The reform of Beijing opera during Chinas Cultural Revolution led to a genre of highly polished works of revolutionary modern drama and ballet which are rarely thought of as literature, not only because they are performance works, but because they are more readily seen in their political context, as propaganda. This book investigates the relationship between ideology, mass education and art by concentrating on the dramatic text of the works as a form of storytelling related to world mythology and folklore, as well as a traditional Chinese art form. The author analyses the aesthetic principle...