Chinese Theatre

Tosco, Alessandro, “‘To repay grace is no madness’: fathers sacrificing sons in Chinese dramas of the Yuan Dynasty”, in Italian Association for Chinese Studies. Selected Papers 3, edited by E. Giunipero & C. Piccinini, Cafoscarina, Venezia, 2020, pp. 168-182. ISBN: 9788875434755.

Read as a form of social document, one of the most interesting areas of life illuminated by the huapu (" flower-guides, " that is, theatergoers' lists, rankings, and descriptions of the Beijing theater's boy-actors), is what they show us in relation to literati leisure in nineteenth-century Beijing. In this paper I employ the spatial/relational tropes of parergon, ekphrasis, and heterotopia to consider how huapu texts are positioned as supplement in relation to the staging of dramatic works, to boy-actors' performance and embodiment of erotic fantasy, as well as to performance and play among aspiring paragons of gentlemanly refinement. Doubly turned away from the stage and from public events, huapu celebrate several levels of subjective taste and deploy varying tropes of social exchange, and it was by playing with these things that they also recorded and reproduced a literati need to play with contemporary confusion around the place of private and public discourse.

This chapter discusses how jingju (Beijing opera) managed to prosper around 1930 when Shanghai became a locus of constant conflicts, uprisings and social unrests that involved nations, classes, warlords, and political parties against the overall background of civil wars in China. It argues that the Shanghai Green Gang, a criminal organization, played a significant role in jingju’s stable development and commercial success under the unique circumstances. Because of the absence of a dominant political power in war-impacted Shanghai, the Green Gang as an irreplaceable intermediary struck a balance among various powers and established its economic, political and social influences. As one of its industries to make cash and reputation, the market of jingju was manipulated and facilitated by the Green Gang. Among its means to monopolize the jingju business, advantageous capital investment and illegal acts were the most effective. As theatrical activities in wartime are largely dichotomized by standstills or prosperity due to political propaganda, the relationship between the Green Gang and jingju in Shanghai demonstrates another perspective for reflecting on war and theatrical production.

DESCRIPTION
Transnational Chinese Theatres is the first systematic study of networks of performance collaboration in the contemporary Chinese-speaking world and of their interactions with the artistic communities of the wider East Asian region. It investigates the aesthetics and politics of collaboration to propose a new transnational model for the analysis of Sinophone theatre cultures and to foreground the mobility and relationality of intercultural performance in East Asia. The research draws on extensive fieldwork, interviews with practitioners, and direct observation of performances, rehearsals, and festivals in Asia and Europe. It offers provocative close readings and discourse analysis of an extensive corpus of hitherto untapped sources, including unreleased video materials and unpublished scripts, production notes, and archival documentation.

CONTENTS
1. Introduction: A Tale of Multiple Cities—Setting the Stage for Transnational Chinese Theatres
2. Rhizomes, Radicants, and Journeys: Transnational Chinese Theatres as Networks of Intercultural Collaboration
3. Hong Kong Transfers: Transmedial Travels in the Theatre of Relations
4. Performing the 38th Parallel Across the Taiwan Strait: Territorial Divides and Theatrical Dialogues in East Asia
5. Trans-Asian Spectropoetics: Conjuring War and Violence on the Haunted Stage of History
6. Epilogue: Out of Asia—Transnational Chinese Theatres’ Global Itineraries

