从戏剧文化看中西方文化差异

1、A Study of Sino-Western Cultural Differences from thePerspective of DramaAbstract: Chinese traditional opera has great difference with western drama. In the Western realistic drama, the basic law of drama creating is dramatic conflict where such features lie. And it is dramatic conflict that makes a

2、udience nervousness, expecting and worrying about the fate of the characters in the play. But according to the theory of traditional Chinese operas, such features are the express of the fervor of characters. Only when authors portray the real feelings can the actors and actress display them and can

3、the audience be affected. It is on the basis of the feelings that authors, actors and audience achieve great unity. This paper focuses on the difference in Chinese opera and western drama in many aspects, trying to make a comparison of them.Key words: western drama; Chinese opera; culture difference

4、;从戏剧文化看中西方文化差异摘要 : 中国传统戏剧和西方写实戏剧由于体系之不同 ,因此,两者的戏剧性因素也 随之不同。西方写实戏剧以冲突为戏剧创作的基本规律,在观众紧张、期待、为剧中人物命运而担忧的强烈情绪中产生其戏剧性。 我国传统的戏剧理论则认为戏 剧的戏剧性是人物激情的抒发 ,作家只有写出了真情 ,演员才能演出真情 ,观众才 能为情所动。作家、演员、观众三者正是从“情”的基础上,在剧场内获得了高度的统一。本文从西方戏剧和中国戏剧的差异出发，力图做一个戏剧性的对比。 关键词： 西方戏剧；中国戏剧；文化差异；1. Introduction1.1 Background of the resear

5、chThe history of drama is a continuously developing history, which makes the drama need more absorbing and updating in anywhere. Before the channel of communication between the West and the East was open, the western and eastern dramas advanced on its own way. When the channel is built up, with the

6、communication between the West and the East, they both absorb much of the frontier culture and art. It was almost in the 17th century when the drama communication started, which now promotes the merit of both culture and art in drama. When in the 20th century, with the big trend of the spread of Wes

7、tern influences on the East, dramas thrived their bleeding ways which led to the modernization of drama in the world. In China, the transition from feudalism to socialism occurred last century. And the transition from classic to modern should also be in the last century.1.2 Necessity and purpose of

8、the studyThe world is getting smaller with the increasing exchanges in almost every field. People have different languages which bring difficulties in their communication. Translators serve as a bridge for communication. They translate not only between languages but also between cultures. What is cu

9、lture?Culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. This definition includes not only patterns of behavior but

10、also patterns of thought (shared meanings that the members of a society attach to various phenomena, natural and intellectual, including religion and ideologies), artifacts (tools, pottery, houses, machines, works of art), and the culturally transmitted skills and techniques and to make the artifact

11、s. Culture, a production of human activities and social heritage, bears strong local and national color. Foreign communication, old or young, are fascinated about China with a history of over five thousand years. Before they come to China, they often learn something about the destination by reading

12、tourist materials. But they are often confused by the cultural information in the English version. Therefore, translators should try their best to cope with the difficulty in the process of translating. Of various challenging problems to Chinese translators, the greatest difficulty comes from the di

13、fferences between Chinese and Western cultures. A comparison of Chinese and Western cultural differences will help Chinese translators not only sharpen their sensitivity to those differences, but also develop the translation strategies. What is cultural difference? General speaking, it happens in di

14、fferent areas due to their different traditional cultures， including the historical, religious, geographical cultural differences and so on. It will be showed in the daily life, especially in the human languages. We must realize the cultural differences so that we will not do something stupid or pro

15、duce some unacceptable communication introduction to the foreigners. Cultural difference is a barrier of translation, it is important that we make a clear understand on culture before translation. Chinese traditional opera has great difference with western drama. In the Western realistic drama, the

16、basic law of drama creating is dramatic conflict where such features lie. And it is dramatic conflict that makes audience nervousness, expecting and worrying about the fate of the characters in the play. But according to the theory of traditional Chinese operas, such features are the express of the

17、fervor of characters. Only when authors portray the real feelings can the actors and actress display them and can the audience be affected. It is on the basis of the feelings that authors, actors and audience achieve great unity. This paper focuses on the difference in Chinese opera and western dram

18、a in many aspects, trying to make a comparison of them.2 Barriers to Appreciating Chinese and Western DramaAnalyzing the development of both Western drama and Chinese drama, we could find that there is a lot of differences in the drama. Some of the differences are shown in the regional difference, s

19、ome of the differences are shown in the racial difference, some are shown in language, and some in cultural difference.2.1The form of singingThe Western dramatic tradition has its origins in ancient Greece. The precise evolution of its main divisions - tragedy, comedy and satire is not definitely kn

20、own. According to Aristotle, Greek drama, or more explicitly, Greek tragedy originated in the dithyramb. This was a choral hymn to the god Dionysus and involved exchanges between a lead singer and the chorus. It is thought that the dithyramb was sung at the Dionysian, an annual festival honoring Dio

