PROPEDEUTICS OF POETIC DECLAMATION IN MAOIST CHINA

The paper examines the first attempts at a structured written fixation of the rules for voicing Chinese contemporary poetry, appearing since the late 1950s. These are manuals for teaching poetry recitation, created until the end of the Mao era, which contain detailed technical instructions for the preparation of reciters. They serve as unique material for describing how declamatory practice was regulated in line with the general language regulation of the PRC and, above all, promoting the new standard in prejudice of various regional idioms. These texts make it possible to see general trends in the evolution of "new poetry" ( xin shi ) towards the revival of certain techniques and characteristics of various forms of traditional verse and to assess the relations of the oral and the written in a Chinese poetic text composed and articulated using contemporary diction.