In 1838, the French Sinologist Antoine Bazin translated and
published an anthology entitled Le Théâtre chinois (The Chinese Theatre), in which Zheng Dehui’s Tchao-meï-hiang (or Zhou Mei Xiang, literally “The Smart Housemaid Meï-hiang”) was classified as a “comedy.” Bazin argued that the Chinese theatre, especially the comedy, reflected Chinese social manners and customs. To the contemporary French critics, the charm of this romantic love story came from its elegant dramatic language and well-constructed plot. They compared it to Marivaux’s comedy and praised its delicate “Marivaudage” writing style. Little did they know that Chinese critics considered Tchao-meï-hiang nothing but a plagiary of Wang Shifu’s Xi Xiang Ji (“The Story of the Western Wing”). The French critics’ misinformed judgment resulted from the much-delayed translation of Xi Xiang Ji, by Stanislas Julien, published posthumously between 1872-1880.
In his French work, Le Théâtre des Chinois: étude de moeurs comparées (“The Theatre of Chinese People: A Comparative Study of Manners,” 1886) the Chinese diplomat Tcheng Ki-tong quoted Bazin’s translation of Tchao meï-hiang to describe the function of the songs in the play, and the image and purpose of the role of maids. On the other hand, adaptions of Tchao meï-
hiang also appeared in the late 19th century. The most notable among them is Judith Gautier’s short story, and the play script based on it. In 1900, a new translation of Tchao-meï-hiang was put on the stage of the World Exposition as a representative Chinese play. Up until mid- 20th century, most anthologies of Chinese plays published in France had included Bazin’s Tchao-meï-hiang, either in versions revised, re-translated, or translated-in-part. In this study, I will examine all these translations
and adaptations of Tchao-meï-hiang, and use them to analyze the reception of one of the most appreciated Chinese comedies in France.

Key words: Tchao-meï-hiang (Zhou Meixiang), Zheng Dehui, France,
zaju, translation.

A New Book by Scott Park Phillips will be the first cultural history of Chinese martial arts. Every day, millions of people practice Chinese martial arts. Most of them would love to read a history that not only incorporates all the latest research, but also uses easily accessible language to connect history to the art they practice. Everyone wants to know where their martial art came from and how it was created—the real story.

Possible Origins provokes and answers questions like: What is a sworn brotherhood? How do talismans work? Why does Taijiquan have so much mime in it? Why does Baguazhang look like a guy riding around on roller skates? Was the Shaolin Monastery a theater school?

Up until now, histories of Chinese martial arts have been ignoring Chinese culture. Possible Origins: A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts,Theater, and Religion shows how the practice of martial arts has preserved religious and theatrical traditions hidden inside of martial skills. With 40 images and a straightforward account of the various historical and cultural factors involved, it is easily accessible to the non-specialist.

From Angry Baby Books ( 2016)

Investigación de tesis de licenciatura en donde se aborda la integración de la ópera de Beijing, el teatro occidental, enfocando la mirada en el teatro de la crueldad de Antonin Artaud en la dramaturgia de Gao Xingjian, autor chino que exiliado luego de la revolución cultural logra hacer un sincretismo de oriente, occidente y su propia poeisis.

Politics, People-ness, and Debate over Realism: The Soviet Perspective of Mei Lanfang’s Tour to USSR in Mei Lan-Fang and the Chinese Theatre
《梅兰芳与中国戏剧》一书由苏联对外文化交流协会在1935年梅兰芳访苏前编写，通过文本细读，并结合当时的国际政治和苏联国内政治背景，可以考察访苏事件的苏联视角。其观点、选篇、插图等方面均暗含了潜文本，提示访苏事件的政治性。苏联将戏曲纳入社会主义现实主义框架的同时，规约地暗示“封建”戏曲应凸显人民性，反映人民迫切关心的现实。在梅兰芳与斯坦尼体系之间，形式主义与现实主义之间，苏联官方认为，现实主义的斯坦尼体系具有普世性，而戏曲形式虽好，却与官方批判的“形式主义”及其倡导者共谋，当被淡化。书中不乏苏联观念的投射和不同话语的争端，而就苏联国内外政治而言，书中观点和选篇表明了苏联扩大国际影响、却又日趋保守的矛盾处境。

Translated and introduced by Antonio Leggieri
Feng Weimin's zaju play Seng Ni Gong Fan (A Monk and a Nun Commit a Sin Together) broke away from the canonical zaju tradition while preserving some of its elements. Feng's language created strong characters and modified well-known sayings and images, for original effect. Feng gave characters strong motivations as he developed the plot. The analysis shows the intention of the text and its ideological focal points, clarifying the influence of Feng's zaju on other Ming theatre genres.

