It combines poetry, Sanqu and rap in one furnace.
The formation of Yuan Zaju is the result of the development of various performing arts in the history of China, and it is also the product of the times. The process of Jin destroying the Northern Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty was also the process of the northern people's resistance to the Jurchen nobles and Mongolian nobles. The people's hard struggle against national oppression and class oppression needs to be expressed in a combative and mass literary form; By this time, various factors that constitute the art of traditional Chinese opera have been brewing for a long time and integrated. In this way, Yuan Zaju greatly expanded the theme and content on the basis of Jin and all kinds of Gongdiao rap, and opened a brilliant page in the history of China opera. In the case of great changes in the meta-society, scholars also have differences. Especially in the early Yuan Dynasty, ethnic contradictions and class contradictions were very acute, and the imperial examination system was not restored, which greatly reduced the career of middle and lower literati and led to their life decline. Except for a few bureaucrats who were attached to the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, most of the literati and the broad masses of the people were also brutally persecuted, so they had a close relationship with the masses. Some scholars and folk artists formed a book club. On the one hand, they learn the achievements of folk art, and at the same time contribute their talents to the creation of zaju. The organization of the book club and the cooperation between folk artists and literati have promoted the prosperity of Yuan Zaju. The development of urban economy in Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties prepared rich material conditions for the prosperity of zaju. In order to meet the cultural requirements of the ruling class and the general public, various geisha have appeared in major cities in the north and south, especially Kaifeng, Dadu and Hangzhou, which are the capital cities, are more prosperous. At the same time, traditional Chinese opera activities are often carried out in rural areas, and the existing stage and murals in the south of Shanxi are a good proof (Note: Yuan stage is widespread in the south of Shanxi, and eight Yuan stages have been preliminarily identified in Xiangfen, Linfen, Hongdong, Xinjiang and Yicheng in the south of Shanxi. There is also a mural in the Ming Wang Ying Temple in Zhao Hong County, Shanxi Province, which is performed by Yuan Dynasty zaju, and the title on the account is "Dou Xiu comes to show"). Festivals and temple fairs are performance days in rural areas, and some famous actors often go to various places to perform. In this way, China traditional opera has maintained close contact with the broad masses of the people in the development process.
In addition, the Yuan Dynasty had a vast territory and developed transportation, which strengthened the ties between international and domestic ethnic groups. Cultural exchanges between ethnic groups, especially the spread of northern folk music, also played a certain role in the prosperity of zaju. The opera art of the Yuan Dynasty is called Yuan Zaju. The "singing", "cloud" and "reasoning" of Yuan Zaju are its artistic expression means. Among them, the "subject" is mainly work, including expression, dance and martial arts. Among them, dance is intrusive, such as the fourth discount of "Tie Guai Li Du Huangjin Couple": "You can watch the Eight Immortals dance once (singing and dancing in the Eight Immortals)." In addition, the folk dance team "Village Dengaku" is used in Liu Xuande Drunk Up the Yellow Crane Tower, and the running bamboo horse is used in Chasing Han Xin. This intrusive dance in Yuan Zaju also includes An Lushan's "Hu Xuan" dance and Yang Guifei's "Nishang" dance in Tang Qiuyu. Martial arts in Yuan Zaju also contains many dance factors, such as various instrumental dances, duet, somersault, flying flags, walking on stilts and so on. Other plays, such as Xiao Weichi's "doing the tune" and Maling Road's "fighting in formation", are a kind of formation dance. Other works in Yuan Zaju have gradually evolved into stylized dance movements to express the modality of characters, such as "Zheng Dan as the master of shame" and "Zheng Dan as the master of sorrow" in Moon Pavilion. At that time, the zaju artists also gave names to some technical dance movements, such as "flying the red flag", "dragging the white" and "walking on stilts". The religious dances in ancient China were mainly witchcraft, Taoism and Buddhism. Witchcraft and Taoism are inherent religions in China. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism introduced from India flourished and lasted for a long time from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, etc. , the temple Buddha "advocates music for fun"; Jingle Temple in Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty, with female music, "singing around the beam and dancing around the sleeve"; During the Southern Dynasties, Liang Wudi made "kindness" and "great joy", which was called "positive joy" and publicized Buddhism. One of the ten pieces of music in the Tang Dynasty, Xiliang Music, contains the Buddhist music of Hetian, and a group of bodhisattvas in the court of the Song Dynasty presented fragrant flowers in the team dance, all of which were music and dances to promote Buddhism. Shamanism (witchcraft) and Lamaism (Buddhism) were the main beliefs in the Yuan Dynasty, and the court team dance in the Yuan Dynasty was full of religious superstitions. In the Yuan Dynasty, the court dance team was divided into four teams, namely, the King of Music team on New Year's Day, the Shouxing team on Tianshou Festival, the ritual and music band on Zhaohui, which preached Buddhism, and the Yili team. Each team is divided into 10 teams. In the team of King of Music 10, the leader is a band, and there are two women's groups, one is playing the song of willow in Changchun, and the other is performing the characteristic danhua dance. 10 team, there are also women inspired by flowers, and the rest are men's teams dancing and playing ghosts. There is also a dance dressed as a photo of donkey kong in Debate Team. In addition, there are Bao Gai Dance, Sun Moon Fan Dance, Zhuang Yuan Zaju Face-changing Dance, Umbrella Cover Dance, Golden Winged Peng Dance and so on, all of which are religious dances. The most famous Buddhist ode dance in Yuan Dynasty was Yuan Shundi's "Sixteen Magic Dance", which was called Buddhist ode dance. It's actually very interesting. Only eunuchs who have received secret training are allowed to watch while performing in the palace, and folk performances are strictly prohibited.
Yuan Zaju is a drama style developed on the basis of predecessors' drama art, Song Zaju and Jin. It first appeared in the late Jin Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, during which it experienced a development process from incomplete to complete. The Mongolian dynasty said that after the Yuan Dynasty, the system of zaju was complete, mature and began to flourish. During Yuan Zhen and Dade years, the creation and performance of zaju entered its heyday. Zaju was first popular in the north, centered on Dadu (now Beijing) and spread all over Henan and Hebei. Influenced by dialects, it has different genres of tunes. Wei Liangfu's Nan Ci Andrew said that the zaju has Zhongzhou tune, Jizhou tune and Xiaojiazhou tune. This drama with a northern accent quickly swept the country. The Collection of Brothels written by Xia Tingzhi in Yuan Dynasty describes the activities of more than 40 famous opera actors (including more than 30 male actors) in Yuan Dynasty. These actors are either "famous actors in the capital" or "giants in the capital song club"; Or "Famous Jinling"; Or "one step in Jiangsu and Zhejiang"; Or "Huai and Zhejiang are famous"; Or "the famous Jiang Xiang Room". There are also "Shandong famous prostitutes", "Weiyang famous prostitutes" and "Huzhou corner prostitutes" and so on. The Collection of Brothels was written in Zheng Zheng in the 15th year (1355), and has been updated since then, not far from Yuan Wu. Its description shows that the performances of Yuan Zaju developed from north to south and spread all over the country.