• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.37
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• pp.61-94
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• 2018

This article examined that the historical changes and current significance of the Jaedam(재담) and the Xiangsheng(相聲), one of the traditional Korean and Chinese language games. Both Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng are representative language games and traditional performing arts for laughing. The origin of the Jaedam can be traced back to Uheui(우희). Uheui has been called Changyouxi in China, Bae Woo-hee, and Jo Hee in Korea. Uheui is the most traditional language game and a variety of performances were derived from its spreading and inheriting process. Among them, Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng can be said to be a piece of art that has successfully inherited Uheui tradition. From the late 18th century, Korean Jaedam were established as independent performance arts, and became highly active in many performance by professional joker Park Chun-jae and other performers. With the development of gramophone record in the early 20th century, the Jaedam was mainly made on the theater stage and radio. At this time, the new performance art of 'Mandam(만담)' was derived from the Jaedam, which focused more on satire current events and criticizing the social situation. Mandam has been popular for a long time and then extinct in the 21st century. The jaedam have been handed down only in the Korean traditional performance so far. Meanwhile, Chinese Xiangsheng, which was built in the mid-19th century, a bit later than Korean Jaedam, was initially considered to be a vulgar art of the lower class, but finally became popular in the early 20th century. In the mid-20th century, Xiangsheng was transformed into a new character, which mainly deals with social praise and edification of the masses. But since 'New Xiangsheng' does not focous on a satire on social conditions, the humor has been reduced. In the early 21st century, Xiangsheng was on the verge of extinction just like Mandam, but through the efforts of young actors to revive tradition, another reformation of this art was made to return to tradition and small theater. Currently, the 'traditional Xiangsheng', which has returned to tradition, is once again receiving the love and support of the Chinese audience. Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng have many similarities in terms of history and recruitment, but they are now in different fates. There is also a great deal in common ground in terms of the content and form of the two arts. In the case of Xiangsheng, it is one of the traditional folk art forms which is still loved by the Chinese people and has become one of the most important traditional performances. On the other hand, in Korea, Jaedam as independent performance arts has disappeared and now only can be seen in traditional performances such as 'Korean mask theater'. The fact that Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng have undergone similar changes in their spreading and inheriting process, while Korean Jaedam have disappeared and Chinese Xiangsheng is well preserved. The reason can be confirmed through the main idea of this article.