戏曲出版与商业文化:《戏剧月刊》研究, 1928-1932 = Publishing chinese drama and commercial culture: A study of the theater monthly, 1928-1932.

Abstract

This thesis studies a Chinese drama magazine, titled The Theater Monthly, which was published between 1928 and 1932 by the Dadong Bookstore in Shanghai. Compared to earlier drama magazines that still existed today, The Theater Monthly not only achieved greater commercial success, but also showed a more objective attitude to the most popular operatic genre, that was Peking Opera. It changed the publishing style of drama publications in Shanghai, showing a more cultured and less vulgar presentation. This thesis aims to examine the reason why this magazine emerged, and to illustrate such a special style established in the commercial and cultural environment of Republican Shanghai. The first two chapters study the social background, economic setting and cultural factors governing the production of the magazine. Chapter two explores the development of Peking Opera as a national traditional art in the 1920s and the early 1930s, as well as its increasing popularity in the commercial entertainment market. This chapter also analyses the cultural institution: Dadong Bookstore, in order to demonstrate the publishing style of its drama publications, including book serials and magazines. Chapter three focuses on the producers and contributors of the magazine. The cultural reputation and economic activities of those professional journalists, especially the main editor Liu Huogong, directly influenced the form and content of the magazine. The main argument of Chapter four circulates around the conception of "keguan yantan" (objective discourse), which is used to describe the publishing style of this drama magazine. It also studies the discourses on Chinese drama in the magazine and the writings on "the Four Famous Female Impersonators", as well as six special collections. This chapter argues that "keguan yantan" ¿¿the objective discourse¿¿not only had cultural impact on Peking Opera, but also reaped significant profits for the Dadong Bookstore itself. Through "keguan yanan", these professional drama critics in Shanghai changed the way of pengjuer and reestablished their cultural authority. Chapter five analyses the consumers of the magazine, illustrating how such an objective discursive style helped construct the social identity of the middle class under the newly emerged ¿mediasphere¿ of Shanghai in 1920s and 1930s.