“The subject matter of post-modern art is not reality, but rather the passive substance of pre-contemporary art” – wrote Andrzej Książek, an art theorist, in his text Sztuka przeciw Sztuce. Z teorii awangardy XX wieku (Art against art. From the theory of the avant-garde of the twentieth century). He based his observations on the concepts of
philosophers such as Ihab Hassan (b. 1925), Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924–1998) and Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), and also on aestheticians, such as Maria Gołaszewska (1926–2015) and practitioners like Charles Jencks (b. 1936). On the basis of their theories, he pointed out that what characterises post-modernism is its, “plurality of styles, movements and trends, peculiar eclecticism” and the involvement of the viewer in the process of creation. Thus, invoking pre-contemporary culture, being in itself a game played with the viewer, who has to identify and decipher any such references included in a piece of art, is a significant strategy employed by contemporary artists.

The aim of this article is to identify and analyse references to gender in Chinese opera (xiqu 戏曲), which are present in contemporary works by artists from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

My research in the field of photographic projects, video-art and works of installation art, allows me to identify three main ways to refer to Chinese
classical theatre. The first group, are those works influenced by jingju 京剧 (Beijing opera or Peking opera) and Sichuanese opera (chuanju 川剧) costume and make-up. These kind of references are the easiest to recognise. The second group depicts the gestures and poses of actors. Their identification, as well as those of the third kind of references, require some basic knowledge in the field of xiqu. Plots, excerpts of stories and main characters from plays are the last type of influences. These references are often mixed or integrated.

Introduction to the piece "Teahouse" and to the author, first Italian translation of the piece with notes on translation, investigation of the contemporary impact of "Teahouse" (brands, tourism, film, and particularly of the 2010 main melody tv-series on CCTV)

Hong Shen is best known as one of the founding fathers of spoken drama (huaju), and his plays and his roles as a dramatist have been widely acknowledged. In this essay, Xuelei Huang traces Hong’s personal life and reveals his ambiguous identities, multiple roles, and border-crossing activities. Drawing for source material mainly from the Republican-era popular print press, especially tabloid newspapers (xiaobao), fan magazines, and pictorials, she examines the image of Hong as reflected through the lens of popular journalism, focusing mainly on three aspects: his whereabouts, his circles of friends, and his family and personal life. This examination reveals that Hong Shen navigated various fields that crossed boundaries between old and new, left and right, and elite and popular, and his particular experiences and characteristics were common traits of Chinese intellectuals of the Republican period. The popular press sheds light on the gray area of Hong’s life and many facets of this image have been erased in later master historical narratives or narratives of the history of drama. An intimate look at Hong’s personal life also invites us to rethink the validity of conventional politically motivated groupings and the complex nature of the Republican-era cultural field.

Italian Commedia dell’arte was part of Huang Zuolin’s studies aimed at the articulation of his xieyi (写意) concept of theatre. In the Sixties, when Chinese dramas were performed according to the standards of revolutionary realism and Stanislavsky’s method, Huang Zuolin endeavoured to create a new method which supported the ideology of socialist China as well as maintaining the essence of national culture. Huang merged Western theatre with traditional Chinese theatre, focusing not only on Brecht, Stanislavsky and Beijing Opera, but also on Commedia dell’Arte in order to improve Chinese huaju artistic forms. The aim of this paper is to illustrate Huang Zuolin’s study of Italian improvised theatre and his comparative work with Chinese traditional theatre in order to create an alternative to Stanislavsky’s method and to promote the renovation of Chinese theatre. This paper will focus on how Huang traces the history of Commedia dell’Arte and its importance for the development of modern realistic theatre worldwide. Huang read Commedia dell’Arte as the origin of modern European the- atre and connected it to Stanislavsky, who had an important ideological value for Chinese revolution- ary theatre. In this way Huang directly linked Commedia dell’arte to Chinese theatre and included it among the artistic forms supported by the Chinese Government. This paper will ultimately illustrate how Huang compared Commedia dell’arte to Beijing Opera, how he connected it to Chinese tradition and how he suggested employing Italian theatre to improve Chinese comic theatre techniques. (http://vestnik.spbu.ru/html17/s13/s13v1/s13v1E.html)

