Boris Riftin and Chinese Popular Woodblock Prints as Sources on Traditional Chinese Theater

CHINOPERL Papers No. 29 (2010)©2010 by the Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature BORIS RIFTIN AND CHINESE POPULAR WOODBLOCK PRINTS AS SOURCES ON TRADITIONAL CHINESE THEATER ELLEN JOHNSTON LAING1 University of Michigan Boris Riftin (a.k.a., Li Fuqing 李福清), Professor at the Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Science, was born in Leningrad in 1932 (fig. 1). He is recognized for his extensive publications on Chinese popular literature. Two aspects of his career are less well known. First, that he often used Chinese popular woodblock prints in his research on Chinese oral performing literature. Second, that he made Chinese popular prints held in Russian collections available to a broader audience for investigation. The purpose of this essay is threefold: to introduce Riftin‘s work with Chinese opera prints, his efforts to publicize Chinese prints in Russian collections, and how depictions of traditional Chinese theater (referred to as opera below) in the prints might be of value in understanding aspects of the history of the genre. Chinese popular prints are inexpensive, mostly colored woodblock prints destined for the mass market. They often are termed ―new year prints‖ (nianhua 年畫). This term is misleading because only some, but not all, of these prints were printed to replace earlier versions of themselves during the New Year season. Pairs of door guard prints pasted on exterior doors, exposed to wind and rain, easily became tattered and so needed to be replaced annually. Images of the Stove God placed in the kitchen, ritually burned in New Year ceremonies, would be replaced each year with a new one. Prints in demand at other times of the year include images of protective deities, sometimes used in rituals observing their birthday. Some prints containing auspicious motifs were considered 1 I wish to acknowledge the meticulous editing of David Rolston as well as his substantial contributions to the content of this essay. CHINOPERL Papers No. 29 184 appropriate for weddings; a large number of prints portrayed deities whose help was sought to insure safe pregnancies and delivery of children. Other subjects that did not require annual replacement at the beginning of the new year include scenes of everyday life in China as well as illustrations to novels, legends, and stories. Chinese opera scenes, printed in the hundreds, belong to this category. And finally, woodblock prints were also produced for use as lantern panels, kites, fans and in peepshows (see Laing forthcoming). This essay is in three parts. To appreciate Riftin and his work it is helpful to know what his predecessors achieved and his relationship to their work. Part One provides background for Riftin‘s work with popular prints by surveying the gathering of Chinese popular prints in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by European, Russian, and American sinologists and travelers. Riftin‘s participation in published studies on Chinese popular prints now in Russian collections is noted and his reputation as a scholar of Chinese popular culture is confirmed. Part Two highlights Riftin‘s use of Chinese popular prints in his explorations of Chinese oral performing literature through a few selected examples of how he deals with print imagery. Where appropriate, comments on his findings and interpretations are added. Part Three turns away from Riftin‘s own research to focus on his commitment to making the Russian print collections more generally available through two recent publications. The many theater prints reproduced in these volumes are valuable resources for investigating aspects of Qing dynasty (1644–1911) stage performances and their consumption. To demonstrate this, Part Three concludes with a brief discussion of woodblock prints of stages, actors, and opera performances and what they might reveal about the history of Chinese opera. Part One: Boris Riftin and his Predecessors Riftin studied with the eminent Russian ethnographer and sinologist V. M. Alexeev (a.k.a., Basil M. Alexéiev, 1880–1951), who in turn was a student of the French sinologist, Edouard Chavannes (1865–1918). In 1907, Chavannes and Alexeev traveled together in China where both acquired large collections of popular prints. Alexeev was in China again in 1909. Other important Russians traveled to China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century for a variety of purposes...