Kunqu: China’s Classical Song-Drama

From its origins in the poetic tradition and its refinement in the southern salons of the 16th century, to its 18th-century theatrical heyday and patriotic revival in modern times, this book introduces Kunqu and its enduring role in shaping cultural life. As China’s classical musical and theatrical tradition, Kunqu is essential to understanding the country’s artistic heritage.

The rich body of drama and poetry associated with Kunqu has often been studied independently of its performance history. By contrast, this book places stage practice and singing at the centre. Kunqu treats poetry and music as inseparable: the tonal and prosodic qualities of Chinese words and the melodies that carry them are mutually dependent.

From Ming gardens and rowdy Qing playhouses to the Manchu imperial court, Republican singing societies, and online forums today, debates over how Kunqu should be sung have never ceased. Hunter Gordon shows how these debates provide a model for understanding the genre as a whole: just as its vocal delivery has always been contested, so too has its staging.

With a repertoire that remains relatively stable, Kunqu is marked by tensions of interpretation and orthodoxy that place enormous weight on the fine details of performance, making it one of the world’s most dynamic classical performance traditions.

Kim Hunter Gordon is Assistant Professor of Chinese and Performance Studies at Duke Kunshan University, China.