The chapter takes an expansive approach to the notion of Trans-Asia to explore the potential of "trans-Asian theatricalities" to comprise intercultural contacts taking place both within and outside the confines of geopolitical Asia. It investigates the nexus of the trans-Asian and the transpacific along the Sino-Hispanophone geolinguistic axis through an analysis of the first production of a contemporary Chinese play in Latin America. The chapter presents a relational study of the Chinese and Peruvian performances of "The Crowd", a dramatization of the Chongqing armed fights of 1967/68 written by Shanghai-based author Nick Rongjun Yu and premiered at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2015 in the aftermath of the Umbrella Movement of 2014. The analysis of the transculturation of narratives and imageries of the Chinese Cultural Revolution takes into account both the realm of theatrical production and the performative reproduction of political behaviour in the appropriation of Maoist ideology in Peru.

本文以無名氏撰《貨郎旦》為例，分析元雜劇在法國的翻譯、改編及其接受過程所衍生的意義流動。本文首先關注法國漢學家巴贊（Antoine-Pierre-Louis Bazin）收於《中國戲劇選》（Théâtre chinois，1838）裡的《貨郎旦》譯本，根據譯本對於「貨郎」等關鍵詞和概念的理解，以及譯本文字增刪、形式調整等面向，從而檢視譯本與原作之間的敘事視角差異與主題偏移。為了解時人對於《貨郎旦》的接受，本文根據馬南（Charles Magnin）的評論進行分析，指出法國讀者如何看待《貨郎旦》所揭示的中國社會與風俗。此外，本文也進一步以俞第德（Judith Gautier）根據《貨郎旦》改編的《賣笑婦》（La Marchande de sourires）為例，說明中國戲曲的域外傳播是如何通過翻譯的再翻譯進行跨文化的實踐。
關鍵詞：元雜劇、《貨郎旦》、巴贊、俞第德、戲曲翻譯

本文以李健吾改譯自《費朵拉》（Fedora, 1882）的《喜相逢》（1944）為例，試析李健吾於抗戰期間的戲劇創作如何進行跨語際、跨文化的實踐。《費朵拉》原為法國劇作家薩杜（Victorien Sardou）為名伶貝恩哈特（Sarah Bernhardt）量身訂做，以通俗劇筆法結合浪漫主義、警探小說等元素，藉歐洲虛無黨的暗殺行動作為故事基底，鋪陳男女之間的愛戀、復仇以及因誤解而導致殉情的悲劇，演出極為賣座。《喜相逢》場景則跨轉至對日抗戰期間，藉敵偽／情敵身分之難辨、潛伏者／地下情之交錯等劇情線，改寫為上海灘一齣因恨相逢、因愛分離的大時代奇情劇。李健吾此劇演出之後反應熱烈，並有改編的廣播劇《愛與恨》等不同版本問世。值得注意的是，李健吾在一九四○年代雖改譯多齣薩杜的戲劇作品，如《花信風》、《風流債》，以及抗戰後出版的《金小玉》等，但薩杜並非首次進入中國現代戲劇的視野。早在二十世紀初期，即有新劇團體如春柳社等根據日譯本演出的薩杜作品，可說是現代中文戲劇發展史上的重要遺產。本文特別關注作為法國文學翻譯專家的李健吾如何理解法語原作，又基於何種思維與動機將其轉寫為話劇版本。通過法語原文與中文改譯本的比對，本文期望能進一步釐清李健吾對於薩杜戲劇／話劇遺產的承繼，思索改譯自法國戲劇的作品如何在李健吾筆下參與中國話劇發展的進程，以及中國話劇在跨文化轉譯過程中所產生的動能。

