Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the evolution of Kun opera's performance，and trying to summarize some common contents of the evolution of Kun opera's performance. Especially in the current，Kun Opera has a complex identity which is mixed by “intangible cultural heritage” and the contemporary performing art. The study on the evolution and the aesthetic character of Kun opera might help us to grasp the core characteristics and artistic value of this ancient art，and then investigate whether its contemporary inheritance is reasonable and effective.

The content of this dissertation can be divided into four parts：

The first chapter makes a clear understanding of the overall performance art of Kun Opera from a macro perspective，and analyzes why it has become a master of the performance art of Han national theater from the constituent elements of its stage presentation and artistic aesthetic character.

According to the first chapter，which clarifies the historical background and the historical status of Kun opera，the second chapter to the fifth chapter discuss the evolution of Kun opera's performance，with the natural evolution of time as the meridian，and the key node of the development of Kun opera for the weft.

The second chapter mainly elaborates the “richness” characteristic of the performance of Kun opera，and also makes a combing of the evolution of Kun opera before the middle time of Qing dynasty. This chapter is divided into two sections：the first one discusses the impact of the popular era of Kun opera on the development of its performance. In the second section，we mainly discuss the historical background and the process of the transformation of the performance mode of Kun opera.

The third chapter focuses on the standard of Kun opera's performance，which is named as “Qianjia tradition”. The first section of this chapter focuses on the history，politics and art reasons of its development in the middle time of Qing dynasty，and the important role played by the “Excerpts”. In the second section，taking the performance of “Peony Pavilion” as an example，I analyze the artistic characteristics of “Qianjia tradition” which is specialized by the feature of “vividness”.

The fourth chapter continues to take the historical time as the line，focusing on the inheritance characteristic of Kun opera's performance，which is “play with the human”. This chapter is divided into two sections：the first one discusses how Kun opera survived with the competition from the other younger genre of theater in the period from late Qing dynasty to the Republic of China. The second section discusses the new track of the evolution of Kun opera's performance，which is under the influence of the new art policy in this period.

The fifth chapter turns to the macro perspective again to explore what changes have taken place in the evolution of the performing art of contemporary Kun opera after it is listed in the “intangible cultural heritage” list. This chapter discusses both positive and negative aspects，which is divided into two sections：the first section takes the actual inheritance work of the professional troupes of Kun opera as the research object，and analyzes the role of “intangible cultural heritage” in promoting the inheritance of the performing art of Kun opera；The second section reflects on the “hidden” loss of the inheritance of contemporary Kun opera performance under the aura of “intangible cultural heritage”.

Finally，as a summary and extension of the full text，this chapter is based on the foregoing，and based on the documents and stage reality，this chapter puts forward some personal thoughts on the problems on the inheritance of contemporary Kun opera performing art.

The core of the whole history of the evolution of Kunju Opera performance is the history of the development，finalization and change of the body program with the actor's body as the carrier. For the performing arts of Kunju Opera，stage art，clothing，makeup，lighting and other stage elements are attached to and serve the actors' figure program performance. In the history of the evolution of Kun Opera performance，what remains unchanged is the unique aesthetic characteristics and rich basic stage performance techniques of Kun Opera art，as well as the stage logic of reasonably and finely using the basic techniques to express all aspects of life emotion within the aesthetic framework of Kun Opera art itself. This is also the core of inheriting the performing art of Kun Opera under the complex and changeable social background.

Keywords ：Performances of Kun Opera，Qianjia Tradition，Record of the Gesture，Intangible Cultural Heritage