Rebellion, Revolution, and Theatricality in Late Qing China

Abstract

As seen in the previous chapter, the late Qing was a perfect era for political theatre: political and economic turmoil pushed theatre artists to dramatize current affairs; the rise of popular drama gave more voice and visibility to the local artists; and the presence of Westerners provided not only competition but also artistic and ideological inspiration. Late Qing political theatre indeed existed in several forms: old local opera equipped with a political message (as in certain border-crossing plays), new opera with modern stories and political themes (as performed by certain Cantonese opera troupes devoted to promoting the 1911 Nationalist Revolution), and modern theatre with political themes (such as the productions by Spring Willow). Whether it was about social reform or revolution, political theatre around this time was inevitably concerned with the performance of an ideal Chinese identity However, in certain extreme cases, theatre ceased to be political or even theatrical; theatre became the real revolution. The focus of this chapter is such kind of extreme theatre: the staging of revolution itself, which I term revolution-theatre. Revolution-theatre did not take place on stage but in real life, in the specific contact zone formed by Han Chinese, Manchus, and Westerners.