An overview of the historical development and basic characteristics of drama

On the Realistic Tradition of China's Plays

Tanaka Hiroshi

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Realism is almost a rotten concept, especially because of the reintroduction and advocacy of western modernist drama. It seems that realism has become an "ugly duckling". There are similar misunderstandings about realism and sudden modernism in China's drama history. Describing realism as the only fighting tradition in the history of China's drama is both general and lacking in concrete analysis and evaluation. Simply denying this tradition emotionally is not necessarily the progress of theoretical and historical research. It seems to be the most advanced to regard modernist drama as the most fashionable, which at least shows that there is a lack of understanding of the influence and rise and fall of western modernist drama in the history of Chinese drama, which leads to contempt for realism, which is also a prejudice.

No matter how vague the concept of realism is, no matter whether people like it or hate it, the history of Chinese drama is largely entangled in this term. Theorists and playwrights both consciously and unconsciously think and create plays in their understanding and experience of realism. Therefore, as we commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of China's plays, it is necessary to give scientific analysis and evaluation to the realistic tradition of China's plays. Realism, as a theoretical trend of thought, is a special situation introduced from the west, as well as the unique national conditions and historical conditions in different periods of modern China, and the constraints of national acceptance factors (including national cultural psychology, national cultural and artistic traditions and national language, etc.). Therefore, the realism of China's plays has its unique formation and development destiny, unique development track and unique development features. Accompanied by it, it is its unique historical experience and lessons. And these are the contents to be discussed in this paper.

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In the past, although we summarized China's classical literature and classical operas in various ways, including realism; But realism, as a theoretical trend of thought, is the result of accepting external influences. Because drama is an exotic art form, it highlights this basic feature. It can even be said that China's drama realism is a tributary of the western realistic drama trend of thought, and the former is a derivative development form of the latter in China.

The western realistic drama movement is only about thirty years in the history of European and American drama. Its causes, background and path are different from the realism of China's plays. The western realistic drama movement began with the challenge of Zola's naturalism to French romantic drama. It can also be said that it is aimed at romantic dramas. Just like the backwash of romantic drama, the trend of thought in European drama presents a continuous change form. Zola tried her best to attack romantic dramas and popular melodramas. It opposes the rigid drama mode of romantic drama, represents romantic figures of good and evil types, spectacular romantic scenes in vain and stale plot design. He said: "I hope that playwrights can create characters on the stage that are taken from real life, can withstand scrutiny, are flesh and blood, and do not tell lies." I hope that I will no longer see people who are fabricated out of thin air, and people who are only symbols of good and evil and have no value in understanding the world. I look forward to seeing the works describing the characters determined by the environment. What the characters do can conform to reason and their own temperament. I hope playwrights will stop using wands to change the face of events and characters in an instant. I hope they will stop telling such incredible stories, spoil their correct observation and destroy the original beautiful things in the script. "(1) It's all about romantic dramas. Ibsen really became the founder of western realistic drama, and his social problem dramas such as Social Pillar and Doll's House became models of realistic drama, forming a set of realistic creative methods and scriptwriting skills system. Followed by Strindberg, Bram, Hoptman, Bernard Shaw, Chekhov, etc. And because of the performance practice and theory of realistic drama in Saks-Menegan Theatre, Antoine and Freedom Theatre, especially in Danchenko and stanislavski, western realistic drama has reached a peak in the history of European drama. Of course, the western realistic drama movement was produced in its specific historical development stage and specific historical and cultural philosophy background. It has profound historical origin and realistic motivation, and has strong theoretical support.

