Cultural Revolution In China: Eight Model Revolutionary Operas

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Music has an intrinsic role in political communications where various studies have explained how music can be used as a means of understanding and/or reflecting politics, especially through (but not limited to) protest, propaganda, and national anthems. Provided that music is perceived as a political tool, it can be manipulated to influence masses of people to achieve pro or anti establishment objectives (Street, 2014). Aiming to successfully implement a nationwide socio political movement, any remnants of capitalism or traditional elements of Chinese society were strictly banned under Mao Zedong’s regime throughout what is now referred to as the cultural revolution. Mao is best known for founding the People’s Republic of China (CPC) in 1946 and leading the Communist Party of China from its establishment until his death in 1976 (Chaurasia, 2004). More importantly, the chairman of the CPC was popular for spreading Maoist ideology which is the belief of a socialist revolution where peasants are the class conscious group in society. In order for Mao to further his political agenda, he laid the foundation of the Cultural Revolution in which he called upon the youth to put an end to ‘impure’ elements of chinese society and revive the ‘revolutionary spirit’ (Meisner, 2010). It is essential to understand Maoism in order to analyse the political and social importance of needing to transform the sounds of local and traditional music, especially in regards to the Peking Opera. This is because during a period in which Chinese traditions were looked down upon for being to feudalistic, the Peking Opera is famous for Chinese folklore. Performances that once focused on human nature had been transformed into the Chinese Revolution Model Opera that shifted its performances to revolutionary struggles and class enemies (Clark, 2008). This essay will argue that the reformation of the Peking Opera into the Chinese Cultural Revolution Model Opera was an example of the CPC’s use of socialist propaganda during the Cultural revolution. This will be conveyed by examining the political and historical context of China, discussing the rise and transformation of the opera, and focusing on the relationship between music and politics.

The significance of the reformation of the Peking Opera into the Chinese Cultural Revolution Model Opera can be elucidated by analysing the Cultural Revolution and the rise of Maoist ideology. Therefore, it is important to summarize the historical events that were directly responsible for influencing the transformation of both Chinese society, and by default, the Opera.

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The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement that was launched in 1966 until 1976 by the Chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Mao Zedong. The goal of the revolution was to ‘purify’ Chinese society from all traditional and capitalist elements to preserve Chinese communism. Mao had called upon the youth of Chinese society to revive the revolution who had helped carry out major reforms that rebuked any non-revolutionary values, shut down universities and schools, and introduced revolutionary art (Lu, 2004). Moreover, the Cultural Revolution was also a means of protecting Mao’s political power. The CPC leader had begun to lose popularity after he had orchestrated the Great Leap Forward, a failed economic policy, which had brought about famine and killed millions in the Republic of China.

Furthermore, it is important to explain the political ideologies of the Cultural Revolution. Chinese communism can be largely attributed to Maoist political ideology. Maoism represents Mao’s theories on achieving a socialist revolution in pre-industrial and agricultural societies, such as the Republic of China. It is important to note that Maoism differs from orthodox Marxism or (mainly) two reasons. Firstly, Mao views the proletariat not as the urban working class but as poor peasants that can kick start a revolution. Secondly, dismisses the importance of the material conditions of society (ie capitalism being needed to drive inequality between the productive forces and owners of the means of production) and believes in human consciousness to unite the masses of Chinese peasants (Meisner, 2010).

By examining the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong Thought, the Chinese Cultural Revolutionary Model Opera was intrinsically important in reflecting societal changes and being used as a means of propaganda in the Republic of China.

The Peking Opera was remodeled into the Chinese Revolutionary Model Opera as a means of reshaping music and art following Mao Zedong Thought. It is important to explain the different styles to properly distinguish the Operas and show the CPC’s role in controlling art. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China was occupied by the Manchus who appreciated various aspects of Chinese culture which encouraged the progression of music and art. The popularity of the Kun Opera was declining amongst Northern China, although popular with the elite, due to the Southern Dialect that was used and the complex lyrics (Jinpei, 1989). Thus the Peking Opera was (informally) developed as the Emperor Qianlong invited troops from various regional areas to perform for his eightieth birthday.

