China's model works, the so-called eight great model works' are rarely thought of as literature', not only because they are of course, performance works, but because they are not thought of in the normative sense as a form of dramatic literature, but as a form of propaganda. This thesis investigates the relationship between propaganda and art by concentrating on the texts of these works and, in particular, by analysing the structure of a narrative type which is not just a blueprint for dramatic texts but a design for the Chinese revolutionary narrative, as embodied in Mao Zedong's key utterances on literature and art, and `told' or enacted, by the campaign to reform Beijing opera undertaken by his wife, Jiang Qing.

In order to understand the precise nature of this narrative, and its relationship with theatre and the broader political arena of the Cultural Revolution, an analysis is undertaken of literary theory in both the Soviet Union and China, followed by an analysis of the aesthetic at work in the particular combinations of realism and romanticism which were discussed and implemented in each country. After a detailed examination of the way the campaign to reform Beijing opera was conducted, including the promulgation and display' of key documents and speeches by Mao and Jiang Qing, sample texts are analysed according to a method which illustrates the design of the narrative. These texts, and the model works in general, are then considered in relation to some general observations about genres of mythology and their relationship with folklore. Finally, a particular dramatic' relationship is suggested between the narrative design of the models, and the conduct of the Cultural Revolution itself. In the course of this, the notion of mythology is discussed in the context of its complex relationship with ideology and popular culture, as identified by Roland Barthes in particular, with his often enigmatic emphasis on the semiology' of myth. The complex blend of cultural theories which may be brought to bear on this discussion is re-visited, with a view to understanding the model works as a genre of proletarian' mythology which might yet survive the Cultural Revolution as a substantive dramatic genre. In conclusion, the relationship between theatre, narrative and semiotics is pursued, in attempting to establish a key difference between the aesthetic `method' employed in the model works and that of socialist realism. This difference, it is argued, is the product of a basic approach to mythic romanticism which preserves the essential traditions of Beijing opera, and makes the models legitimate heir to this tradition, in spite of the bitter memories of the Cultural Revolution and its tragic campaigns.