In the 1930s, theatrical productions performed by traveling Red Army cultural troupes in Communist-controlled areas were consciously used to promote party goals and political philosophy. His major works- "Thunderstorm," "Sunrise," "Wilderness," and "Peking Man"-written between 19, have been widely read in China. The most notable of the new-style playwrights was Cao Yu (b. Following the May Fourth Movement of 1919, a number of Western plays were staged in China, and Chinese playwrights began to imitate this form. But at the turn of the twentieth century, Chinese students returning from abroad began to experiment with Western plays. In traditional Chinese theater, no plays were performed in the vernacular or without singing. After the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, Beijing Opera enjoyed a revival and continued to be a very popular form of entertainment both in theaters and on television. During the Cultural Revolution, most opera troupes were disbanded, performers and scriptwriters were persecuted, and all operas except the eight "model operas" approved by Jiang Qing and her associates were banned. Similarly, the attack in November 1965 on Beijing deputy mayor Wu Han and his historical play, "Hai Rui's Dismissal from Office," signaled the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. In the mid-1950s, for example, it was the first to benefit under the Hundred Flowers Campaign. As a popular art form, opera has usually been the first of the arts to reflect changes in Chinese policy. In the early years of the People's Republic, the development of Beijing Opera was encouraged many new operas on historical and modern themes were written, and earlier operas continued to be performed. The traditional repertoire of Beijing Opera includes more than 1,000 works, mostly taken from historical novels about political and military struggles. Spoken dialogue is divided into recitative and Beijing colloquial speech, the former employed by serious characters and the latter by young females and clowns. The acting is based on allusion: gestures, footwork, and other body movements express such actions as riding a horse, rowing a boat, or opening a door. In Beijing Opera, traditional Chinese string and percussion instruments provide a strong rhythmic accompaniment to the acting. Traditional drama, often called "Chinese opera," grew out of the zaju (variety plays) of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) and continues to exist in 368 different forms, the best known of which is Beijing Opera, which assumed its present form in the midnineteenth century and was extremely popular in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) court. Sources: The Library of Congress Country Studies CIA World Factbook
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