Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. II.pdf/35



THE theatre and dramatic performances are highly esteemed in China as a means of entertainment during festive seasons.

The attraction of a play will draw business men away from their occupations for days together — a circumstance which proves that the well-regulated Chinaman, however actively he may be engaged, whether in the affairs of the State, or as a hewer of wood and drawer of water, has, after all, leisure at his command for enjoyment which, nowadays, in countries of Europe more enlightened than his, is unknown to more than a few. It has been incorrectly stated that there are no buildings expressly constructed for theatrical performances to be found in China. There are, indeed, none in the majority of Chinese towns; but in Peking, and in some other cities which I visited, edifices designed and solely used for dramatic performances do exist. Hongkong, for example, contains two large and imposing theatres, built by Chinamen and devoted exclusively to the representation of Chinese plays.

In style these two playhouses present a compromise between the plan of a European theatre and that of a native one. There is the pillared portico outside; the business-like check-taker planted behind a small window within; and there are one or two officers to keep order. The interior contains rows of private boxes, curtained and elegantly fitted, where gentlemen can enjoy privacy with their wives and families, and where tables, bedecked with fresh flowers in pots, are used for tea-drinking purposes. The arena is filled with benches; and, besides this, there are upper and side galleries, where cheap accommodation may be secured, and where vendors of cake, fruit, and tea, drive a flourishing business when the house is full. The stage, as in Europe, is illuminated by footlights; but no scenery of any kind is employed, — indeed, scene-painting and scene-shifting are arts unknown to the Chinese. The musicians sit upon the stage behind the actors; and the latter enter or make their exit by two curtained doorways through an ornamental partition which divides the stage from the green-room behind.

There are numerous bands of strolling players, and they may be hired to perform in private dwellings, in temples, or even in sheds erected in the public streets on the occasion of entertainments given by the wealthy to the poor of their neighbourhood. The duty of providing dramatic performances is also at times imposed by way of a fine upon some member of a guild for a violation of its laws. I remember witnessing the close of an open-air performance which had been given by a merchant on the river-bank at Hankow.

An audience of the unwashed and unperfumed had gathered in thousands on the bank of the stream, and were so closely packed together that the bare shaven heads reeking beneath the hot sun looked like a pile of wet turnips, each dotted with its point of bright sunlight. It was near nightfall, and the crowd had been collected there throughout the day. When it dispersed, old men were to be seen limping to their long-neglected duties, Women were bawling for their lost children, dogs that had been shut up in the throng, howled in the joy of freedom. Lewd fellows mocked the obscene gestures of the comedian, and of this motley crowd nothing in a few seconds remained. The scaffolding of the temporary' stage was left to await a continuation of the play on the succeeding day.

Chinese actors, if popular, are well paid. They must, however, be men of considerable ability, and gifted with retentive memories, for when they are called on to perform at a feast, it is usual for some favoured guest to select one out of a score or two of plays to be then and there enacted; and many of these actors may have to sustain half a dozen different parts. Although well paid they enjoy few privileges, and are not even allowed to compete at the literary examinations.