The Debate between “Conservatism and Reformism” in Kunqu Opera in the Current Era of Global Integration

With the historical deposit of Chinese civilization, Kunqu Opera has an extremely rich cultural and artistic value. The art of Kunqu Opera has been in recession for a period of time. Since May 18, 2001, when Kunqu Opera was officially listed by UNESCO as one of the first “Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, the Chinese government has issued a series of policies and actively taken effective measures to rescue, protect and support Kunqu Opera, and the development of it is thriving again. In the current era of global integration, westernized and modernized forms of Kunqu Opera have forcefully emerged and have had a considerable impact both at home and abroad. As a result, the traditional Kunqu Opera form is constantly challenged and faced with the choice of whether to transform. Nowadays, when talking about the heritage and preservation of Kunqu Opera, there are generally two voices: “inheritance of tradition” and “reform and innovation”. The debate between “conservatism and reformism” in Kunqu Opera has intensified as the nation’s attention to Kunqu Opera has grown. In this paper, I will present the basis of the two directions of nationalization and westernization of Kunqu Opera from a dichotomous perspective, and explore the tendency of the two directions: “conservatism” or “reformism” to find out a suitable direction for the future development of the traditional Chinese art of Kunqu Opera.