Modem Chinese Drama and Its Western Models: A Critical Reconstruction of Chinese Subjectivity

Abstract

The formation and development of modem Chinese spoken drama in the first half of the twentieth century has been intrinsically connected with the profound social and historical transformation of China through traumatic contact with the West. The Opium War in 1840, waged by the British government upon the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644- 1912) with the purpose of making China into a market for British capitalists, led to the Treaty of Nanjing, signed by defeated China in 1842, which legitimized British encroachment upon the Chinese economy and its political sovereignty. Other imperialist powers, such as France and Germany, followed this example; and by 1900, western industrial countries had established claims in 13 out of the 18 provinces of China. Confronted with this situation, some of China's educated elite became acutely aware of the immediate dangers to the nation's survival; leading Chinese writers were forced to recognize first, the necessity to appropriate significant aspects of western science, technology, and ideas, and second, the urgent need to reform China's dynastic political system to meet the demands of self-defense. For the purpose of promoting such a national reawakening, Kunqu (a type of Chinese opera from the South), Peking Opera, and various other Chinese traditional dramatic and ballad forms were used, among other types of media, to convey a sense of crisis and embody the message of reform.