The fusion of different styles of dance, music, mime, and acrobatics formally formed the Peking Opera in the year 1790 and remains to be one of the most popular forms of Opera throughout China. The Peking Opera is famous for combining elements of acting, singing, and martial arts. Actors need to undergo years of training to be able to simultaneously be able to sing and carry out action-packed scenes. The Peking Opera typically expresses two types of stories; Civil Plays (wen) which depicts romance and/or relationships between characters, and Martial Plays (wu) which are more focused on action-packed heroic tales that feature lots of acrobatics and martial arts. The Peking Opera has four dominant roles; the Sheng (the lead and often heroic character), Dan (female character), Jing (painted face male usually with a strong personality), and Chou (comedic secondary role). Most Peking Operas originate from a combination of Chinese history, theology, cosmology, and legends. Some of the most famous plots from the Peking Opera is the Flower Lamp (Hua Deng), Farewell my Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji), and Drunken Beauty (Gui Fei Zui Jei) (He, 1991). The plots in the Peking Opera can vary from tragic love stories to demons and ghosts that wish to return to earth.

As a means of promoting Chinese socialism as the dominant political ideology in the Republic of China, the CCP began to deliberately remove any pre-communist traits in Chinese culture. The CCP established the widely spread campaign ‘Destroy the Four Olds and Cultivate the Four News’ (Ahn, 1972). The Four Olds were discerned as old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. Essentially, the campaign claimed that the Olds were ‘traditional’ and ‘anti-proletariat’ and were also blamed as being responsible for China’s economic backwardness thus calling for a reformation in Chinese thought and culture.

The Cultural Revolution brought about a period of intense reforms, of which the Peking Opera was concerned. Mao believed that the Peking Opera had “too much violence”, ‘sexual suggestiveness”, “reactionary politics” and “no ideological significance” (He, 1991). Supporters of Mao, particularly his wife Jiang Qing, were insistent on reforming traditional themes of the Peking Opera with contemporary revolutionist ones. Mao did not want the Opera to be controlled by independent groups. The rationale for that decision can be attributed to the Great Leap Forward where the Peking Municipal Party Committee had written satirical plays and newspaper columns disguised through artistic themes and had been allowed to do so under the Propaganda Department. Moreover, the Party was also insistent on maintaining the traditional elements of the Opera and were against adopting revolutionary themes (Ahn, 1972). Although Qing was aware of the Party’s position, she had continued to push the campaign to revolutionize the Opera making the two actors constantly in conflict. Although there was a conflict between Qing and the Propaganda department from 1962-165, Qing had finally been successful, with Mao’s support, in having full control and successfully revolutionized the Peking Opera. Both the musical form and content had radically changed as the Peking Opera had now transitioned to the Chinese Revolutionary Model Opera which lasted from 1966-76. A total of eighteen (originally eight at the beginning of the period) revolutionary plays were produced that had plots focusing on China’s revolutionary struggles. Characters that had been traditionally present (emperors, maidens, ghosts) no longer existed. Instead, the contemporary plays focused on glorifying both the People’s Liberation Army and Mao by romanticising the bravery of the common people and revolution. Some of the most popular plays that were produced by the Chinese Revolutionary Opera Model were The Legend of the Red Lantern (Hong Deng Ji), Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy (Zhi Qu Wei Hushan), and Red Detachment of Women (Hongse Niangzi Jun) (He, 1991).

Revolutionizing the Peking Opera was necessary for exercising control over the masses of Chinese people. This is because the Peking Opera was culturally and traditionally important in passing down stories from generation to generation. Procuring control of the Peking Opera was also crucial as it prevented traditional thoughts and ideas from being passed down to younger generations. It was important to limit the exposure of any positive aspects of traditional China to Chinese youth for the reason that they were significant actors who had gathered in the masses to enforce socialist policies during the Cultural Revolution as the Red Guards. Once having had control over the material that the Chinese Revolutionary Model Opera produced the state was able to spread the material through various entertainment sources (stages, radio broadcasts, and films) which was important in subconsciously influencing millions of Chinese people. It is important to note that Chinese Opera greatly differed from European ones. While the European opera acted as an entertainment for the elite, The Chinese Revolutionary Opera functioned as political art that was constantly and readily available to the public.

The revolutionization of the Peking Opera was a political tool orchestrated by Mao Zedong as a means of spreading the CCP’s socialist propaganda in an ideological struggle between the Maoists and Luists. In order to understand how music and art can be used as tools to propagate politics and belief systems it is important to explain the theory of propaganda, analyze the relationship between politics and music, and evaluate its implementations and impacts in the Cultural revolution.

