Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/272

 260 CHINESE LITERATURE

but either acting editions of these, cut down to suit the requirements of the stage, or short farces specially written. The actors are ranged under five classes according to their capabilities, and consequently every one knows what part he is expected to take in any given play. Far from being an important personage, as in ancient Greece, the actor is under a social ban ; and for three generations his descendants may not compete at the public examinations. Yet he must possess con- siderable ability in a certain line ; for inasmuch as there are no properties and no realism, he is wholly dependent for success upon his own powers of idealisation. There he is indeed supreme. He will gallop across the stage on horseback, dismount, and pass his horse on to a groom. He will wander down a street, and stop at an open shop-window to flirt with a pretty girl. He will hide in a forest, or fight from behind a battlemented wall. He conjures up by histrionic skill the whole paraphernalia of a scene which in Western countries is grossly laid out by supers before the curtain goes up. The general absence of properties is made up to some extent by the dresses of the actors, which are of the most gorgeous character, robes for Emperors and grandees running into figures which would stagger even a West-end manager.

It is obvious that the actor must be a good contor- tionist, and excel in gesture. He must have a good voice, his part consisting of song and "spoken " in about equal proportions. To show how utterly the Chinese disregard realism, it need only be stated that dead men get up and walk off the stage ; sometimes they will even act the part of bearers and make movements as though carrying themselves away. Or a servant will

�� �