21、nysus. Tradition has it that at the Dionysian of 534 B.C. during the reign of Pisistratus the lead singer of the dithyramb a man named Thespis, added to the chorus an actor with whom he carried on a dialogue thus initiating the possibility of dramatic action. Thespis is credited with the invention o

22、f tragedy. Eventually Aeschylus introduced a second actor to the drama and Sophocles a third, Sophocles format being continued by Euripides, which is the last of the great classical Greek dramatists.Generally, the earlier Greek tragedies placed more emphasis on the chorus than the later ones. In the

23、 majestic plays of Aeschylus, the chorus serves to underscore the personalities and situations of the characters and to provide ethical comment on the action. Much of Aeschylus most beautiful poetry is contained in the choruses of his plays. The increase in the number of actors resulted in less conc

24、ern about communal problems and beliefs and more about dramatic conflict between individuals. Accompanying this emphasis on individuals interaction, from the time of Aeschylus to that of Euripides, there was a marked tendency toward realism. Euripides s characters are ordinary, not godlike, and the

25、gods themselves are introduced more as devices of plot manipulation than as strongly felt representations of transcendent power. Utilizing three actors, Sophocles developed dramatic action beyond anything Aeschylus had achieved with only two and also introduced more natural speech. However, he did n

26、ot lose a sense of the godlike in man and mans affairs, as Euripides often did. Thus it is Sophocles who best represents the classical balance between the human and divine, the realistic and the symbolic.2.2 The organization formThe classical Chinese theater developed during the Yuan dynasty (1260-1

27、328). Springing from story cycles made familiar by professional storytellers, Yuan plays relied for their appeal on romantic or sentimental plots. During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) the drama utilized the plots of popular novels. Until the 19th century, Chinese drama was not spoken; it was a mixtur

28、e of music and declamation. Like the Sanskrit, Chinese drama avoids tragedy as that term is understood in the West. However, it is frequently infused with pathos, often involving the deaths of women (Wikipedia 2011). Although acting style, character types, stage properties, and other external featur

29、es of Chinese drama are highly conventionalized, there is great narrative freedom in the plays themselves. Often they are replete with Confucian ethical precepts, propounded with rigid didacticism. Many of the plays, however, embody a Taoist mysticism that runs counter to Confucian influence. Chines

30、e drama is more social and less concerned with romantic love than that in the west. Family and country are frequently regarded as of more importance than the individual. In contrast to the Sanskrit, Chinese drama was written for a popular audience, and dramatic performances took place in virtually e

31、very village. There are many Chinese plays extant, ranging in mood from pathos to farce. Among the masterpieces of Chinese drama are The Injustice Suffered by Tou E by Kuan Han-ching, The Western Chamber by Wang Shi-fu, and The Orphan of the House of Chao by Chi Chun-tsaing (all 12th-15th century);

32、The Peony Pavilion by Tang Hsien-tsu (16th century); and The Palace of Long Life by Hung Sheng (17th century). 2.3The historical storiesIn the West, Chinese drama has traditionally been regarded as an entertainment rather than a serious art form. There are several reasons for this judgment: first, t

33、he formlessness of Chinese plays, as, for example, Hung Sheng s Palace of Eternal Youth (1688), a play in 49 scenes without any act divisions; second, the spectacular nature of Chinese drama, which relies heavily on music, song, acrobatics, mimicry, and costuming; and third, the preponderance of sto

34、ck characters, such as the comic drunk.In Chinese drama no attempt is made at realism; props and scenery are symbolic (for instance, a flag represents an army); the property man is present on stage; characters at times directly address the audience. Often only parts of plays are performed, or scenes

35、 are performed in arbitrary sequence. Since the early 19th century, the Beijing opera has been the dominant force in the Chinese theater. After World War I a realistic, spoken drama, patterned after Western plays, developed, but after the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949 the th

36、eater (except on Taiwan) devoted itself to political propaganda until the 1990s.2.4 The Expression of EndingThe comic and tragic moods in classical Chinese drama were developed in Yuan Dynasty, which is far different from that time of the Greek context in the notion of the reception in German Ideali

37、sm and Romanticism. Rather than family resemblance of kinds or types of literature, the modes and moods, a la Northrop Frye, should be taken as the foundation for genre and literary classification. Following Frye with some revision, Hemadi distinguishes between modes of discourse and moods. Indeed,

38、apart from some strictly definable genres such as Greek epic, Greek tragedy, Gothic novel, and German Trauerspiel , it is hard to lay clear lines between genres and Hernadi s distinction merits a candid baseline between subgenres such as farce and comedy and melodrama and tragedy ( Hayman, 1977:77).

