperor and received orders from him. According to
court records for 1829, there were four
officials (shouling º
ȉ ) and 2 eunuchs under
the bureau chief’s command. [33]
The member of the court troupe managed by them were called internal students
(neixue ¤º
¾Ç ) and consisted of
eunuchs. With 69 performers and 34 back-stage personnel, the total came to 110
persons.[34]
Their training and task was to be able to perform ritual singing as well as
opera. The five-tiered monthly pay scale for the neixue ranged from three to four liang of silver plus 5.9 shi of rice at the upper end to two liang of silver with 2.2 shi of rice at the lower.[35]
Between 1883 when the system of "Attendants
of the inner court" (gongfeng neiting) was created until 1908 a total of
77 ‘outside’ actors were employed in this category.[36]
This was a very special category as the actors were in part ‘court attendants’
and in part professional actors in commercial theaters. As a group they
represented the finest achievement at a given time in Peking opera. Due to
their special position, these actors operated as a liaison between society and
the court, in the process they became transmitters of artistic taste and
fashion between the two. Their duties in court were twofold; they were to
perform when called upon, and they were to teach the inner court students. They
received a monthly salary for the time they entered the service. They were paid
in two ways; with a monthly fixed sum of two liang of silver, 10 ko of white rice plus one strand of qian; and with rewards given after each performance.[37]
This second sum which depended of Cixi’s appreciation of their performance, in
fact constituted their main income from their court performance. During Cixi's
time, this second sum gradually increased to a considerable amount, going from
8 liang silver as the highest
reward in 1883, to 60 liang for
Tan Xinpei and Hou Junshan Ô «T ¤s in 1908.[38]
These "attendants of the inner
court" and especially those favored by the Empress Dowager gained
substantial prestige in the eyes of their colleagues and in society. An example
is Chen Delin ³¯
¼wªL whose career did not
make much headway until he appeared in court. When after his first appearance
he was praised by Cixi (even though only indirectly), he was swamped with
invitations to perform.[39]
This was not a one-way road. Actors who
had made their fame in society would find themselves invited to perform in the
court. According to the theater historian Qi Rushan »ô ¦p
¤s, Peking theaters had a special
box reserved for the Shengping shu official scouting for actors to invite. No
doubt, the audience reaction to the performance would influence their choice.[40]
When Tan Xinpei first started to offer his service to the Empress Dowager in
1890, he had long since made a name for himself. But his court appointment no doubt helped him to raise his fees for
commercial performances. In 1888, the daily income of Tan was already as high
as 120 diao, by 1894, he received
30 liang of silver for performing two numbers at a private party.[41]
Being an "Attendant of the inner court" was quite clearly a form of
cultural capital that would translate into real money.[42]
There is no doubt that Cixi's patronage of
Peking opera singers was important in the development and prestige of Peking
opera and it lead singers. But was it decisive in making the actors she had
choosen into national stars? The transformation of basic policies of the
Shengping shu in creating an "invitation based" system for actors to
come to court and developing a system of substantial financial rewards given to
the top actors and not a troupe, directly points to the impact of Shanghai.
Judging, furthermore, from the year the actors entered into the service of the
court and from the stage of their career they were at this moment, the impact
of Shanghai is even clearer. Most of these actors had been to Shanghai; they
had already made their name by performing in commercial theaters, and were will
into their late 30s and early 40s. For example, when Sun Juxian first entered
the court, he was already forty years old, Shi Xiaofu was thirty-eight, and
Yang Yuelou also 40.[43] With few exceptions, the actors patronized
by Cixi were first “discovered” or honored by the Shanghai theater
establishment and in one way or another had made their fame and name in the
Foreign Settlements during the early part of their career. This is not to
question the important role played by court patronage in the rise of Peking opera to become the dominant
performing art form. But we have to ask, as Shanghai became a competing center,
in what way did it compete; and what alternatives did it offer to distinguish
itself and to establish its prominence?
In the competition for the greater impact
on the making of stars and on shaping the star culture, Shanghai appears to win
out on substantial points. First, in terms of time frame, the Shanghai market
had first discovered and made into stars many of the later court favorites. We
know this not only because they appeared in Shenbao (which did not automatically make them into stars,
but at least dramatically enhanced their name recognition in the urban
centers), but because when they returned from Shanghai to Peking, their
standing had improved. This can be seen in the case of Yang Yuelou, for
example, who when he first returned to
Peking, as we will see later in this paper, brought with him a certain
leverage.