Propaganda can be, classically, defined as a “set of methods employed by an organized group that wants to bring about the active or passive participation in its actions of a mass of individuals that is unified through psychological manipulation’ (Ellul, Kellen and Lerner, 1973). The theory of propaganda posits that there are various styles of persuasion that subconsciously influence how people can understand, react, or interact with issues. Propaganda was a necessary tool in the Cultural revolution for mobilizing the youth and bringing about social change. The reason for that was Mao Zedong Thought needed to be a dominant and repeated concept that demanded to manifest itself in various aspects of people’s daily lives (Mittler, 2008). Liu Shaoqi was a powerful political figure in the Republic of China, only second to Mao, and was planned to be Mao’s successor. However, Liu and other influential figures quickly lost power during the Cultural Revolution whilst attempting to promote non socialist economic planning and were quickly deemed as “capitalist roaders” (Chan, 1979). Although publicly humiliated, and later killed, Liu had influence, especially in Beijing, and represented many political figures who were hesitant about Mao’s economic planning. Therefore it was necessary in repeating propaganda themes in order to gain public favor and shame Liu and any of his sympathizers. One of the most important manners in bringing about this change was the revolutionization of the Opera. While the Republic of China had not been the only country to utilize the performing arts in achieving political satisfaction, it was the only state that was able to push a certain group of operas so much into the public sphere that almost every household was involved. Moreover, the campaign of the Eight Revolutionary Model Operas was important as it directly impacted people’s ideologies, traditional values, and social and political opinions.

Among all of the tools that were exercised in bringing about cultural change, operas and movies were (arguably) the most influential. It is important to explain and analyze the messages that were portrayed in the original Eight Revolutionary Operas to understand their intended effect on Chinese people. Once Qing had creative control over the Peking Opera, the direction of the music and plots were entirely reformed. The Revolutionary Operas were now categorized into two major themes; Mao leading the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into victory, and the romanticization of class struggle and revolution (Ahn, 1972). Although the Eight Revolutionary Model Operas all had different plots they all taught the same ideology; the heroism of the proletariat, the importance of sacrificing for the Party’s causes, never-ending class struggle and the need to continue the revolution, and that all negative figures portrayed in the operas were class enemies. It can be argued that it was not the operas that were influential on their own, but how the state pushed the campaign to be so present in people’s daily lives (Mittler, 2008). Most Chinese people had very little education during the 1950s-60s period and, consequently, the use of newspapers, novels, and poems would not have quickly reached the masses. As a result, Mao and his political party needed quicker and easier means to mobilize people. Music, operas, and movies were much easier in reaching people as visual and auditory methods were easier for relaying Mao Zedong Thought. Operas were often performed publicly making them an easy tool for conveying new ideas to society and shaping public opinion. More importantly, looking back at the outcome of the Chinese Revolutionary Model Operas present the messages that were sent to Chinese people, the role the opera played in their daily lives, and disagreements in the Chinese leadership (Luists vs Maoists). Thus, making the Operas one of the most effective propaganda methods in the Cultural Revolution.

The way that the Chinese Revolutionary Model Operas were strategically utilized to subconsciously enforce Maoist ideology on the majority of Chinese people is reflective of the important relationship between music and politics. Professor and author Ban Wang argues that politics is often aestheticized and that aestheticization is often manifested with ideological or political propaganda that subconsciously shapes intended beneficiaries. The Cultural Revolution is an excellent example of this argument, as all aspects of society were a means of soft power methods in in order to slowly, but surely, change the manner in which people think. In fact, Mao openly stated ‘In the world today all culture, all literature, and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines. There is, in fact, no such thing as art for art’s sake’ (Wang, 1997).

The Cultural Revolution that lasted from the years 1966-1976 that represented years of brutality, political, and ideological struggle within the Republic of China. While there are various perspectives that debate the reasons behind the Cultural Revolution, all academics agree that one (if not the most important) intention was to undermine any non-maoist ideology. While politics has often been used in various methods to influence and shape public opinion, no state has ever been able to extensively and vehemently utilize the performing arts to directly impact all classes in society. The revolutionization of the Peking Opera, the introduction of the Eight Model Revolutionary Operas, and the heavy marketization of Pro-Maoist performing arts represented a restriction on traditional Chinese culture. More importantly, the operas represented the artistic, political, and economic dictatorship Mao exercised over the state. In conclusion, the revolutionization of the Peking Opera represents the important relationship between music and politics and the CPC’s dictatorship of it through their production of socialist propaganda.

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