Abstract:Chinese drama served for three basic functions: entertainment， religion use and didactic. Through some typical Chinese dramas， The Soul of Ch’ien-nu Leaves Her Body， Hegemon King Sys Farwell to His Queen， Injustice Done to Tou Ngo， we could see how these three functions work out.

Key words: Chinese Drama entertainment religion didactic

Traditional Chinese drama is the combination of all kinds of Chinese elements.The function of Chinese drama is different from western plays. Such as the romantic story of free love satisfied people’s inner desire which cannot be satisfied in their real lives. And authors， compared to western plays， tend to give happy endings instead of tragic endings. Imperial government support some plays that have the didactic function with Confucians ideas. In addition to this two， Chinese drama has a very unique function: religious function. So for some plays in some areas， dramas are played not for people but for local deities or gods. This made Chinese drama blended in lots of religious elements such as Buddhist and Daoist. What’s more， whereas Chinese drama are usually played among common peoples and even created by them.

Entertainment function is the fundamental one among common people. Through beautiful romantic love story about young lovers， people’s inner desire was satisfied， a story that combined fantasy， freedom love and the sexual liberation allowed people to imagine thins that would never happen in their real lives. thus entertained not just men but women. Another function that important to Chinese drama is the religious function. People combined Buddhist， Taoist and Confucians ideas into Chinese drama. This made drama popular among rural areas of China. Poor peasants use drama to show their respects to all kinds of local celestials and gods， they believe it was an auspicious behavior and also hope through drama playing they could get good luck from gods. The didactic function also plays an important role in the history of Chinese drama. The highly developed Chinese society need an effective medium for propagandizing Confucians ideas.

“The Soul of Ch’ien-nu Leaves Her Body”

The play “The Soul of Ch’ien-nu Leaves Her Body” is a typical story represented a personal liberation in a restrictive feudal society. the main character Ch’ien-nu was the epitome of women who want to break the strait-laced rules of marriage system.

Personal liberation reflected in her ignoring of virginity. She lost her virginity before marriage， which was a very serious and unforgivable thing for girls. In order to not obey the virginity tradition， the author Zheng Guangzu deliberately designed that Ch’ien-nu’s body was still at home， through this way， Ch’ien-nu kept her virginity. On the other hand， the body of Ch’ien-nu was still in bed， she was still constrained by feudal ethics， which formed a sharp contrast with her soul， through this way， the author intensified the personal liberation that Ch’ien-nu’s sole was chasing for.

Free love between man and woman， which should be common things for younger lovers， was difficult in the real life at that time. By using a legendary story with fantasy elements， the heroin Ch’ien-nu managed to break the yoke of feudal ethics， change her fate and gained personal liberation.

Hegemon King Sys Farwell to His Queen

The “Hegemon King Says Farwell to His Queen” was a very unique drama. It was based on a historical story and truly models. After being revised into a play， the character became more vivid.

Xiangyu， is the main character in this play， he was also a tragic hero. He was a strong and lionhearted king， with great ambition. But his fatal character flaws made him failed. As a hegemon king， his mind was fully occupied with defeating Liu Bang without considering tactics. He was too arrogant and proud even didn’t listen to other people’s good opinions; in contrast， he was easy to be cheated by the double agent send by Liu Bang who know his flaws well and flattered him. These personalities determined his rush behavior. Queen Yu was a smart and beautiful consort of Xiangyu. He was good at using tricks. He knows how to take advantage of Xiang Yu’s proud and arrogant， successfully made Xiang Yu fall into his trap. Historically， he is a great militarist.

Although Queen Yu was just a consort， she was still considered as the most admirable person in this play. Her loyalty to Xiang Yu， her wisdom， her insistence on keeping chastity and even her heroic suicide made her admirable， and also this historical story much more moveable.

“Injustice Done to Tou Ngo”

The play” Injustice Done to Tou Ngo” is one of the most famous and outstanding dramas of Yuan drama. A half-legendary judge was shown in this play， Tou Ngo’s injustice was finally cleared and bad person was punished eventually， the author create this kind of ending to teach people a lesson.

It becomes such a popular tale in China because it showed us a typical society of traditional China from all aspects: the deep Confucian affections on people， the disordered government system that lacking of justice and the ethical relations at that time. When this story combined all these elements and was presented on the stage， besides， the author Guan Hanqing’s fabulous writing skill made it with highly literary value. It depicted a typical traditional Chinese woman Tou Ngo who is with strong filial piety and chastity ideas. In order to keep her chastity and protect her mother in law， she would rather plead guilty， when facing the filial piety to his father and loyalty to his husband versus filial piety to her mother in law， she chose keeping chastity. Except for ethical problems， it also exposed social problems: the official’s injustice and corruption. All kinds of irresolvable tensions combined together made this play full of conflicts.

In a word， the characters of Chinese Drama is so different and interesting， hope these cases could help you know it better.

Bibliography:

[1]Chen Fan Pen Li. A historical Beauty in Chinese Literature. Ann，Arbor