It would appear that it was Cixi who imitated the
style set by Shanghai in inviting lead singer and not the troupe to court as as
had been the custom in the past. In this court environment, however, actors had
to work within strict guidelines; their acts being censored, the texts they
were to use had to be first vetted and approved, and they were bound to
strictly adhere to court etiquette and keep time restraints. With regard to the
star system just evolving, the court furthermore maintained the procedure of
the Peking theater troupes where lead singer were also required to play supporting
roles. For the court performances, the concept of lead versus support roles did
not exist. All actors were assigned to play different kinds of roles. The
decision rested with the Shengping fu with the final approval being given by
Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor.[44]
As the foreign concessions had far fewer restrictions
they were relatively free to develop entertainment into a major attraction. As
a consequence, such places such as Tianjin and Wuhan joined Shanghai to provide
a new type of public arena or open
space that allowed actors to go on tour; once they had been invited to
Shanghai, their itinerary would
normally be Peking -- Shanghai -- Wuhan --Tianjin and back. These tours allowed
the emerging stars to meet their audience in person and not just on paper or in
gossip. The modern star as a national phenomenon was very much the product of
this movement between North and South. On that front, Qing court patronage was
not able to compete.
Finally, appointment as court attendant came with a
high price. While an actor would gain substantial financial advantages and
social prestige by being singled out by Cixi, he still could be subjected to
extremely humiliating treatment as the status of a singer in the court protocol
was still not higher than that of a bond servant. This was not easy to take for
people who began to regard themselves as stars. A case in point is the insult
done to Tan Xinpei. Although he was one of Cixi’s most beloved actors, he was
threatened with having his ears boxed on orders by Cixi during a performance
because of a slight oversight in court etiquette. Tan never got over this, and
the rancor about this profound humiliation never left him.[45]
By comparison, he received the red carpet treatment of a super star during his
many Shanghai engagements. The only thing harping on his nerves in Shanghai
were the journalists and theater critics.[46]
The combination of high financial rewards and of dignified treatment the
singers received in Shanghai made the city an easy match to court patronage by
the end of the nineteenth century when the cultural as well as political (and
financial) standing of the Qing court also was in decline.
Shanghai’s
impact on Peking
According to most histories of the Peking
opera, the star system, referred to as “Mingjiao zhi” ¦W¨¤¨î
or “Mingxing zhi” ú￢P¨î , began in Peking with Tan Xinpei, and, more
precisely in 1896 with Tan going to court to sing for the Empress Dowager
bringing for the first time renowned musicians selected by himself to accompany
him.[47]
Most scholars and studies claim that this was the moment when the traditional
troupe system began to be replaced by a star system. As argued by these
studies, the organization of a Peking opera troupe had previously been around a
group of singers each with his own specialty, and there was no real concept of a lead singer nor a special
sequence in appearance that might suggest it. With Tan Xinpei choosing his own
musicians, it is argued, the star system came into being. It brought about a
shift from equality to hierarchy with
the troupe gradually being organized around a single star; and this was also
reflected in the altered sequence of stage appearance with the lead singer
marking himself apart from the others by playing the last acts, referred to as
dazhouxi ¤j¶bÀ¸.[48]
This line of argument goes on to state that with this star system a new form of
financial arrangement emerged with the “baoyin zhi” \]»È¨î being
replaced by “xifen zhi” -- À¸\÷¨î the system of
contracts for individual performances.[49]
This line of argument completely
disregards Shanghai's impact on Peking opera in terms of organizational
arrangement. It is clear that the invitation to individual singers both in
conceptual terms and in terms of business management breaks with the tradition
of treating an actor as part of an opera troupe. As a result of this new
business arrangement between theater and individual actor, a fundamental shift
in financial relationships took place. Perhaps the most profound impact of
Shanghai theater business practice on the formation of the star system was the
introduction of a “free market system”
of financial arrangement. As we have seen, Peking had been operating on the
baoyin system where financial
arrangements between the actor and his troupe in Peking had been based on
annual contracts clearly stipulating the scale of pay and the obligations of
the actor. The system started to break down in the 1880s, and was gradually
