Foreword

Foreword to Monograph Series of Studies in Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore

Wang Ch'iu-kuei王秋桂

       The journal Min-su ch’ü-i民俗曲藝(Studies in Chinese ritual, theatre and folklore) was founded by Ch'iu K'un-liang邱坤良in 1980. I took over the editorship in 1989, and from the very beginning nursed the idea of editing and publishing a series of books. My first plan was to publish collections of articles that had been published in the journal. But it occurred to me that making each article do double service might not meet with a favourable response from readers. So I gave up that idea, and instead simply changed my editorial policy over the years, making each issue of the journal a special number whenever possible.

       In 1988 Professor Ye Kaiyuan葉開沅 of Lanzhou University suggested that I collaborate with him to produce a series of monographs on the history of Chinese theatre. We actually got as far as agreeing on the format of the series and calling for the submission of manuscripts, but then Professor Ye moved to a teaching position at the University of Toronto. Of the manuscripts that were submitted, only a small number could be used, so the project came to a halt.

       Then, in July 1991, I received a grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange蔣經國國際學術交流基金會 to conduct a large-scale collaborative research project entitled “Chinese Regional Theatre in Its Social and Ritual Contexts中國地方戲與儀式之研究.” For this project I proposed to support research and fieldwork in thirteen Chinese provinces: Liaoning, Shanxi, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan.  Thanks to the efforts of contributing scholars, in two years we achieved quite outstanding results. However, the original plan for this project did not contain any provision for editing and publishing the research results. It was in these circumstances that I approached the publisher of Min-su ch’ü-i, Mr. Shih Chung-hsin施仲信, and discussed with him the possibility of publishing the reports emanating from the project in a series to be called the Monograph Series of Studies in Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore. It was of course this kind of thing that I had had in mind all along. Mr. Shih not only gave his approval to this idea, but agreed to provide funds for editing and publication through the Shih Ho-cheng Folk Culture Foundation施合鄭民俗文化基金會.

       Some eighty volumes will be published in the series within eight years. They will fall into five broad categories: 1) reports of field investigations; 2) collections of primary source materials; 3) playscripts and ritual texts (or collections of same); 4) monographs; and 5) collections of research papers.

       The first category will be reports based on material obtained during fieldwork, complete with photographs and texts used in performance, such as ritual texts, playscripts, or chapbooks, as well as biao表 (announcements), fu符 (talismans), lu籙  (registers), shu疏 (memorials), and die牒 (despatches).

       The collections of primary materials will be on specific topics such as “The Nuo儺  Theatre of Guizhou,” and will contain relevant passages from available historical materials, suitably arranged for the convenience of scholarly readers.

       The collections of playscripts will present annotated texts of ritual plays, such as surviving texts of Mulian目連 plays, nuo plays from Guichi in Anhui, dixi地戲 plays from Anshun in Guizhou, and texts of other kinds of ritual theatre. Each work will contain an introduction explaining the provenance of the texts, the circumstances of their transmission, style of performance, and other material of related interest. The collections of ritual texts will contain the scriptures used for specific rituals, arranged according to the sequence of ritual activities, along with a general introduction covering the origins and transmission of the particular “Taoist altar” or nuotan儺壇 from which they come, information about the ritual performers, the layout of the ritual area, and the ritual implements and costumes used.

       The monographs and collections of research papers will provide scholarly discussions of topics of particular interest in the field of local ritual and theatre.

       The series is intended to be a contribution to the human sciences in the broadest sense. As Professor Chang Kuang-chih張光直 declared, in the first of his Kaoguxue zhuanti liujiang考古學專題六講 (Six lectures on special topics in archaeology): “To study the ancient history of China, one must also study world history; to study the ancient history of the world, one must include Chinese history.” Moreover, “on the basis of China’s ancient history, we can clearly and forcefully point out new laws governing the development of human history.”¹ In the same way, the study of Chinese popular ritual has contributions to make toward the study of popular culture and anthropology worldwide.

