ABSTRACT
Drama had its eternal functions and value. Although the public performance by various genres focused on anti-Japanese publicity, the dramatists of All-China Anti-Japanese Association of Theatrical Circles still held ‘the pursuits of new artistic forms’ while focusing on theatrical performance contributing to the Anti-Japanese War. In early 1936, after the China Left-Wing Dramatists League was disbanded, Shanghai Dramatists Sodality and Shanghai Dramatists Association were successively founded. With the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, ‘national defense drama’ naturally was transformed into anti-Japanese drama. Right after the breakout of the Anti-Japanese War, theatrical administrative organisation of Kuomintang was transferred to Wuhan, which served as an experimental venue for the drama of the anti-Japanese invasion. The policy for drama was revised so as to conform with the situation of resistance. Since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War on July 7, 1937, the booming theatrical performance in military troops gradually declined.