The realism of China's plays is not only the result of the influence of western realistic drama thoughts, but also the profound background of western realistic movement and the preparation of a whole set of philosophical and cultural theories, which is the congenital deficiency of China's drama realism. But this kind of influence can never be regarded as a complete transplant, but a simple, passive and negative influence. From the perspective of acceptance, it is a historical choice as well as a national choice. From the process of acceptance, the western realistic drama is realized through the filtration, abstraction and integration of the accepting subject, including misunderstanding, misreading and even exaggeration, distortion and deformation. The nature, scope and degree of this influence are determined by the restrictive role of the recipient. This fundamentally determines the development characteristics and path of China's dramatic realism. When China people first introduced western drama (if 1907 Spring Stream Society's performance "A Black Slave Called Tianlu" in Tokyo was taken as the starting point of Chinese drama history), as far as the mainstream of civilized drama is concerned, they did not fall in love with western realism. At that time, realism represented by Ibsen had a wide influence in the world. Ibsen's plays on social issues were not only published and performed, but also died in 1909. As an intermediary and bridge between China's early dramas and western dramas, Japanese new dramas have also set off an upsurge of imitating Ibsen's dramas. The founder of China's drama was not infected by this drama trend, but turned to the romantic dramas and excellent dramas of Hugo, Sadu, Schiller and Dumas. Besides being keen on translating and adapting romantic dramas, self-made dramas also have romantic colors and plots, such as La Traviata (Dumas) and Tears (original by dusk, Japanese translation of Hot Blood (? )) and so on. Even dramas that reflect real problems, such as Golden Blood and Long Live, are full of romantic generosity and tragic passion. On the one hand, it is the historical situation and atmosphere formed by the brewing and launching of the old democratic revolution wave, which is in line with the western romantic drama, that is, expressing one's mind directly, galloping in love and being a hero; On the one hand, it is a western romantic drama, and it is a well-structured drama, which is more or less suitable for the traditional appreciation habits of China people. For the first time, the tendency towards western romanticism is manifested in the spontaneous combination of Chinese and foreign drama cultures, but it also shows the constraints of the recipients. Because it lacks rationality.

On the encounter between preparation for exams and systematic exams, there is a taste of drifting. However, it should be pointed out that civilized dramas, especially the performances before and after the climax of the Revolution of 1911, have a strong romantic tone, but generally have a strong spirit of revolutionary realism and the characteristics of being associated with politics. As far as the formation of China's early dramas is concerned, it is not so much from the art itself as from the needs of the national and democratic revolution. China people's acceptance of foreign dramas is related to the reality of the national tragedy in modern China. This is very different from western drama history and western realistic drama.

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Therefore, the first feature of China's drama realism is its utilitarianism. The emphasis from social function to political function is a historical process in which practical function is constantly strengthened, forming a realistic fighting tradition.

Emotional criticism that disagrees with the realistic fighting tradition of China's drama, feels disgusted and even opposes it, and thinks that it will bring serious consequences to the development of China's drama. Emotional criticism can neither obliterate the objective existence of history, nor scientifically discriminate it, and it is likely to abandon the benign heritage together with the inert heritage.

Utilitarianism and militancy are the characteristics of general realistic literature. As far as the realism of China's plays is concerned, it highlights this feature and enlarges it, even being regarded as unique.

When China people first came into contact with drama and the desire to introduce drama, they had a strong impulse to save the country and utilitarian expectations. Tian Miaosheng bluntly said: "If I want to save the country today, I should take importing national thoughts as the first meaning." Want to import national ideas ... give up drama at the end. "(2) this reflects the mentality of China people to accept drama. The value orientation of saving the country by drama made China's early dramas imported for saving the country, flourished at the height of the revolution and declined at the ebb of the revolution. The first wave of China's drama, wearing romantic costumes, shocked reality, was brave, powerful and touching. Perhaps China's early plays have no representative works, but his fighting utilitarianism has become the historical complex of China's drama realism.

The realistic trend of thought in China's plays began with the introduction of Ibsen's plays in the May 4th literary revolution, and was formed in the process of shaping, absorbing, transforming and even misreading the western realistic plays represented by Ibsen. 1965438+ Ibsen's new youth special issue in June 2008, and Ibsen's doctrine written by Hu Shi can best reflect the characteristics of this model and transformation. He said: "Ibsen's literature and Ibsen's outlook on life are only realism." "Ibsen wrote the real situation of the family society, which makes people feel tempted, makes people feel that our family society is so dark and corrupt, and makes people feel that the family society really needs reform and revolution-this is Ibsen's theory." The outstanding points here are as follows: First, Ibsen's realistic dramas criticize realism and expose the corruption of family society, that is, Lu Xun later put forward the realistic fighting spirit of "daring to attack the society and dare to fight against the majority alone"; The second is its social aesthetic efficiency, that is, its social enlightenment and ideological enlightenment value. In a sense, drama is regarded as the carrier of ideas and theories. Ou Yangyuqian said: "The dramatist is the embryonic form of society, and the thought is also the image. ...... The role of a script will definitely represent a society or play an idea to solve problems in life and transfer wrong ideas. " Later, Hong Shen pointed out more clearly: "Modern drama is important and valuable because of its individualism. Understanding and criticizing the way of the world, understanding the philosophy of life, attacking or agreeing with behavior-all good scripts can always teach people. " (5) All these are interpreted from the perspective of the May 4th ideological revolution, explaining Ibsen's doctrine, thus forming a realistic drama view in this period. On the one hand, it endows life with the utilitarian value orientation of social realism, combines realism with social aesthetic function, and emphasizes the sociological value of Ibsen's plays more; On the one hand, it endows realistic drama with the carrier tool of thought and ism, and highlights the ideological significance and cultural value of Ibsen's drama.

