Ya Kunqu in Late Ming and Early Qing China

INTRODUCTION: Kunqu,China’sYa Heritage, a 600 years oldgenreof Chineseoperahasnowbeen revived and performedallover the worldasanauthentic representation of China’sya雅cultureand history.Theclaimthatkunquisyaemerged soonafter the genre emerged in midMingChina; formallabelingof kunquasayaopera(yabu雅部),however,onlyappearedonlyin themid1750s(ChenFang,2007: 24). A multivalentterm,yaillusively referstowhatChinesecommonlyesteemasclassical,desirable,elegant,elitist,meritorious,proper, refined, sophisti- cated, valuable.Yameanings become more definable whentheword appears as partofbisyllable words,such asdianya典雅(canonicallyya),loftilyya(gaoya高雅),Confucianlyya(ruya

儒雅),and culturallyorcivillyya(wenya文雅).Yaistheantithesis ofsu俗, atermthatChineseuse to dismiss whattheyconsider quotidian, rustic, vernacular,andevenvulgar, meanings that bisyllabletermslike quotidian(tongsu通俗),low andcheap(disu低俗),andvulgar(bisu鄙俗)clarify.

CAQ 2019 6-2 004.pdf