Although the term "comedy" originates from the West, the concept of "comedy" also exists in Chinese opera. Wang Guowei once pointed out the characteristics of Chinese opera novels: "It is the spirit of our people, it's their affection and it's their optimism. Opera novels also embrace such spirit. They always represent an optimistic theme. They may begin tragically but always end with joy. The people who leave always come back and reunite with their loved ones, and those who get stuck will ultimately find a way out and prosper." Optimism inherits in the nature of the Chinese. The Chinese always long for certain completion, satisfaction, and happiness about the endings. It is obvious that both the western drama or the Chinese opera are creative works based on the scriptwriters' social life and creative process. It’s worth mentioning that it was not until the publication of "China's Top Ten Classical Tragedy Series" and "China's Top Ten Classical Comedy Series", edited by Wang Jisi, has the academia's research craze for traditional "tragedies" and "comedies" been greatly promoted. However, the western theories of drama shall be applied to traditional Chinese opera blindly. Instead, the western theories should be taken as the reference as we are reviewing the history and texts of Chinese opera. It allows us to identify the unique characteristics of Chinese opera. Li Yu was an opera writer, critic, and director in the Qing Dynasty. He wrote operas with a heart of joy, and he also hoped that those who watched his opera works should "wander in paradise" together with him. Hence, happy endings can be seen throughout his Ten Comedies. This study aims to discuss Li Yu's comedy theory and creative practices.
In this study, we will discuss Li Yu's comedies from two perspectives, namely his theory and his creation. First, we point out the formation of Li Yu's theory of Chinese opera and the causes of such formation based on the historical context. In order to distinguish the comedic characteristics of Chinese opera, we have also reviewed the cultural history and the history of Chinese opera. We will then address the theories of Chinese opera and analyze the theories constructed by Wang Jide, Lu Tiancheng, and Jin Shengtan, aiming to identify the contextual inheritance in Li Yu's theory. Also, we have generalized Li Yu's comedy theory from The Occasional Notes with Leisure Motions for better understanding. In the second part, we will address Li Yu's creation. Taking the western drama theories into account, we have conducted summarization and analyses on Li Yu's legendary Ten Comedies. Instead of examining the plots, languages, and characters just as other studies, we aim to analyze Li Yu's works from the perspectives of "authenticity", "novelty", "reversal", and "goodness"."Authenticity" refers to his authentic reflection on the true nature and affections. "Novelty" indicates his creative, fictional and novel expressions. "Reversal" focuses on the reversal of conditions, statuses, and even common senses. "Goodness" presents his goal of comedy writing. In order to construct Li Yu's comedy theory and his creative practices of Ten Comedies, we have integrated the concepts from different schools and scholars of different generations in this study. We have also cross-referenced between the histories of Chinese opera and theories and the text of Li Yu's comedies based on related literature and cultural documents. On the surface, Li Yu's comedies indicate merely the common worldly wisdom. Yet, we can always find unexpected things throughout the plots in a novel yet reasonable manner. Li Yu tended to use simple words and expressions to imply meanings with depth. He even designed specific and personalized lines and actions for different characters. Li Yu's take thorough considerations on not only the scripts, lines, language, actions and postures of the characters, but also the reaction of the audience. That is the reason why he was able to write opera scripts with the art of comedy.