Han Opera as a Public Institution in Modern Wuhan

Abstract

Wuhan Han Opera Theater (WHOT, formerly Han Opera) is a 400-year old regional opera based in Wuhan, in Hubei Province, in China. WHOT’s recent designation as a public institution under China’s neoliberal creative economy initiative to enter the global market has necessitated its transformation from a cultural institution (wenhua jigou) into a creative industry (wehua chanye). As such, WHOT must now create adaptive strategies, alter traditional conventions of performance, infrastructure, education and community presence, reconstitute traditional social functions at the national level, and most importantly, manage a relationship with the government that is entirely novel for both. In the summer of 2016, WHOT participated in two government-led projects: Opera into Campuses and the Chinese National Arts Fund. These programs were the focus of my ethnographic fieldwork, to identify possible effects of the creative economy initiative on a traditional musical institution. Specifically, inquiry was made as to whether and how creative musical and organizational adaptations were being decided, implemented and executed, and as to how the outcomes of these adaptations were being evaluated. Despite using an ethnographic approach, findings from the preliminary study were found to be much more broadly generalizable and applicable across disciplines than expected. As a result, this thesis makes the following arguments: for modernization of an institution of traditional music to be effective, a relationship must exist whereby the transitioning institution is given creative license to generate continued socio-cultural productivity through its creative class (“talent”) in joint cooperation with, rather than dependence on, government agencies. The goal must be to revitalize rather than simply preserve such an institution, and to avoid cultural attrition of unique musical qualities of the institution.

Alternate abstract:

汉剧是一项流行于湖北省武汉市的有四百年历史的地方戏剧。在中国走向国际市场，兴起创意经济的转型阶段，武汉汉剧院(下称汉剧院）作为事业单位也不可避免的，从具体操作上来说，是其组织类型从文化机构向文化产业的转型。比如说，汉剧院需要创新出一套适应当代社会的策略，改变汉剧传统的表演形式，教育模式，管理模式，改变其在普通社区内的呈现方式，以及在全国范围内重塑其社会功能。更重要的是合理的管理汉剧与政府之间的关系。在2016年的夏天，武汉汉剧院参与到了两项政府支持与主导的项目：戏曲进校园，国家艺术基金。本篇民族音乐学的田野笔记主要针对这两项项目，识别中国创意经济的兴起带给传统音乐表演单位的可能性后果。特别是探究创造性音乐和汉剧院组织上的适应性调整是如何被决定的， 如何被实施的， 以及这些改变带来所的后果应该如何被评估。虽然本文主要是应用民族志式的研究方法，但其针对田野笔记的研究结果依旧可以被更广义的概括和被应用于相关学科。由此，本论文主要讨论的有以下几个论点。为了将一项传统的音乐机构现代化，一种必须存在于政府与文化机构的新的关系产生了：通过创意阶层（人才）的持续努力，实现机构与政府的共同合作，而不是单方面的依存。这整个转型的目标并不仅仅局限于在单一机构中保存汉剧，而是为了在普通人的生活中，使汉剧重新获得生命力， 更是为了避免单一的文化机构磨损汉剧独特的音乐魅力。