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In a small, deep alley right outside Hepingmen (the Peace Gate), no more than one mile south of the Tian'anmen Square, there stands a Peking opera theatre of great antiquity named Zhengyi Temple Theatre
. Built over 300 years ago, it is the sole ancient wooden theatre architecture in the world. There are also six other extant theatres with a similar scale, but Zhenyi Temple Theatre is the oldest. It is generally recognized as a living fossil and milestone in the history of Chinese theatres and often cited as an important reference
in studying Chinese ancient architecture, in particular, theatre constructions.
Zhengyi Temple Theatre used to be a Taoist temple in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was converted into a guild hall in 1667 by businessmen with Zhejiang Province ancestry to become a venue for their fellow provincials to associate, entertain and talk business. 1n 1710, funded by Zhejiang businessmen, Zhengyi Temple Theatre was set up on that site.
Zhengyi Temple distinguished itself from earlier theatres in the following three major aspects. First, for earlier theatres, the stage and the auditorium are two separated, disconnected constructions with open space in between. In Zhengyi Temple, however a roof was built for the first time between the stage and the auditorium. Thus, a large indoor theatre was created. Secondly, in Zhengyi Temple, audience no longer had to sit opposite one another around tables but face the stage, which indicated that theatre performance began to become the focus ofbspectators. Thirdly, the indoor theatre as such made artificial lighting possible, no more depending on natural light as outdoor stages had done. The great variety of artificial lighting added much more appeal to the performance. Thanks to the above innovations, Zhengyi Temple was regarded as the capital's best theatre then.
Zhengyi Temple Theatre was the predecessor of Qing Dynastry theatre. All theatres built afterwards modeled on its style. In this sense, it contributed a lot to the development of theatre architecture of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911).
The theatre's historical significance is also reflected on the special role it has played in the development of Peking opera. Since its building coincided with the emergence of Peking opera, it soon became a major venue to stage this "national opera". The Sanqmg Workshop, one of the four pioneering workshops of Peking opera headed by master artist Cheng Changgeng, used to perform here, and a good many master artists put on performances in the past 300 years or so.
In 1993, Zhengyi Temple Theatre was reopened after a thorough renovation. The newly-repaired theatre stands in a square shape with 18 meters wide on each side. The new stage, facing north and in three stories, sits on a one-meter-high foundation and covers an area of 6 square meters. There is an entrance on the ceiling and the floor each which is equipped with a trap opening to elevate performers and props. On both sides as well as opposite of the stage are all two-story open box circles. And there is also a 100-square-meter stall space in front of the stage. Altogether, 200 seats are available for Peking opera performances.
Now in this antique, magnificently decorated Chinese traditional theatre, spectators from home and abroad have the opportunity not only to savor the fascinating Peking operaļ¼but also to appreciate the unique, delicate ancient architecture of China.
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