replaced be the so-called xifen
system À¸\÷¨î -- payment per performance. The Shanghai factor can
again be seen with Yang Yuelou. According to Qi Rushan, the xifen system was introduced to Peking by Yang Yuelou when
he returned from Shanghai in the late 1870s: “In the past, the Peking theater
troupe went according to the baoyin
system; after an agreement had been reached, there would be no further
changes; whether the owner of the
troupe makes or loses money has nothing to with the singer. During the early
years of the Guangxu period (that is, during the later 1870s), Yang Yuelou
returned to Peking from Shanghai, and joined the Sanqing troupe. His
performance was extremely popular (jineng jiaozuo·\¯à\s®y), thus he made a arrangement with the owner and
changed [his contract from baoyin zhi]
to the system of having a share in dividends according to a preset percentage
(fencheng ¤À¦¨).”[50]
This in fact was a practice of Shanghai. When Sun Juxian first came to Shanghai
in 1870, his arrangement with the theater owner was that of a fixed percentage
of the daily take (referred to as chaichang î ±b ).[51]
The ramifications of this new financial
arrangement were significant. It gave the actor, and especially the lead
singer, a greater independence and flexibility, and enhanced his interest in
the attractiveness of the performance. In the old system, once an actor had
signed his contract, he was under no circumstances allowed to join other
troupes for performances while his
contract lasted. The new system effectively made the actor into a free agent
able to perform with other troupes during the days not covered by the contract.[52]
The subsequent increase in mobility was an important element in the rise of the
star culture. The actor was now directly subjected to the forces at the market
place, where he was treated as an individual and no longer as a member of a
troupe even though there still was a strong organization supporting him.
The star system emerging in Shanghai had an
indispensable component: the newspaper. To generate maximum attention for their
show was part of an overall marketing strategy by the Shanghai theater owners.
With theater news and theater criticism the newspapers played a crucial role in
developing the concept of stardom and building the renown of individual stars.
Theater advertisements were an important source of income for the papers,
increased the usefulness of the papers of their readers, and allowed the
theaters to reach a potential audience beyond the narrow circles of
afficionadoes and the passers-by.
This was an overwhelmingly new world for Mei Lanfang
when he first came to Shanghai to perform and saw the mechanism of public
opinion making in operation between the theater, the newspaper, and
advertisement. From Peking he had no experience with either newspaper
advertisement or the public advertisements known as haibao ®ü³ø
for the theater. He was simply stunned by the prominence of advertisement on the Shanghai streets and in the
newspapers, and alarmed by their contents as far as he himself was concerned.
He read about himself: “The one and only,
number one under Heaven soprano has been cordially invited to perform
for the first time in Shanghai” or “The one and only soprano in the world”.[53]
The presentations of the opera singer was
clearly reflected in the style of newspaper and street advertisements which
would feature one lead singer exclusively; thus for the same show and the same
theater there would be several different kinds of advertisements for the
different pieces. In this manner the public attention was focused on the lead
singers and their names figured prominently. [Fig. 3] The big daily newspapers,
furthermore, all carried the daily theater program, a routine started early by
the Shenbao in 1872. The public
projection of having a unique and exclusive show was part of the business
strategy of the Shanghai theater owners; to have a ‘star’ on stage went well
with this strategy and thus the theater owners had a vested interest in
promoting to stardom the actors they had hired.
Another important component in promoting a cult of
stars was the creation of the star image and personality, both pictorially and
narratively. The Shanghai concession with its rapidly developing print industry
opened a whole visual market based on this theme. In the unspoken competition
between the Peking court and the Shanghai concession this element proved once
more the strength of the concession.
News about the private life of the stars became a selling point for the
newspapers and developed into a veritable sub-genre, reinforcing at the same
time the notion of the uniqueness and titillating attractiveness of the star.[54]
The papers also provided the stars with a public form in which to directly or
indirectly defend themselves, as demonstrated in the Yang Yuelou case. In this
way they broke with the age old tradition where the low social status of the
opera singer necessarily meant seeking out patrons for protection as the only
recourse against possible injustice.