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2012 adaptation of Ji Junxiang’s Orphan of Zhao was a negotiation of Chinese and Western theatrical tradition. As opposed to Western theatre’s formalistic appropriation of the East in the 20th century and Asian theatre’s import of Western texts, RSC’s adaptation revealed a new paradigm in intercultural theatre in Europe. With reference to Erika Fischer-Lichte’s concept of ‘interweaving performance cultures’, this paper analyses its adaptation strategy by situating this rendition within the larger context of contemporary theatrical interculturalism. It argues that, despite its pursuit and claim of authenticity, RSC unwittingly altered the socio-cultural and aesthetic characteristics of the original according to Western mind-set and theatrical tradition, which led to both positive and negative results. This highlights the influence of the adaptor’s personal agency on the fruit of intercultural adaptation, which necessitates more attention than it usually receives.

Much of the public discourse on China relates largely to the country's expanding economic and military power. The result can be that regular Americans and policymakers alike ignore the diverse arts that flourish in or come from China. :::: In this roundtable discussion, scholars Alexa Alice Joubin, professor at the George Washington University and Alison Friedman, Executive and Artistic Director for Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, discuss their studies and personal experiences relating to the arts and China. :::: Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rediscover-china-through-the-arts-tickets-290728676297

Kinesko tradicionalno pozorište ima dugu istoriju i veoma je kompleksno. Javna izvođenja stara su koliko i sama kineska civilizacija, a potekla su od religijskih i sekularnih rituala, ceremonija koje su uključivale ples i druge vrste izvođenja. Neke od njih još uvek postoje i možemo ih identifikovati kao neku vrstu prethodnice kineske drame. Najraniji tragovi pozorišnih predstava u Kini mogu se naći još u dinastiji Shang i oni su često uključivali mimove i akrobatiku. Sa tačke gledišta istorije drame, najznačajniji su popularni oblici zabave koji su za vreme dinastije Han postali poznati kao " Cirkus (predstava) stotinu igara " , kao i različiti oblici lutkarskih predstava i pozorišta senki. " Cirkus stotinu igara " je, pre nego što se razvio u toku dinastije Han, bio samo vrsta narodne, pučke zabave, a od tada se izvodio i na samom dvoru. Predstavljao je pravi spektakl koji su činili: muzika, ples, zaji (akrobacije), borilačke veštine, vizuelni i zvučni efekti (tada naročito popularni), određene maske itd. Cilj ovih predstava bio je da zabave publiku. Sledeće doba značajno za razvoj kineskog tradicionalnog pozorišta bilo je doba dinastije Tang, tzv. " Razdoblje hiljadu zabava ". Tada počinje razvoj DRAME i DRAMSKOG IZVOĐENJA. Usled prepričavanja budističkih žitija, dolazi do začetka izvođačkih delatnosti. Narodni umetnici počinju da pripovedaju prvo o budističkim temama, a zatim i o nekim temama iz narodne istorije. Ulični i pijačni pripovedači dobijaju na značaju i postaju bitni za dramu u narednim dinastijama. Tokom vladavine cara Xuanzong-a, osniva se carska glumačka i muzička akademija poznata kao " Vrt Krušaka " ili Líyuán (kineski: 6 8 A 8 5 6 E D), verovatno prva prava muzička akademija na svetu. Xuanzong je težio da proizvede oblik drame koji se zasnivao na muzici. Zbog toga se u kasnijim dinastijama naziv " Vrt Krušaka " koristio kao sinonim za kinesku operu. Za vreme dinastije Yuan došlo je do naglog procvata drame kao književnog i scenskog žanra. Zaju, forma klasične tradicionalne drame, najveće je dostignuće u istoriji kineske književnosti u ovom periodu. Shodno muzičkom karakteru izvođenja, u njima su se kao lirske partije ili arije koristili stihovi koji su komponovani uz severnjačke melodije poznate kao sǎnqǔ (6 5 6 3 6 6 F 2) ili samo qǔ (6 6 F 2), premda danas nemamo sačuvane nikakve muzičke deonice ili notne zapise. Juenska drama predstavlja neprikosnoveni začetak svih kasnije razvijenih, različitih tipova kineskog pozorišta, odnosno onoga što danas nazivamo kineska opera. Mali broj ovih komada ima zanimljive zaplete i događaje, dijalozi su većinom konvencionalni, a nemа preterаne kаrаkterizаcije i psihologizаcije likovа kаo u zаpаdnoj trаdiciji – težilo se modelima. Konfucijanska etika je podrazumevala pojednostavljene modele u koje su likovi dela morali da se uklapaju, bilo da su u pitanju modeli idealnog ponašanja koji podrazumevaju hijerarhiju u kineskom društvu (protagonisti), ili su to modeli onih koji u potpunosti odstupaju od toga (antagonisti). Prisutni su dijalozi, premda u mаnjoj meri, i scenske akcije (ples, borilačke veštine, akrobacije i dr.). Iz tih rаzlogа su se više okretаli imаginаtivnoj poeziji, koja se sa svoje strane pokazala kao zahvalno sredstvo za naznake karaktera likova, ali i sredstvo za istraživanje emocija usled naizgled protivrečnog ispoljavanja likova na sceni. Ako se izuzmu didaskalije, nije postojala nikakva institucija reditelja, već se celokupna izvedba zasnivala se na glumačkom ostvarenju. U pogledu pripovedanja drame, sadržaj je uglavnom bio izlagan hronološki, u određenoj narativnoj sekvenci, tako da dramska struktura uglavnom nosi sa sobom određene tematske duplikacije. U celokupnom izvođenju naglasak je bio na teatričnosti, a ne na dramaturgiji. Zbog toga su kineske drame strukturalno znatno fleksibilnije od starogrčkih, u kojima se vodilo računa o aristotelovskom

