Overview of Khampa Tibetan—drama

Yang Yuzhuo

（College of Literature and Journalism， Southwest University for Nationalities，

Chengdu 610225， China）

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY， VOL. 6， NO.4， 81-84， 2015 （CN51-1731/C， in

Chinese）DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2015.04. 11

Abstract：

Tibetan-drama is a representative part of the splendid Tibetan historical culture. It holds an important historical position in Tibetan cultural art， and is regarded as “the pinnacle of Tibetan arts”. Khampa Tibetan-drama is a significant component of Tibetan-drama. Following an in-depth research on Tibetan-drama and Khampa culture， and the transformation of Tibetan tourism and industry， and the needs of social development， Khampa Tibetan drama has been given more and more attention. There has been continuous debate on the types and schools of Tibetan-drama from the 1980s to the present.  Following the in-depth investigation and research， the debate has found some common understanding. However， if seen from the published articles， the viewpoint is still not totally the same， including the viewpoint on Khampa Tibetan-drama. Generally speaking， Khampa Tibetan-drama has four meanings： 1） it refers to Tibetan-drama in the Kang area.2） it refers to the Tibetan-drama in the Kang dialect zone; 3） it refers to the Tibetan drama in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province; and， 4）it refers to the Tibetan-drama transmitted from Tibet to Ganzi of Sichuan.

All the articles，for example， the kangba zangxi de yuanyuan jiqi yishu tese （The Origin of Khampa Tibetan-drama and Its Artistic Features）， and chuanxi Khampa zangxi wuda liupai de yuanyuan ji fazhan （The Origin of Five Schools of Khampa Tibetan-drama in West Sichuan and Its Development）， have mentioned that the formation and development of Khampa Tibetan-drama cannot be separated from natural conditions， climate conditions， local products and resources， historical origins and the cultural soil of the Kang region. Most schools of Khampa Tibetan-drama have been respectively transmitted from various schools of Tibetan-drama in Tibet to Khampa region， and gradually developed – giving the tradtion  more than 300 years history. These schools transmitted from Tibet arrived not only to Batang， Litang， Ganzi， Daofu and Kangding of Ganzi prefecture， but were also transmitted to other areas， such as Changdu. In addition to the dramas transmitted from Tibet， the Khampa region also has its own original Tibetan-drama， such as the Dengge Tibetan-drama， Xinkang folk Tibetan-drama， etc. The Khampa Tibetan-drama， with its obvious personality and unique style， not only contains wisdom， and reflects the Khampa Tibetan ancestors high level of aesthetics，  but they also  bear the vein of development of Khampa Tibetan culture. During the more than 300 years of development， Khampa Tibetan-drama has experienced a process of rise and decline， several periods of reform and innovation， and a fusion among the different schools. It could be said that no matter whether the drama was transmitted from Tibet， or the drama was locally created， in the end， they all became dramas with Khampa characteristics.

Domestic research on Khampa Tibetan-drama started somewhat late—not until the 1930s did scholars begin to concern themselves with this field. Before this time， there were no records， either in Tibetan or in Han Chinese literature， which reflected research on Tibetan drama， including Khampa Tibetan-drama.   It can be regarded as a gap in this field. Through sorting out andanalyzing the research achievements on Khampa Tibetan-drama during the recent 80 years， this article divides the whole process of research work into five periods. The research results mainly concentrates on three periods— the1930s-1950s， the 1980s to the early  1990s， and the past 10 years.

Generally speaking， the research results on Khampa Tibetan-drama is not that rich. There are only a little more than 100 research papers; and among them， there is some repetition concerning the research content. Also， research that came from in-depth literature research and fieldwork is very rare. Moreover， the kinds and schools of Khampa Tibetan-drama has been influenced by the administrative division of the researchers themselves. Therefore， the representation of the meaning of Khampa Tibetan-drama also differs. At present， scholarly circles generally use the idea of “Khampa Tibetan-drama to refer to the Tibetan-drama transmitted from Tibet to Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan”. However， is this idea scientific？ The debate continues. Different voices on the meaning will doubtlessly result in different research content， and， thus， influence all on Khampa Tibetan-drama.

In recent years， following the construction of Khampa studies， and in-depth research on Tibetan-drama， including as well the needs of the transformation of the tourism， industry and social development， Khampa Tibetan-drama has been given more and more attention. It can be said that research on Khampa Tibetan-drama has made some achievements. However， we still need to do further exploration using a more systematic， comprehensive， complete and intersector research. In addition， further study is needed on both the transmission and innovation of Khampa Tibetan-drama within the new historical conditions， focusing especially on industrial development strategies， approaches and methods. Through analysis in this article， we can also note that every development on the research on Khampa Tibetan-drama has a close relation with Khampa Tibetan-drama itself. Hence， our research on Khampa Tibetan research should serve better the development of the Khampa Tibetan-drama， and promote in-depth research and the prosperity of Khampa Tibetan-drama relying on the development of Khampa Tibetan-drama.

The purpose of doing an overview on the related research findings onKhampa Tibetan-drama in recent 80 years is to further develop Khampa Tibetan-drama research and its practice， and let Khampa Tibetan-drama develop more properly within the new historical conditions.

Key Words： Khampa; Tibetan-drama; Khampa culture.

References：

Cultural Bureau of Ganzi Prefecture. ganzi zangzu zizhizhou zangxi zhi（The History of Tibetan-drama in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture）.

Ren Lizhang，Xiaoping. zangxi yu zangxi yanjiu（Tibetan-drama and Tibetan-drama Research），In Ethnic Literature Studies，1993（1）：86.

Tu Xia.qiantan changdu zangxi jiqi tedian（A Brief Discussion on Changdu Tibetan-drama and Its Features），In Arts Research， 1987，（7）：7-11.

Yan Fuchang. sichuan zangxi yange yu zhuyao yanchu tese（The History of Sichuan Tibetan-drama and Its Main Performing Features），In Sichuan Opera，2010（1）：66.

Yuan Lianbo. kangba zangxi de shuangyuan xushi jiegou（Narrative Structure of Khampa Tibetan-drama）.In wenyi zhengmin， 2013，（11）：153.

Zhang Shishun.kangba zangxi de yuanyuan jiqi yishu tese（The Origin of Khampa Tibetan-drama and Its Artistic Characteristics）， In Arts Research，1988（1）：49.