As to crafting the pictorial image of the
star, which is very much part of modern star culture, there had been paintings
of opera stars by court painters during the late nineteenth century, such as
Chen Rongpu’s ¨H®e®E painting of the performance of Qunyinghui ¸s^·|
featuring the leading opera singers of the time Chen Changgen ³¯ªø°, Lu Shengkui ¿c³Ó«¶, and Xu Xiaoxiang ®}¤p»,
as well his famous painting “The thirteen ‘unparalleled’of the Tongzhi and
Guangxu guang periods” (¦P\ú¤Q¤Tµ´). As these works were paintings mostly held by the
court, their influence was very limited.[55]
During the Qing period, theater
illustrations were very much part of popular printing making. The theater
market in Peking was not unaware of the
importance of pictorial representation in stimulating business. In his study of
popular prints, Wang Shucun ¤ý¾ð§ø points out that pictorial representation of actors had
in fact a long history. By the Qing period and with the Qianlong Emperor’s
patronage of Peking opera, popular prints on theater developed into a major
genre. Portraits of leading Peking opera singers began to appear in art shops
(they could even have been commissioned by the opera troupes or theater
owners).[56]
According the nineteenth century Peking city guide Dumen jilüe ³￡ªù￢ö²¤ (The essential guide to the capital) by Yang Jingting ·¨ÀR«F, during the Jiaqing period the art gallery Chenyizhai
¸Û¤@ÂN had a painting by He Shikui ¶P\@«¶ with “The thirteen ‘unparalleled’”¤Q¤Tµ´.[57]
In later popular theater prints produced by the Yangliuqing ·¨￢h«C we also
find, although very rarely, examples where the name
of the actor appeared beside the image. The main emphasis of the popular prints
was not, however, on the individual singer, but on particular opera scenes. [58]
While these prints were atypical although certainly important ingredients of
the early star cult, their impact remained local and their influence on shaping
the image of the star and star culture limited.
By contrast, the Shanghai media with the
new technologies such as lithography and photography played the major role in
popularizing the image of the star on a national scale. The Shanghai courtesans
had been first on the road to stardom from the 1880s onward; opera singers
imitated them and many of the ingredients of the star cult established around
the top courtesans. The main medium was the press, and in particular the
entertainment newspaper known in general as the xiaobao ¤p³ø. Illustration and photography of opera stars
eventually became one of the main features of these publications since the
early 1910s. Through nation-wide distribution networks, these publications
established the opera star firmly in the consciousness of public. Some
photographs even ended up as collectors items in the Peking court. [Fig. 4]
Since its beginning, the theater establishment in the
Shanghai Foreign Settlements used all the leeway offered there to upgrade its
competition with Peking, and the Peking court in particular. On the surface,
Peking opera in Shanghai did look like an import product from the north. But
once we look at the particulars, it quickly becomes clear that the entire setup
here was quite different. The Shanghai theater ran on very different operation
principles and even assumptions than its Peking counterpart. These included
theater organization, the system of
financial rewards, and the role played by the media. The fact that
Peking was the place where Peking opera had evolved and become a mature art
form with the help of patronage from the court also meant that it incorporated
certain entrenched structures both ideologically and socially. By contrast, the
stage in the Foreign Settlements in Shanghai had the advantage of being freer
from traditional constraints, and thus potentially more experimental and
innovative in its approach. Boxed into the lowest rank of the feudal social
hierarchy, the chances of an opera singer to become a national star were low in
Peking. In Shanghai, however, were things were driven by the market and there
was less interference from gentry guardians of morals, the opera singer became
a highly profitable commodity the potential of which was quickly recognized by
the market. Circumventing Peking, the star was created here irrespective of the
sanction of the court. In the end it was not the Qing court nor the patronage
by the Empress Dowager but the Shanghai Concession which laid the foundation
for the star culture. Thus the star and star culture took form not on “center
stage” in Peking at the court, but in what the court still regarded as a little
corner by the sea, in the newly rising Shanghai concession with its powers of
market and press
Illustrations:
[Fig. 1]
Location of different troupes during the 19th century, Chuntai ban ￢K \x ¯Z at
Baishun hutong ¦Ê
¶¶ J ¦P , Sanqing ban ¤T ¼y ¯Z
at Hanjia tan Áú ®a ¼æ , Sixi ban \| ³ß ¯Z at Shanxi gong °￠ ¦è
«Ñ , Chunhe ban M ￢K ¯Z at §õ ÅK ä ±× µó , ±] ¯￢ ¦¨
¯Z at \Û ÀY J ¦P ]; and different theaters, in Qing period Map.
