Theatre and Society: Reflections on Research Needs in Chinese Theatre Studies

Abstract

Chronologically third culture to devise its own drama tradition after southern Europe, initially Ancient Greece, and India, (Mackerras 1990, 221), China and its dramatic culture have attracted some of finest minds in West and have continued to induce and inspire a growing production of first-rank scholarship.' While contributions made by scholars of Chinese theatre to community of learned in West are undeniable, one cannot avoid noting that their works have been peculiarly marginalized in cultural institutions: as a part of China studies, Chinese theatre is considered less important than studies of politics, economics, history, or narrative fictional literature;2 as a dramatic tradition which is among the finest in world (Mackerras 1990, 5), Chinese theatre is simply not yet recognized as a vital part of theatre studies in American academies.3 Such a doubly marginalized position of Chinese theatre studies, while indicating a much larger question about disciplinary structure and canonized boundaries of our teaching and research establishment-a question I will touch upon later in this essayalso raises question of what we, scholars of Chinese dramatic culture, can do in our future research to turn such a doubly marginalized position into a more productive, effective, and transformative intellectual practice. Inseparable from an awareness of this question and a desire to respond to it, my reflections on future research needs in Chinese theatre studies focus on studies of modern Chinese theatre in its complex relations to Chinese traditional culture and society as well as to many-