English Abstract:
Since the eighteenth century, Chinese drama has been known to European readers because of Prémare’s French translation of The Chinese Orphan [Zhaoshi guer]. However, no Chinese performers have been found on French professional theater stage before the First Opium War (1838-1842). In this paper, I have examined the Chinese performers’ activities in French theater in the second half of the nineteenth century. Based on archives and contemporary newspapers, my research begins from the program of the “Rose of Nanking” in 1851 and ends with the Chinese acrobatic show in the Exposition universelle in 1900. The research objects include Chinese jugglers, acrobats, musicians, actors and playwrights. The types of their performances consist of theater companies’ touring, individual presentations, commercial shows, and performances given in (colonial) exhibitions. In addition, I have consulted Chinese diplomats’ travelling notes, in which they have mentioned their Chinese compatriots’ performances in Europe. Through a cross-reading of these documents and writings, I have tried to explore the details of the performers and performances concerned.""

中文摘要：
中國戲曲文本之西傳，可上溯至十八世紀之由馬若瑟神父法譯之《趙氏孤兒》。然而直至十九世紀中英鴉片戰爭之後，中國表演藝人才逐漸為歐洲觀眾所認識。本文藉由報刊、檔案的整理與考察，企圖探索十九世紀下半葉法國戲劇舞台上的中國藝人活動。研究時間從1851年「南京玫瑰」及其戲班的演出開始，至1900年巴黎萬國博覽會上的中國雜技表演為止。全文涉及之藝人，包括雜耍與馬戲演員、音樂表演者、戲曲伶人與劇本創作文人等。演出模式則包括戲班巡演、個人演出、商業劇院演出，以及展覽會性質的示範展演等。除了徵引法文史料之外，本文亦參酌同時期中國外交官之旅歐筆記與相關出版，藉由東西方文獻的對照比對，進一步補充前人研究尚未發掘之材料，並試圖釐清相關戲曲演出之疑點。