[Fig. 2] Wu Youru §d ¤Í ¦p , "Huaren xiyuan" µØ ¤H À¸ ¶é (Chinese theater) from \Ó ¦¿ ³Ó ´º ¹Ï , Shanghai: Shenbaoguan, 1884, with the inscription on one of the poles of the stage "\» ¶é ¯S ½Ð ¨Ê ³￡ ÀY µ\ «È ¦ê ·¨ ¤ë ¼Ó ã ¤_ §Y ¤é ¶} ºt
[1] The term kechuan has two meanings. It can stand for a non-professional temporarily joining a troupe and performing on stage; the second meaning is that of an outside actor performing with a troupe as a guest.
[2] During the 18th century a part of the laws restricting entertainers was lifted, but in pratice the same prejudices persisted; for details see Anders Hansson, Chinese Outcasts: Discrimination and Emancipation in Late Imperial China. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996, p.42; pp. 163-4.
[3] For the Yang Yuelou case see Ye Xiaoqing, “Unacceptable Marriage and the Qing Legal Code: The Case of Yang Yuelou,” Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 27-28 (1995/6): 195-212. Goodman, Bryna, Native Place, City, and Nation : Regional Networks and Identities in Shanghai, 1853-1937,
Berkeley: Univ. of California Pr., 1995, pp. 111-117.
[4] For a discussion on the Yang Yuelou case in the newspaper, see Natasha Vittinghoff xxx, Rudolf Wagner, "Ernest Major’s Shenbaoguan and the Formation of Late Qing Print culture," paper prepared for the Conference The Formation of a Multiethnic Urban Culture: The Shanghai Concessions 1850-1910, Heidelberg 1998.
[5] Min Ai \Á «s , "Nanbei liyuan lueshi" «n \_ ±ù ¶é \v ²¤ (The essential history of theater North and South) in Zhou Jianyun P ¼C ¶³ ed., Jubu congkan µâ ³¡ ÂO \Z (1918). Rept. Minguo congshu 2:69; vol. 1, section wutai xinshi, pp. 2-4.
[6] Tino Balio, Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939. Berkeley, Univ. of California Press, 1993.
[7] Beijingshi yishu yanjiusuo \_¨Ê\«ÃÀ³N￢ã¨sÒ. Shanghai yishu yanjiusuo ¤W®üÃÀ³N￢ã¨sÒ, eds. Zhongguo jingju shi ¤¤°ê¨Ê¼@\v (The history of Chinese opera). Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1990, p. 47.
[8] Li Chang §õ ºZ , Qingdai yilai de Beijing juchang ²M \N \H ¨Ó ªº \_ ¨Ê ¼@ ³õ (Theaters in Beijing from the Qing period onwards). Beijing: Beijing Yanshan chubanshe, 1998, p. 86; Zhongguo jingju shi, p.101.
[9] Qi Rushan »ô ¦p ¤s , Jinju zhi bianqian ¨Ê ¼@ ªº ÅÜ ¾E (The changes in Peking opera). Beijing, 1935; rept. Rept. Minguo congshu 2:69, p. 95.
[10] Zhongguo jingju shi, p. 150.
[11] [Zhou] Jianyun P ¼C ¶³, "Ping baoyin yi" \ \] »È ij (On a just sum for [intivation fee] daoyin) in Juban congkan, vol. 1, section Juxue luntan p.17
[12] Yang Jingting ·¨ÀR«F, Dumen jilüe ³￡ªù￢ö²¤ (A Record of Essential Aspects of the Capital City). Beijing: Jingdu tang, 1845; see Zhongguo jingju shi (The history of Chinese Peking opera), pp. 100-102.
[13] Zhongguo jingju shi, pp. 101-2.
[14] Ye Tao ¸ÀÜ, Zhongguo jingju xisu ¤¤°ê¨Ê¼@²ß«U (The customs of Chinese Peking opera). Xian: Shanxi renmin chubanshe, 1994, pp. 117-8.
[15] Zhang Guyu ±i \j ·M , "Shanghai juchang bianqian jiyao" ¤W ®ü ¼@ ³õ ÅÜ ¾E ￢ö n (An outline of the changes in the development of Shanghai theater) in Shanghai xiju shiliao huicui 1986, No. 1, p. 89
[16] Min Ai \Á«s, “Nanbei liyuan lueshi” (A short history of theater North and South) «n\_±ù¶é²¤\v in Zhou Jianyun ed., Jubu congkan (1918) 1:3; “Bailinlai Shanghai liyuan de yange” in Shanghaishi daguan, 1947, Vol. 2, pp.44-45; Xiang Yuezhi ºµ ¤ë ¤§ ed., Shanghai tongshi (A complete history of Shanghai) ¤W ®ü ³q \v . Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1999, Vol.6, pp.424-427.