Under the guidance of this realistic drama view, the first batch of realistic dramas appeared in China's drama history, which was also formed by shaping and transforming Ibsen's drama subject, that is, the "problem drama" wave. Ibsen's social drama is simply understood as the addition or mixture of "problem" and "drama", or drama is to discuss social problems. For example, Hu Shi believes that modern European and American dramas, "the most important thing is to use' problem dramas' to study various important social issues" (6). It is with this understanding that Hu Shi wrote Life Events, which opened the prelude to China's realistic drama creation and formed the upsurge of "problem drama". It is worth noting that "Lifelong Event" is written by imitating and shaping "A Doll's House". The "problem drama" is competing to imitate the "lifelong event". In this remolding, a number of Nora-style characters appeared, and Nora's runaway drama also appeared. 1920, New Woman magazine published "Are you awake? "(Ling Junyi)" Softening? " (Qian Zhao Yu), "Who hurt me?" (Tang Jue), etc. Not only is the title of the film questioned, but even the characters are Nora-style. Others, such as Chen Dabei's Madame Youlan, Xiong Foxi's The Sorrow of Youth, Hou Yao's Abandoned Wife and Ou Yangyuqian's Behind the Screen, etc. It covers almost all social and life problems during the May 4th Movement. Such issues as marriage and love, parental love, the way out for women and young people, the contradiction between labor and capital, the inequality between the rich and the poor, and the living conditions and social status of the lower working people are all discussed in the play. As a whole, these plays reflect the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal spirit of the times and the urgent requirement of emancipating the mind and personality. By facing the realistic spirit of social life, it reveals the actual situation of social life, exposes this urgent task, and shows the sense of social mission of realistic creation, thus achieving the effect of understanding reality, resisting reality and transforming reality. Although there are misunderstandings about Ibsen's drama and western realistic drama, the aesthetic principles of realism in China's drama have been initially established in theory and practice, especially in the establishment of the concept of truth, which makes it different from the aesthetic principles of China's traditional drama, civilized drama and western realistic drama.

With the deepening and intensification of class contradictions and ethnic contradictions, as well as the development of China's plays, the realism of China's plays became the mainstream in the 1930s, showing the vigorous vitality of realistic plays, but it also began to show a trend of differentiation. On the one hand, it has matured on the basis of inheriting the realistic achievements of the May 4th drama, resulting in excellent realistic dramas created by Cao Yu and Xia Yan, which we call poetic realism (which will be discussed in depth later). On the one hand, there is a kind of realism that constantly strengthens its social function, especially its political effect. The combination of direct political purpose and quick capture of the reality of political struggle has turned the pursuit of realistic ideological value in the May 4th drama into a more distinct pursuit of political value. In the development of drama in 1930s-1940s, this kind of realism, which strengthened political function, generally ran through. From advocating "prieta Asia" drama, left-wing drama, national defense drama to anti-war drama, they are all endowed with the political color of revolutionary nation at a specific historical stage. The realistic fighting tradition of China's plays has not only been established, but also strengthened. This realism is characterized by eagerly reflecting the realistic struggle of the revolution, even the subsequent drama reports, and closely cooperating with revolutionary ideas, revolutionary lines and even revolutionary policies and principles. It reveals the essence of real social life, conforms to the aesthetic consciousness of the revolutionary era, and shows exuberant vitality and strong momentum. Indeed, it has played a realistic fighting role and fighting effect. The history of China's plays is linked with the sacrifices and struggles of these revolutionary dramatists. This realistic fighting tradition is determined by China's special national conditions and cultural traditions, and strengthened with the situation of class struggle and national struggle.