Wenn im Mediensystem der Moderne der Autor, in der Formulierung Foucaults, seine „Rolle des Regulators von Fiktionen“ verloren hat, dann ist damit freilich nicht einfach eine Gewichtsverlagerung auf einer imaginierten Sender-Empfänger-Achse hin zum Leser gemeint. Stattdessen, so betonte Foucault vor einem halben Jahrhundert, wird die Regulierung der literarischen Polysemien „nach einem anderen Modus […] funktionieren, aber stets gemäß einem zwingenden System, das nicht mehr das des Autors sein wird, das vielmehr noch zu bestimmen und experimentell zu erproben ist.“4 Seither hat die Literaturforschung ein reiches Arsenal sachdienlicher Werkzeuge entwickelt und eine Reihe beeindruckender Studien vorgelegt, in denen anstelle der hermeneutischen Re- und Dekonstruktion von Sinn – jenseits also von Verstehen und Missverstehen, von Sinnbildung und Aufschub – die Kartierung der Diskursformationen, Medienverbünde und Akteur-Netzwerke steht, die die Zirkulation der literarischen Zeichen steuern. Die hier resümierte Theorielage erscheint nun verschoben, nämlich zugleich verkompliziert und vereinfacht, wenn man sich jenen Prozessen transkultureller Rezeption und Konstruktion zuwendet, die notwendig einen Schwerpunkt der ‚auslandsgermanistischen‘ Literaturforschung bilden. Verkompliziert insofern, als der literarische Text bzw. das literarische Werk hier einen Prozess nicht nur sprachlicher, sondern auch kultureller Übersetzung durchläuft; vereinfacht wiederum, weil für diesen speziellen Fall literarischer Rezeption mit der ‚interkulturellen Kommunikation‘ eine formidable humanwissenschaftliche Branche bereitsteht, die nicht nur international operierenden Unternehmen und Politikern, dem globalen Bildungssystem und dem Tourismus ihre Dienste offeriert, sondern deren Kategorien auch für die Beobachter globaler Kunst- und Literaturphänomene eine beachtliche Anziehungskraft besitzen.

In 2012, Zuni Icosahedron (Hong Kong), Za-Koenji Public Theatre (Tokyo), and the Jiangsu Kun Opera Theatre (Nanjing) initiated the Toki Project, an intercultural platform devoted to the transmission of kunqu and noh through contemporary performance. Originating from a Shanghai Expo 2010 commission, Toki provides a theatrical application of Chen Kuan-hsing’s influential notion of “Asia as method.” As epitomized by the yearly One Table, Two Chairs performances at Nanjing’s Toki Arts Festival, Toki partakes in Asia as method’s effort toward “decolonization, deimperialization, and de-cold war” through aesthetic and epistemological deconstruction, endorsing a dialogic model of intercultural performance as inter-Asian relation.

Practitioners of xiqu (traditional Chinese theatre) have long appropriated Western plays and theatrical ideas to modernize Chinese tradition for new theatricalities. Primarily, plays driven by plot and characterization have been selected to highlight themes germane to Enlightenment modernity. Yet recently, there have been a few intercultural attempts to adapt the so-called Absurdist drama with xiqu, in a deliberate deviation from metanarratives that have characterized modern Chinese theatre for nearly a century, to better reflect the existential conditions of contemporary individuals. By investigating the actors’ reframing of nothingness in Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe’s adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s The Chairs, this article argues that Ionesco’s original absence-presence dynamic has been displaced and transformed in the Chinese context; his concern with frightening nothingness is replaced by kunju’s philosophical reflection on emptiness, which aims at a positive negativity. This adaptation also suggests a new path for Western modernist plays to communicate with classical Chinese culture.

Since the 1980s the Taiwanese theatre troupe Contemporary Legend Theatre (CLT) has been devoted to transforming jingju by way of adapting world classics. Through an analysis of its adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (2005), this article considers how CLT pushes the boundaries of jingju acting, which is made up of singing, speaking, dance-acting and combat. To meet Beckett's challenge of performing comic failure, CLT integrates jingju restraint and Western slapstick. In so doing, CLT liberates the actors' bodies from jingju conventions to produce a new aesthetic, which also gives the original play a new metaphysical interpretation.