       This potential is often not realised. In this regard I will mention only one example, that of ritual masks. Neither Claude Lévi-Strauss in his The Way of the Masks² nor Henry Pernet in his Ritual Masks³ mentions Chinese masks; nor is there any relevant material in their bibliographies. From our investigations thus far, however─of the nuo dances of Pingxiang and the tiaoxiao跳魈 (elven leaping) of Wanzai in Jiangxi, the nuo plays of Guichi and the dance of the tiao wuchang跳五猖 (five demons) of Langxi in Anhui, the dance of the tiao fanseng跳番僧 (foreign monk) and the dance of the tiao baman跳八蠻 (eight barbarians) of Shaowu in Fujian, the plays by vernacular priests of Liuzhou in Guangxi, the yangxi陽戲 plays of Youyang in Sichuan, the Guan Suo plays of Xiaotun and the duangong xi端公戲 (shamanistic plays) of Zhaotong in Yunnan, and the nuotang儺堂 plays of Dejiang and Cengong and the dixi plays of Anshun in Guizhou─we know that masks in the style of each particular region and tradition are an essential part of many ritual performances in China. Furthermore, masks have existed in China since neolithic times, as seen in cave paintings and the designs on pottery and stone implements. The archaeological evidence shows that by Shang and Zhou times at the latest the use of copper masks was widespread. No masks dating after the Qin and Han dynasties have been discovered, but documentary and pictorial evidence clearly indicates that the use of masks was part and parcel of the ancient exorcistic ritual known as nuo. The use of ritual masks has continued down to the present day. Unfortunately, until the present, either because the materials themselves were unobtainable or because no one was working on them, Chinese ritual masks have not received the attention they deserve. After the publication of our field reports, scholars studying the culture of masks from a worldwide comparative perspective will no longer be able to ignore the Chinese case.

       Apart from the books in manuscript from the above-mentioned history of Chinese theatre project and the results of the Project on Chinese Regional Theatre in Its Social and Ritual Contexts, the present series will also include publications resulting from the Liyuan Theatre Research Project梨園戲研究計畫, sponsored by the National Science Council and National Tsinghua University. It will also include publications resulting from the Mulian Theatre Project目連戲研究計畫, the Chinese Ritual and Ritual Theatre Project中國祭祀儀式與儀式戲劇研究計畫 and the Studies on the Chinese Beliefs in the Soul and Related Rituals Project中國魂魄信仰研究計畫 sponsored by the National Science Council. It will further include publications resulting from the Structure and Dynamics of Chinese Rural Society Project directed by John Lagerwey and the Chinese Ritual Theatre Project directed by David Holm (both sponsored by the CCK Foundation).

       At this point, I wish to express my special thanks to Professor Li Yi-yuan李亦園.  Without his constant encouragement and support, we could not have achieved what we have accomplished. Mr. Shih Cheng-nan施正南, Director of the Shih Ho-cheng Folk Culture Foundation, and Mr. Shih Chung-hsin, Publisher of Min-su ch’ü-i, have always urged me to do as much as I could and have been unstinting in their generous financial support.  National Tsinghua University has also contributed a most timely subsidy toward salaries for editing staff and printing cost. The Li-ch’ing Cultural and Educational Foundation立青文教基金會, the Himalaya Foundation喜瑪拉雅研究發展基金會, the Hua-wan Cultural and Educational Foundation華婉文教基金會, the K’un-ming Construction Company昆銘建設公司, Hsinchu International Bank新竹國際商業銀行, the Shang-chen Inc.商真股份有限公司, Mr. Weng Chao-hsi翁肇喜, Mr. Wu Hui-chieh吳惠傑, Mr. Liu Wen-chih劉文治 and Mr. Ch’en Ho-tung陳河東 have made contributions toward typesetting and printing costs so that the publication of the series can continues. I would like to offer them my gratitude. My assistants for the project and my colleagues at Min-su ch’ü-i have not only been highly conscientious in the performance of their duties, but have often proven themselves a valuable source of advice. It is due to their help that the results of the projects have been so expeditiously prepared for publication.

       Finally, I wish to dedicate this series to the memory of Mr. Shih Ho-cheng施合鄭 (1914-1991), for his dedication and contributions to the cause of folklore and theatre.

NOTE

1. Citing the Taiwan edition of this work, Taipei: Tao-hsiang ch'u-pan-she稻香出版社, 1990, p. 24.

2. English edn., 1982. The original French edition appeared in two parts, published respectively in 1975 and 1979.

3. English edn., 1992, orig. French edn., 1988.