One-sided emphasis on the utilitarian militancy of realism will inevitably lead to different degrees of non-artistry. When studying Ibsen's social drama, the problem drama in the May 4th period ignored Ibsen's "discussion" on social problems, which was based on the true, plump and typical characterization and the poetic discovery of real life, and had its own unique skills and methods. The "problem drama" is not like this, but only discusses the "problem" and supports the drama with the "problem", thus forming a rational drama thinking mode. The principle of truth only stays in the "reproduction" of social problems, rather than the artistic discovery of problems. In the 1930s, some dramas that strengthened politics were realistic representations similar to news photography. Just stay on the surface of reality, lack of penetration and generalization. Realism needs to be ideological, but it is explained by set ideas, lines and policies, which is the same as the later "theme first" When we say that one-sided emphasis on utilitarianism and militancy is the weakness and lesson of history, we mean that it has formed a rational drama thinking pattern, and even formed a certain drama model. Then this negative influence becomes an inert legacy, an invisible spiritual domination and burden, and forms a habitual creative method. When people subjectively try to get rid of it, it is almost difficult to get rid of it. This is exactly what we need to deny. When someone defends the realistic fighting tradition, it is often defending those benign traditions that are worth maintaining, consciously or unconsciously defending these inert heritages that should have been denied.

It must be pointed out that since the civilized drama, the strengthening of utilitarianism and militancy is not only strongly restricted by the political and historical situation, but also related to the stubborn values of the metaphorical function of China's drama. Before the pre-Qin period, the educational function of rites, music, song and dance drama has become a stable and long-standing tradition, and even a basic value concept of drama culture. Make drama closely integrated with political, social, ideological, moral and ethical metaphors and precepts. This tradition has not been alleviated and diluted by the impact of foreign drama culture, but has evolved and "modernized" more strongly under the new historical conditions, thus shaping and transforming the drama concept of foreign drama. This basic value is accumulated as a national cultural psychology, so the cultural psychological structure as the subject of acceptance is really like a gestalt, which selects and transforms foreign dramas in a perspective and naturally contains the functional tendency of realism. This cannot be simply affirmed or denied, it needs a historical adjustment process.

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It is not comprehensive to generalize China's drama realism as a fighting tradition, but it can best reflect his outstanding achievements and artistic achievements. It is a group of dramas that we call poetic realism, such as Thunderstorm, Sunrise and Peking Man by Cao Yu, Under the Roof of Shanghai by Xia Yan, Fascist Bacteria by Cao Fang, The End of the World, Tiger Catching Night by Tian Han and Peking Man. They represent another form and route of the development of China's drama realism. It deeply infiltrated and integrated the western realistic drama, and realized the transformation and transformation of national originality from the aspects of aesthetic spirit, creative methods, artistic skills and language.

China people's acceptance of foreign drama art is bound to be branded with national art, and the process of accepting foreign drama art is also a process of nationalization. Otherwise, it is difficult for such "foreign art" to take root and sprout in the soil of China. China people first saw "Western Opera", that is, taking freehand brushwork opera as a comparative reference. It is believed that "the length of the western drama is illustrated, the balcony is deep, and it can be reached in an instant." And the weather is fine, and the nuances will be achieved. If the viewer has experienced this situation, he will suspect that this is not a person and will sigh. ⑦ This is obviously the realistic feeling of his realistic scenery. The characteristics of western operas are summarized as "being white but not singing" (8), which is also obtained by comparing with the morphological characteristics of China operas. Until it was finally named "Drama", it was recognized by comparing with China traditional opera. It can be seen that China people's understanding and grasp of foreign drama art, from the potential aesthetic spirit to the superficial artistic forms and means, are dominated by their inherent national aesthetic consciousness, which is almost a natural perspective. The early civilized drama presents an artistic form that is neither Chinese nor western, but also Chinese and western, neither new nor old, but also new and old, which is close to the mixed form of Chinese and foreign dramas such as self-reporting, learning to sing Tsing Yi, interspersed with dances and distinguishing performances. This phenomenon reflects the lack of understanding of western drama as a drama system with a long history, and it is still impossible to distinguish freehand brushwork drama from realistic drama in artistic form; But at the same time, it also reflects the powerful restrictive role of the traditional power of national opera. The reasons for the decline of civilized drama are very complicated, but it is related to the fragility of its artistic ontology and form. However, as we mentioned, the influence of western romantic dramas on civilized dramas is due to the fact that these dramas convey the appreciation psychology of China people with the word "emotion", and are linked with the poetic and lyrical traditions of China's dramas. At that time, it was said that the characteristics of western romantic dramas were "infatuation and heartache" and "cover thought that it was sincere and touching, and the stone could be opened" (9). Romantic tendency of civilized drama can be said to be the first sign of China's poetic drama.

If the stage of civilized drama is the meeting of national art and drama, then the revival of drama in the May 4th period is based on getting rid of traditional drama completely and taking western drama as a model. Give people a deep impression of "total westernization". It is under the appearance of this sharp drama criticism that the script literature of the May 4th drama has infiltrated the national aesthetic spirit, which is prominently manifested in the poetic tendency of the romantic drama.

