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Peking Opera Noh Pansori Essay

Decent Essays

Under globalization, traditional culture is starting to diminish. This includes the national operas Peking Opera, Noh, Pansori which are from China, Japan and South Korea respectively. They can be seen as one of the most peculiar traditions in their own countries that reveal the rich diversity of characteristics. Therefore, the distinctions between the three of them are highly worth analyzing.

When we talk about these three art performances, what comes to you mind will be the term “intangible cultural heritage”. Indeed, Peking Opera, Noh, Pansori were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010 and 2008 for the rest of the two. It aims to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage in favor …show more content…

The abundance of repertoire themes is one of the reasons which makes Peking Opera stands out among the three of them. Through the long history, it has accumulated thousands of plays including those literary works “Journey to the West”, “Water Margin”, local small operas, folk songs and dances, Kunqu (崑曲) through the means of creating, adapting, and borrowing.It is not only amazing in quantity, but also has obvious advantages in its ideological connotation and artistic form. It can be used as the teaching material in Chinese History, to promote the educational values of morality and aesthetic. Compared to Peking Opera, Noh has less repertoire themes. There are only 200 plays derived from “The Tale of Genji”, remote myths and legends, which are constructed according to the classical Japanese syllabic metre, rhythm, and rhetoric. They mostly preach about the idea of karma from Buddhism, Confucianism and spirit of Bushido. While for Pansori, it has the least number of works. There were originally twelve pansori works, however as they were orally passed to the next generation, five are remaining and regularly perform nowadays, including Sugung ka (Song of the Water Palace), Chokpyok ka (Song of the Red Cliff) etc. Pansori has been deeply loved by the public on the point that repertoire themes are not profound and always have endings on justice over evil. Stories …show more content…

Previously, the stage of Peking Opera had no curtains, audiences were able to glance through the whole area, though a table with two chairs were placed, at times no props were on stage. Yet later on, a “house curtain”(大幕) is added to cover up before the performances, at intervals during the show, another curtain which called “second curtain” (二道幕) is also pull down to prevent audiences seeing the preparation work such as changing costumes, and setting props. Same as Peking Opera, Noh has a stage, it is simply known as “Noh stage” specially designed for Noh performances and its outlook is like a shrine or temple building, with a roof supported by pillars at the four corners. Noh stage is mainly consist of “atoza” (upstage), “hashigakari” (bridgeway), “jiutaiza” (chorus seat), “kagamiita” (mirror board), and it looks shabby and bare without any use of curtains or conspicuous properties. In stark contrast, Pansori can be hold formally in an auditorium, theatre or informally at a studio, sitting room of a pansori club as it is categorized into two nature, namely ‘presentational’ and ‘participatory’. Most presentational pansori performances refer to the formal events organized and sponsored by state-run organizations, for instance Hanguk Munhwajae Poho Chaedan (the Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation), Kungnip Kukchang (National Theatre). At the same

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