Resisting Spirits: Drama Reform and Cultural Transformation in the People's Republic of China by Maggie Greene

Abstract

Reviewed by: Resisting Spirits: Drama Reform and Cultural Transformation in the People's Republic of China by Maggie Greene Huihui Huang RESISTING SPIRITS: DRAMA REFORM AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. By Maggie Greene. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2019. 244 pp. Hardcover, $70.00. Ghosts and spirits appear in many literary forms, such as folk stories, plays, novels, and films, and have been important elements of Chinese literary history. The study on Chinese ghost plays, however, is very limited. Although there are a couple of books on this subject, they only focus on Chinese ghost plays in the imperial period. Maggie Greene's new book Resisting Spirits: Drama Reform and Cultural Transformation in the People's Republic of China fills in the gap on ghost literature in the high socialist period. By utilizing the approach "just reading" or "surface reading" (p. 18), Greene examines archives, published scripts, journal articles, newspapers, and memoirs. Looking at the history of reform of ghost opera between 1953 and 1966 in the People's Republic of China, Resisting Spirits argues that the adaptation, discussion, and reception of ghost plays emphasize the cultural workers' experiments in theatre in the Maoist era. The book is divided into six chapters that chronologically follow the theatrical activities on drama reform and the changes in the role of ghost plays in shifting political contexts. Chapter 1 introduces the prerevolutionary history of drama reform in China; focusing on the period between 1949 and 1952, when the categorization of plays was introduced, and which determined, which plays were banned or performed. The book also chronicles debates among the dramatists, artists, and critics of the time. For example, critic Ma Shaobo advocated for the didactic merits of traditional drama while others insisted that it was harmful to the audience. These types of debates set the tone for discussions in the next decade. [End Page 341] Chapter 2 considers the early debates on drama reform from a different angle. In the relaxed political atmosphere of event such as the Hundred Flowers Movement, ghost plays, and some other banned works between 1950 and 1952 were approved for performance. In this period, debates on the distinction between mythology plays and ghost plays were raised again. For example, the critic Qu Liuyi argued subjects in mythology "were always out of reach," while ghosts "represented people who had once alive," so "ghosts are more useful than mythological characters" (p. 73). Qu's viewpoint was a defence of ghost plays when some critics criticized ghost characters not suitable for socialist stages. The book also examines a case study of an adapted ghost play by Ma Jianling, Wandering West Lake; in this play a ghost was removed from stage in the early 1950s and returned to the stage in 1958. The process of a drama changing from "a ghostless ghost play" (p. 55) back to a ghost play reflects the dramatist's experimental attempt at reform. Chapter 3 is closely related to the first two chapters in the perspectives of themes and plots and centers on the theatrical events in 1961. Greene examines the production of the new experiment Li Huiniang by Meng Chao and the ghost tales in the state-sponsored collection, Stories about Not Being Afraid of Ghosts (Bu pa gui de gushi). These products reveal the opposite discourses on ghosts: Meng Chao's ghost was "a heroine to rescue common people from the cruel and incompetent officials," while ghosts in Stories "were mere stand-ins for real world villains" (p. 80). According to Greene, the successful reception of the two narratives indicates that cultural workers and critics achieved great success in including ghost plays in the repertoires. Greene devotes Chapter 4 to the 1963 ban on ghost opera and the 1963 debate in Guangming Daily. Critics who were against the ghost opera argued that social problems led to the popularity of the ghost plays, while the supporters argued for the artistic value of the ghost plays and claimed that theatrical ghosts were not connected to the superstitious belief of the masses. On one hand, the 1963 debate indicates a marked shift in the discourse on supernatural subjects. On the other hand...