The Romantic School of the May 4th Drama made a special contribution to the establishment of the May 4th Drama Literature. The combination of poetry and drama, or the poetic aesthetic tendency of drama, is the most prominent artistic feature of the May 4th drama. Tian Han and Guo Moruo are both romantic poets, which naturally makes it easy for them to cut poems into plays. At the same time, they also saw the poetic features of drama. For example, Guo Moruo believes that "poetry is the essence of literature, and novels and dramas are the differentiation of poetry." The poetic connotation of romantic drama, that is, poeticization in the dramatic vision of observing and expressing life, is intended to see the truth of life from people's inner emotional world. Especially from the "spiritual" pain of human tragedy to the criticism of social reality. And works often have an ideal vision for the future. Its artistic feature is lyricism, and the character, structure and language of the play are all linked by lyricism. For example, Zhuo Wenjun and Wang Zhaojun of Guo Moruo, Lin Zexu and Bai Qiuying of Tian Han, romantic poets and lin li of Bai Wei are all poetic and lyrical figures. Their subjectivity leads them to pursue the poetic artistic conception of expressing emotion through scenery, embodying feelings in scenery and paying attention to the creation of poetic atmosphere. They sometimes directly integrate music and poetry into their works to enhance the lyricism of their works. The pursuit of the beauty of language makes it pay attention to the beauty of rhythm and sense of rhythm. Tian Han said: Drama language should reach the extreme in the harmony of "internal rhythm" and "external rhythm". The so-called "internal rhythm" is the "natural ebb and flow of emotions" and "external rhythm" of the characters, that is, the sense of rhythm and rhythm of the drama language (1 1).

This poetic tendency is naturally related to accepting the influence of western romanticism, but we can't ignore the projection function of the accepting subject and integrate into the artistic spirit of the nation, including the quality of the national opera. Luacs once pointed out: "Any truly profound and significant influence cannot be created by any foreign literature, unless there is a very similar literary tendency-at least a potential tendency-in the countries concerned, which promotes the maturity of the influence of foreign literature, because the real influence is always a potential liberation, and it is this potential liberation that makes great foreign writers promote their own culture-not those who follow the fashion. (12) The poetic tendency of the Romantic School in the May 4th drama is precisely the liberation and outbreak of the poetic traditional potential of China's drama. Drama theorists in China have always regarded drama as the evolution and branch of poetry. The so-called "poetry changes words, words change songs", so it is also called "drama poetry". The poetic feature of China's traditional drama has always been "the subject of the poet, hidden in the relationship between the characters of the events in the drama, and by looking at things, he can reach the position of not knowing what things are." "The characteristics of dramatic actions are also lyrical." The poetic characteristics of characterization are "giving up feelings", "living with the scene" and "getting the spirit from the body". The plot design should be both legendary and "not only true and new, but also emotional". The strangeness of the plot can not be separated from the feelings of the characters. In dramatic conflicts, we also attach importance to the composition of inner conflicts (13). The poetic and lyrical traditions of China's dramas are integrated with western romantic dramas and even modernist dramas, forming the poetic tendency of the May 4th Romantic dramas.

Poetic realism in China's plays is first manifested in romantic dramas, and realized through the interaction and transformation between romanticism and realism schools. Tian Han's Tiger Catching Night and Death of Famous Brand embody some features of poetic realism in May 4th drama. The night of catching tigers is different from his sentimental romantic drama, and it does not reveal some philosophies through subjective poetic rendering and galloping feelings; Instead, it extracts dramatic conflicts from the contradictions in real life, combines poetic lyricism with real and vivid plots, and makes it a tragedy of poetic realism. Shan Ye's poetry, national color and delicate dialogue are also very real. Death of a Famous Brand, from Brahma on the Rose to Suzhou Nighttalk, can be said to be a realistic poetic answer to explore the social destiny of art and artists. Although it was inspired by Baudelaire's prose poem A Heroic Death, its poetic passion is rooted in the realistic and tragic fate of China artists. He refined and sublimated the real tragedy of Liu Hongsheng, an old Peking Opera student, into a poetic real tragedy. Tian Han's transition from romanticism to realism is of typical significance. He integrated the poetic aesthetic tendency of romanticism into the aesthetic principle of realism, and achieved the infiltration and integration of creative methods, which played a pioneering role in China's drama realism moving towards poetic realism. It's a pity that he didn't go all the way along this route.