[17] Min Ai, “Nanbei liyuan lueshi” (A short history of theater North and South) pp.3-4; Xue Liyong Á§ ²z «i , Shanghaitan diming zhanggu ¤W ®ü Åy ¦a ¦W ´x ￢G . Shanghai: Tongji daxue chubanshe, 1996, pp.172-174.
[18] Min Ai, “Nanbei liyuan lueshi” (A short history of theater North and South) pp.3-4; Zhang Guyu ±i \j ·M , "Shanghai juchang bianqian jiyao" ¤W ®ü ¼@ ³õ ÅÜ ¾E ￢ö n (An outline of the changes in the development of Shanghai theater), p. 89.
[19] Chen Boxi ³¯ §B º³ , "Yang Yuelou an" ´ ¤ë ¼Ó ®× (The case of Yang Yuelou) Shanghai yishi daguan ¤W ®ü ¶c ¨Æ ¤j Æ[ (An encyclopedia of past events in Shanghai). 1919; rept. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2000, p. 471.
[20] [Zhou] Jianyun, "Ping baoyin yi" \ \] »È ij (On a just sum for [intivation fee] daoyin) in Jubu congkan, vol. 1, section Juxue luntan, p. 17.
[21] Lo Liangsheng ù «G \Í , "Tan Xinpei liuci dao Shanghai" ÃÓ øÊ °ö ¤» ¦¸ ¨ì ¤W ®ü (Tan Xinpei's six visits to Shanghai) in Shanghai xiju shiliao huicui 1986, No. 3, pp. 62-67.
[22] [Zhou] Jianyun, "Ping baoyin yi" \ \] »È ij (On a just sum for [intivation fee] daoyin) in Jubu congkan, vol. 1, section Juxue luntan p. 17.
[23] Mei Lanfang, ±öÄõªÚ, Wutai shenghuo sishi nian »R\x\Í￢¡\|¤Q¦~ (Forty years of life on the stage). Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1961, vol. 1, p.123. Li told Mei later that the initial offer to Mei was only $1,400 until Li intervened to have it raised to $1,800. The contract was for one month , later to be extended to 45 days; see Mei Lanfang, vol. 1, p.123, p.146, p.181. For a study on the rise of Mei Lanfang as star see Catherine V. Yeh, "From Male 'Flower' to National Star: Choreographing Mei Lanfang's Rise to Stardom" in press.
[24] Shanghai zujie zhi bianji weiyuanhui,¤W ®ü ¯² ￢É §Ó ½s ¿è e û ·| ed. Shanghai zujie zhi (Chronicle of the Shanghai foreign concession [s]) ¤W ®ü ¯² ￢É §Ó . Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe, 2001, p. 326, p. 329.
[25] There is an earlier term, chuanke ¦ê «È. As far as we know, this was solely used for non-professionals joining a professional troupe for a performance. In this sense it is being used in the eighteenth century, see, for example, Li Dou §õ¤æ, Yangzhou huafang lu ´¦{µe¯é¿ý (A record of the painted boats at Yangzhou). Repr. Jiangsu: Jiangsu guanglin guji keyinshe, 1984, p. 117, p. 121.
[26] It continued to be used in referring to visiting actors from Peking well into the Republic period.
Min Ai, “Nanbei liyuan lueshi” (A short history of theater North and Sourth) pp.3-4.
[27] Mo Shuyi ¤ ®Ñ »ö , "Wan Qing gongting xiju kaoshu" ±ß ²M ®c §Ê À¸ ¼@ ¦Ò z (A study on Opera in the late Qing court), Paper given at the Conference on "From the Late Ming to the Late Qing: Historical Dynamics and Cultural Innovations", Peking University, Aug. 10-12, 2000, p. 10.
[28] Cixi's own troupe Putian tongqing ´¶ ¤Ñ ¦P ¼y with 180 members under the leadership of the head eunuch Li Lianying §õ ½￢ ^ performed some time after 1883; see Mo Shuyi, p. 12.
[29] On the reform of court theater by the Daoguang Emperor see Colin Mackerras, The Rise of the Peking Opera, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972, p. 120-121.
[30] Ye Tao, p.147.