39、 Tragedy and comedy can be taken as fully developed version of melodrama and face, and they are vehicles of the tragic and the comic moods. However, there is still a need for precise terminology in a cross-cultural definition of the tragic. And tragedy is a privileged form of artistic expression bel

40、onging to the classical era in the West. Classical Chinese tragic drama lacks an opposite term, which is a genre that lies somewhere between high tragedy and German Baroque tragedy. As Dubrow effectively argues, “the medium is indeed the message.” (Hayman, 1977:77) Genres do not merely provide a mea

41、ns of classification; they are functional in literary communication. They shape the literary work and form the experience of the work. People attempted to define tragedy as the multiplicity and the vicissitude of the tragic within specific theatric forms ranging from the ritual foundation in Greek t

42、heatre to the brutality in the Senecan tragic cosmos, and from the isolation of Man in Shakespearean tragedies to the institutionalized isolation in classic Chinese tragedies. Those have been the most persistent and widespread of all nonreligious quests observation. Chinese tragedy deserves due crit

43、ical attention and the examination of the vicissitudes of the tragic in Greek and Classical Chinese drama are distant and exotic enough, which will yield new evidences and redefine a genre that was arguably lost in China.Many people always measure Chinese tragedies in the Aristotelian criteria in th

44、e expectations for tragic plots, diction and characters. Then many scholars found that there is no tragedy in Chinese. On the contrary, Chinese literature nourished a different set of plays such as comedy, tragicomedy, high comedy, farce and so on. Because, tragedy was born in Greece, however myth w

45、as endowed with the dimension of a civil society. Shakespeares tragedy was bred out of the spirit of negation and the isolation of Man in the Renaissance Humanist terms. German Baroque tragedy was created out of a shift from myth to history, and from the transcendental ritual to the counter-transcen

46、dental play or game, as people denotes it. In fact, in 14th and 17th century, Chinese drama, deprived of the title of tragedy by scholars, ever produced some kind of tragic drama remains controversial ever since its first inception in the late 19th century. And the phenomena of lacking tragedy are b

47、ecause Chinese have the strong spirit of optimistic.In China, people say most Chrish - Chrish the life, love, friendship, appreciate all you have, and dont lose it, because life is short; while in Western culture, people say often freedom - enjoy the freedom of life, freedom of love, no stress, beca

48、use life is short, too. And Chinese people highly admire responsibility, contribution, hard working; In western countries, people care about efficiency, flexibility, and the relaxing enironment for working. Overtime working? pay double please! People in China dont use to present themselves very ofte

49、n in the public or directly to person when they disagree or angry. Just let it go, I will feel better soon, he/she may understand one day; However, for western, it is cowardice, if you dont say it, they will never understand! In a relationship, Chinese think about long term relationship, accepting,

50、sharing; western expect the fun of life, understanding, as the same time be freedom, no suffering. All of those elements could affect the difference between Chinese drama and western drama. And both genres have their own influence in the world. Chinese drama when in Tang Dynasty, was accepted by Jap

51、anese and was adapted there. In many cases the story material is obviously the same in Japan of Chinese story. And there is great similarity in the methods of producing and acting. There were two periods of brilliance in Japan and two distinct types of theatre. And that entire situation is affected

52、by the economy, polity and military of ancient China.3. Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western DramaIn the early 20th century, original Chinese opera and western drama, the two different dramatic style, appeared together and interacted with each other on Chinese dramatic stage. The excelle

53、nt dramatists, such as those in The Orphan of Chao , tried to use a variety of artistic styles to enrich Chinese dramatic stage, which was acted by both Peking opera performers and spoken drama performers, acted in both Peking operatic style and spoken dramatic style, showed off special artistic cha

54、racter.3.1 Differences in OriginsRegional culture refers to the culture formed by the certain region, natural condition and geographic circumstances, which appeared in different ways of drama. The difference of region and circumstances cause the culture differences. Western countries most are affect

55、ed by marine climate which is because of the island nation. Therefore there are many words affected by the marine influence such as the lines in Ode of the West Wind - “It is a warm wind, the west wind full of birds cries. ”England once led the most advanced level of marine transportation. The role

56、of aquatic product and seafaring played a very important part in England, which led to the gathering of wide vocabulary of sailing, boats, fishes and water. While in China, emperors are living in mainland, which led to extensive vocabulary referring to earth.3.2 Differences in Tradition of DramaTrad

57、ition of Chinese drama is rooted in small-scale peasant economy hundred years long. From the economic perspective, the agricultural economy is centralized as the nature economy, which is featured as the stabilization and harmony. In this natural condition, isolated by the small-scale peasant economy

58、, Chinese economy has formed the characteristic of sticking to established practice and adoption of closed-door policy. Connected with the agricultural society, the feudal patriarch system was showed in worshiping ancestors and respecting tradition customs. The Chinese drama, which is affected by Co

59、nfucianism, centralized with music and ritual system, has the ability of stability that is helpful to the reservation and maintenance of drama. However the system has also a disadvantage, that is, there must be a limitation of innovation and development. The Confucianism affected the drama regulation by the ritual system. This system possesses the main part of Chinese drama and the reservation of drama, which leads to the frailty in the circumstance of the sealed Chinese society. While western drama co