Cao Yu and Xia Yan, who really laid the cornerstone of poetic realism? On the one hand, Cao Yu's poetic realism was influenced by the May 4th Romantic literature (including drama literature). His early poems and novels, such as Nanfengqu, I bid farewell to a beautiful pedestrian at the end of April, and Where to sober up today, all had romantic influences and tendencies. On the one hand, it echoes the trend of the combination of reality and poetry in the modern world drama art, and John Gasnat points out that modern playwrights try to make the two possible realms of reality and poetry reach the extreme of beauty, or try to make them completely consistent or overlap. "(14) These modern playwrights include Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, maeterlinck, John Galsworthy, Bernard Shaw, O 'Neill and Brecht. At the same time, it also learned the artistic experience and lessons of the May 4th drama creation. In particular, he organically integrated China's artistic spirit, artistic methods and means into the drama. After the publication of his first drama Thunderstorm, when someone said it was a drama about social problems, Cao Yu replied, "I wrote a poem, a narrative poem. Forgive me, I am by no means Ibsen's story. I have never had such a bold hope to imitate him everywhere. This poem is not necessarily beautiful, but it must give people a new feeling when reading it. Although there are some practical things (such as strikes, etc. ) is by no means a social drama. " This passage (15) can't be regarded as general creative experience if it is associated with his Preface to Thunderstorm and Aftersunrise. It seems to be a declaration of poetic realism in China's plays. The "poetry" he said can't be understood as foreign "poetry", but China's "poetry", which embodies the national artistic spirit and the connotation of poetry category. Poetic realism is the combination of China people's poetic wisdom, poetic means and western realistic drama. This feature has almost become the universal aesthetic feature of China's realistic representative works.

First of all, in the view of truth. If the authenticity of western realistic drama tends to reproduce objective life, then it certainly permeates the playwright's subjective aesthetic creation; The poetic realism of China's plays pays more attention to the true feelings, and injects the sincerity and truth of emotions into the "truth", even because of love. For example, Cao Yu said, "Writing Thunderstorm is an urgent emotional need." "Thunderstorm is an emotional longing, a nameless fear." "The birth of thunderstorm is a kind of emotion at work, a kind of emotion fermentation." (16) This is just like the lyric tradition of China opera. For example, when Tang Xianzu wrote Peony Pavilion, he said: "I don't know, but if I go on and on, the living can die, and those who die but can't be resurrected are not affectionate." (17) raised the true feelings to a height beyond everything, and at the same time cast the ideal feelings into knowledge. For example, Cao Yu's and Xia Yan's plays are filled with a sense of mission, writing a flash of hope in the cruel reality and gray life. Although Xia Yan wrote more about humble little people and dirty lives, he found: "What the eyes can see is almost an irreparable levee, but what the eyes can't see is like the spring tide that shows strength when encountering resistance." (18) is compatible with romanticism in poetic realism, which not only has the influence of advanced ideological trends, but also shines with distinct colors of the times and embodies the national artistic spirit. I call this truth "poetic truth".

Secondly, what is related to the pursuit of poetic truth is the creation of dramatic images. Image is a traditional poetic category of China. The poetic realism of China's plays has a common pursuit, that is, to create dramatic images under the traditional leadership. Liu Xie said that "it is good to have a glimpse of its image" (19), while Wang Tingxiang said that "in fact, words and symbols have little aftertaste, and feelings are straightforward but difficult for animals. Therefore, the image display ... "(20) What the image requires is the harmonious unity of the scene, which is an organic, internal, harmonious, complete and meaningful realm. It has radioactive reference function. Through the concrete and true description of specific situations, images and characters, it is endowed with deeper and richer connotations. The poetic realism of China's plays pays special attention to the creation of dramatic images, the pursuit of true poetry, the creation of artistic conception and the use of symbols. For example, the image of thunderstorm in Thunderstorm, the image of plum rain under the eaves of Shanghai, the image of seeking in Ode to Autumn Sound, the image of snow in Snowy Night, the image of fog in Chongqing in Fog City and so on. All these images unify the description of details, the fate of real objects and characters, and the conflict of drama in this specific dramatic image. The image of Thunderstorm is the dramatic atmosphere of the whole Thunderstorm, the rhythm of plot development, the symbol of destroying the world power, the ebb and flow of characters' personality and feelings, and the poetic realm of the scene blending into the writer's thunderstorm-like enthusiasm.