This dissertation centres on a series of theatrical adaptations of canonized Chinese Classical novels by Hong Kong director, Edward Lam. His adaptions are avant garde and postdramatic, grounded in his use of subversive theatre aesthetics. Elements of the original novels are deconstructed to make them relevant for contemporary audiences, while reflecting his continual attempt to confront dilemmas perpetuated by mainstream ideologies. Parallels are drawn between the rise of Chinese novels in the Late Ming Era and the present Mainland Chinese theatre in the areas of political relaxation, booming economy and growth in personal wealth. In both cases, the market phenomenon in the rise of consumption powers does not contradict the liberation of alternative values and identities. Lam’s critical attitude in theatre is similar to the writings undertaken by the literati novelists for its advocacy to liberate individual consciousness. Through a comparative analysis of the post-dramatic structure in What is Man and What is Success, one sees more than just a convergence of central concerns, but also a development of and elaborations on gender issues. Lam has shown that the division between superficial constructs of masculinity and femininity contribute to the dilemma of modern human beings. While men are often recognized as the source of patriarchy, women can be unknowing accomplices. Although Lam’s works engages on Chineseness, they are as foreign as they are Chinese and they alienate as much as they resonate. The metatheatrical nature of his works empowers individual audience members to continuously reassess their relationship within their communities, and to reconstruct their identity so that it is firmly grounded in the understanding of themselves. Lastly, Lam’s works provides an excellent case study in debunking the dichotomous myth often posited between artistic merit and commercial success.

É dito que existem três possibilidades quanto à entrada de espécimes exóticas em um dado ecossistema: sobrevivência, extinção ou mutação. Na China, também é observado este fenômeno similar nas artes cênicas, quando o teatro moderno realista ocidental foi transplantado a seu sistema cultural. Este artigo apresenta o panorama do desenvolvimento do moderno teatro na China. Para tanto, inicia-se por uma breve descrição do teatro tradicional chinês para depois expor o contexto da introdução da arte dramática ocidental, os seus principais períodos teatrais e encenações.

Palavras-chave: teatro moderno, história do teatro, China.

The modern Chinese theater: development, pitfalls and postmodernity.

Abstract: It is often said that there are three possibilities to the entry of exotic specimens in a given ecosystem: survival, extinction or mutation. In China, this phenomenon is also observed in Arts, when the Western modern realism in theater was transplanted to this cultural system. This article presents an overview of the development of modern theater in China. To do so, start by a brief description of traditional Chinese theater and then expose the context of the introduction of Western drama, its main periods and theatrical productions.

Keywords: modern theater, theater history, China.

本文試圖分析二十世紀前半期的中國戲劇對於西方「佳構劇」概念的引介
與接受，以及佳構劇作品在現代中國的傳播、翻譯與改編，尤其著重法國劇作家司克里布及其作品如何進入中國現代戲劇視野，成為啟發中國現代戲劇發展的要素之一。本文首先釐清「佳構劇」的定義，進而藉由二十世紀前半期出版的中外文學著述，回顧並檢視時人對於法國佳構劇與司克里布的認知和理解。為實際了解佳構劇本在現代中國所產生的影響，本文以司克里布原著《雅德莉安．樂可娥》為例，討論該劇在二十世紀前半期的兩個中文譯本：一是包天笑、徐卓呆根據長田秋濤日譯本轉譯為中文的《怨》（1912 年出版）；一是李健吾直接譯自法語，但加入中國戲曲元素而改編的《雲彩霞》（1947 年出版）。通過這兩個翻譯與改編版本，可以看出佳構劇在現代中國曲折的傳播與接受過程，同時也說明二十世紀前半期的跨文化戲劇實踐是如何將西方佳構劇的編劇手法與中國戲劇傳統結合，摒棄五四以來將中國傳統戲劇與西方現代戲劇一分為二的主流思潮，進而為中國現代戲劇發展提供一條可行的線索。

關鍵詞：佳構劇、雲彩霞、李健吾、法國、翻譯