[31] The office in charge of court entertainment was first known as Nanfu during the Qing, in 1827 (Daoguang 7) its name was changed to Shengping shu; see Wang Zhizhang ¤ý ªé ³¹ , Qing Shengping shu zhilue ²M ª@ \ ¸p §Ó ²¤ (The essential record on the Shengping office of the Qing court). Shanghai: Shangwu yishuguan, 1937, pp. 5-40. See also Colin Mackerras, The Rise of the Peking Opera, pp. 154-156.
[32] Zhongguo Jingju shi, p.210, p.221.
[33] Wang Zhizhang, pp. 51-54.
[34] Shengping shu rendeng huaming tang ª@ \ ¸p ¤H µ\ ªá ¦W ÀÉ (Archive of number and rankings of personel in the Shengping office), see Mo Shuyi, pp. 4-5.
[35] Ibid., pp. 53-54.
[36] The breakdown is as follows: 1883 -- 20 persons, 1884 -- 1 person, 1886 -- 6 persons, 1888 -- 2 persons, 1890 -- 4 persons, 1891 -- 3 persons, 1892 -- 4 persons, 1895 --6 persons, 1900 --3 persons, 1902 --6 persons, 1904 --14 persons, 1906 --1 person, 1907 --6 persons, and 1908 --1 person; see Wang Zhizhang, vol. 2, pp. 556-580.
[37] Zhou Mingtai P ú ®õ , Qing Shengping shu cundang shili manshao ²M ª@ \ ¸p ¦s ÀÉ ¨Æ ¨Ò º §Û (Selected materials from the archive of the Shengping office of the Qing [dynasty]), Tianjin: Dalu shuju, 1933, reprint Taipei: Wenhai chubanshi, 1971, pp. Vol. 3, pp. 81-95.
[38] Xu Moyun , Liyuan yingshi (Theater events of the past), Shanghai: Huadong yinshua gongsi, 1933, p. 225; see also Mo Shuyi, p. 14.
[39] Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan quanji, Vol.4, pp.2208-2209.
[40] Qi Rushan, "Xijie xiao zhanggu" À¸ ￢É ¤p ´x ￢G (Stories of the theater world) in Jinju tanwang lu, Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 1996, p. 458.
[41] Chen Yianheng ³¯ «Û ¿Å , "Jiuju congtan"  ¼@ ÂO ½Í () in Qingdai liyuan shiliao, Vol. 2, p. 860.
[42] Until the Late Qing period rewards given to actors in court were material objects with symbolic rather than financial value, see Mo Shuyi, p. 13.
[43] Zhou Mingtai, Vol. 1, pp. 81-83.
[44] Ye Tao, p. 148.
[45] Qi Rushan, xxx
[46] Zhou Jianyun P ¼C ¶³ , "Tan Xinpei nanlai Hushang yanchu zhi huisu" (Looking back on Tan xingpei's visit to Shanghai) ÃÓ øÊ °ö «n ¨Ó º ¤W ºt \X ¤§ ¦^ ·¹ in Dai Shujuan À¹ ²Q ®S eds., Tan Xinpei yishu pinglun ji (A collection of criticism on Tan Xinpei's [performing] art) ÃÓ øÊ °ö ÃÀ ³N µû ½× ¶° . Beijing: Zhongguo xiqu chubanshe, 1990, pp. 139-40.
[47] Zhongguo jingju shi (The history of Chinese Peking opera), pp.148-149.
[48] Ibid., p. 149.
[49] Ibid., p. 148.
[50] Qi Rushan, “Jingqu de bianqian” ¨Ê¼@ªºÅܾE p. 95.
[51] [Zhou] Jianyun, "Ping baoyin yi", p. 17.
[52] Qi Rushan, “Jingqu de bianqian,” p.17.
[53] Mei Lanfang, vol. 1, p.141.
[54] See Catherine Yeh, "Courtesan stars and entertainment newspapers" in her City, Courtesan and Intellectual: The Rise of Entertainment Culture in Shanghai 1850-1910. In press.
[55] They are held in court in the Shengping shu, see Wang Shucun ¤ý ¾ð §ø , Xiju nianhua (Theater New years painting) À¸ ¼@ ¦~ µe . Taipei: Hansheng chuban youxian gongsi, 1990, vol.1, p.17.
[56] Wang Shucun, Xiju nianhua, vol.1, p.16.
[57] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 16.
[58] Ibid., vol.1, p.25.