这是一部具有开创意义的中国民间戏曲史著作。按中国民间文学的文体分类，民间戏曲被称为“小戏＂。“小戏＂即短剧，是民间戏曲具有代表性的形态。本书以明清两代成熟的小戏作品为研究重心，通过回溯中国古代文学史暨戏曲史上早期具有戏剧因素的民间文艺作品，明确古代民间戏曲的传统承袭和传承脉络。书中指出，民间戏曲并非孤立的存在，它的发展成熟以及繁荣，在任何时代都有多种动因合力推动。这动因既来自深邃悠远的历史，也来自生机勃勃的现实；既源于草根民众的原始创造力，也来自文人士子的摩挲修饰；既源于民间草台前的万众引颈而观，也来自文士厅堂甚或皇家宫廷里的凝神欣赏。对于曾经在数百年间陪伴很多代人度过了欢乐时光的小戏作品，今天人们有了疏离感，但本书揭示出，它们曾经的存在状态很是闪亮鲜活，它们包含的传统文化因子堪称丰富深厚。

这部著作不仅第一次将数百年间著名的民间小戏作品做了纵向历时的汇集和梳理，呈现了民间戏曲发展的历史状态，还揭示了民间戏曲发展的社会历史动因，探讨作品中包含的人性善恶、生活智慧、大众趣味及其艺术表现的得失。通过透视深藏于小戏作品中的历史文化蕴含可以看到，原来历史并不遥远，古人思考的有些问题，今人仍需面对。更进一步，书中对以往学术界相关的研究成果，在给予充分关注和研究的基础上，做了辨析和辩证。从这些方面说，这部著作在相关研究领域具有奠基的性质和意义。

This is a groundbreaking work on the history of Chinese folk opera. According to the stylistic classification of Chinese folk literature, folk opera is called "small opera". "Small opera" is a representative form of folk opera. This book focuses on the mature small opera works of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and clarifies the traditional inheritance and inheritance of ancient folk opera by reviewing the early folk art works with dramatic elements in the history of ancient Chinese literature and opera. The book points out that folk opera does not exist in isolation, and its development and prosperity are driven by a variety of motives in any era. This motivation comes from both a deep and distant history and a living reality; It comes both from the original creativity of the grassroots people and from the decoration of the literati; It comes from the crowd in front of the folk grass platform, and also from the intently appreciation in the hall of the scribes or even the royal court. Today, people feel alienated from the small operas that have accompanied many generations of happy times for hundreds of years, but this book reveals that their former state of existence is very shiny and vivid, and the traditional cultural elements they contain are rich and profound. This work not only collects and sorts out the famous folk opera works for hundreds of years for the first time, presenting the historical status of the development of folk opera, but also reveals the social and historical motives of the development of folk opera, and discusses the good and evil of human nature, the wisdom of life, the public interest and the gains and losses of its artistic expression contained in the works. Through the perspective of the historical and cultural connotations hidden in the small opera works, we can see that the original history is not far away, and some of the problems that the ancients thought about still need to be faced today. Furthermore, the book analyzes and dialectically analyzes and dialectically the previous academic related research results on the basis of giving full attention and research. In these respects, this work has the nature and significance of a foundation in related research fields.（AI翻译）