On Changshu Traditional Opera in Qing Dynasty

At the beginning of Qing Dynasty,Changshu playwrights represented by QIU YUAN and JI Yongren expressed their strong national consciousness in their works themes of which were politics and historic events.In the middle period of Qing Dynasty,their national consciousness was weakened and their works sang the praises of sb and advocated the feudal ethics;and with the decline of Kunqu opera,palace operas were popular,the representative authors of which were ZHOU Xiangyu and WANG Tingzhang in this period.The great contributions made by Changshu in Qing Dynasty to the history of traditional opera are Poetic Drama at All Times and Sixty Melodies.