Drama In China Research Articles

Study on the Role of Educational Drama in Promoting Students' Thinking Quality in Senior High School English Teaching

President Xi resently put forward developing education by insisting on the principle of people in the centre. The proposal of the core competencies of English also means that the idea of people-oriented education has been implemented in practice. For the first time, the thinking quality is clearly listed as the goal of English subjects, which further clarifies the educational value of English courses. As a student-centered teaching method, educational drama appeared in China at the beginning of this century because of its role in promoting the development of students’ language ability and thinking quality. Based on the discussion of the definitons of educational drama and thinking quality, this paper attempts to analyze the role of educational drama in promoting the development of students’ thinking quality in senior high school English teaching in order to promote the spread of educatinal drama in China.

Beyond Words

Beyond Words

A Comprehensive Review of Research Literature on the Development of Childrens Drama in China -Using the Example of the Play Malanhua

Childrens theater plays a significant role in the cultural landscape of theater and has a major impact on childrens education. In this study, the author uses a literature review method, focusing on the play Malanhua, to review the research progress in Chinese childrens theater, specifically in terms of script content, themes and so on. The research results on the innovation and development of stage design, characterization, and main theme of Chinese childrens theatre represented by Malanhua are summarized and concluded. With the changes in the times and the evolving societal needs, the perspective on children has also changed. Starting from the deep influence of political ideologies in the 1950s and 1960s to a return to nature in the 1980s, and then to catering to the market in the new century, these shifts have influenced the tendencies in character development, themes, script content and stage design in childrens theater. However, there are some tendencies that have remained constant, such as the increasingly successful fusion of Chinese traditional culture and Western culture in stage design, the understanding of the characters by the director and scriptwriter deepens in terms of character development, and the close connection between purpose and societal needs. Eventually, it was pointed out that deficiencies and limitations of research on childrens theater in China, like the lack of theoretical construction in childrens drama, the weak foundation of the history of childrens theater in China and so on.

THE COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL AND MODERN KUNQU OPERA

Kunqu is the oldest and very infl uential genre of musical drama in China, fully displaying is national characteristics. Kunqu combines poetry, prose, drama, literature, vocals, dance, acrobatics and fi ne arts. It is fi lled with deep cultural content, becoming a signifi cant symbol of traditional Chinese culture. The development of Kunqu has now led to the formation of modern genre type, which has absorbed the specifi cs of today’s era. This article compares the traditional and modern opera and provides an overview of the historical development of this genre.

A. Arbuzov's play "My Poor Marat" on the modern Chinese stage: the problem of reception

The author examines in detail the reception of Arbuzov's play "My Poor Marat" on the Chinese stage since 2000, analyzes the opinions of critics and audience reactions, as well as other types of responses to this dramatic text in modern Chinese culture. The problem of perception of the Russian dramaturgy of the twentieth century in China is raised on the material of the modern Chinese artistic and critical reception of Alexey Arbuzov's play "My Poor Marat" (1964). The work of Alexey Arbuzov, one of the most sought-after Soviet playwrights on the world stage, is the main subject of research. The play of this playwright "My Poor Marat" has been repeatedly staged in Chinese theaters, and in 2021 it again proved to be in demand by theatrical figures and the audience, which indicates the relevance of this study. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that the work has studied the most popular performances of "My Poor Marat" in China since 2000, as well as an art exhibition based on the play. The practical significance of the results obtained is that their analysis reflects the dynamics of the development of Chinese society, changes in mentality, dominant themes of the time, dialogue with other cultures and various aesthetic systems, the specifics of theatrical life and the theatrical market in the country. The conclusion is made that the stage reception of Russian drama in China is closely connected with the socio-political aspect of the country's life and national mentality, affects the official ideology and individual consciousness, reflects the dialogue of foreign cultural factors and traditional forms of national culture.

The opportunities and challenges of drama in education in Chinese kindergartens

With the introduction of drama in education and creative drama in China in the late twentieth century, drama in education has become a new practice and research hotspot in the field of education. However, children’s theatre performance and dramatic acting training have for a long time been the main form of Chinese preschool drama education and still have a noticeable impact. In this article, we explore how drama in education can improve and expand Chinese kindergarten teachers’ teaching repertoire and how it can contribute to children’s interpersonal development. This design-based study uses interventions in the form of drama in education workshops in a Chinese kindergarten. By undertaking these workshops, observing workshop participants and interviewing teachers and children, we have found that drama in education supports children’s language learning and helps develop their individual self-awareness. In addition, it also provides multiple new methods of teaching and thus promotes teachers’ individual growth as professionals in the kindergarten classroom. In terms of kindergarten curriculum reform, this study aims to contribute to the current developments and debates about teaching, learning and overall education.

Australia and China at 50: The New Wave Theatre and the Drama of Cultural Exchange

ABSTRACT 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening up of relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China. When he became prime minister in 1972, Gough Whitlam sent the first ambassador to China (Dr Stephen Fitzgerald), and in his term of office established support for artists’ exchanges from the Australia Council. The Australian Ballet visited China in 1980, the first major ballet company to tour since the Cultural Revolution. The touring of China by Australian theatre, opera and dance companies has flourished since then, particularly over the last decade, and Australian spoken-word drama has featured in the relationship between the two countries since 1983. Since the 1980s, the work of the New Wave dramatists has captured the interest of Chinese audiences over a sustained period beyond the years of the New Wave itself. The theatre has, in some respects, provided a respite from the rigours of realpolitik and most importantly a means of genuine interaction between ordinary Australians and Chinese citizens who make up the audiences. This article documents the take-up of the New Wave drama in China, and the legacy of the relationships created in this formative period of Australian theatre in its international context.

Fan Conflicts and State Power in China: Internalised Heteronormativity, Censorship Sensibilities, and Fandom Police

ABSTRACT Fans as consumers of cultural products have received a great deal of attention from sociologists and cultural studies academics in recent years, and research on the relationship between fans and state power is gradually gaining traction. Through a 12-month digital ethnography of a large-scale fan conflict surrounding The Untamed, a popular ‘Boys’ Love’-adapted drama in China, we uncover a complex picture of two-way exploitation between fans and state power. By doing so, the article challenges previous assumptions by Chinese and Western scholars that fan culture is resistant to or negotiates with mainstream culture. We show that by perpetuating heteronormativity and censorship, fans internalise ‘reporting’ as a norm of legitimacy in consumer culture. Some fans portray themselves as ‘fandom police’ and use censorship to report ‘illegal’ comments by their rivals in order to prevail in fan conflicts. However, the power gained by these fandom police is illusory. Their practices are exploited by the state as a tool for censoring media users’ speech and cultural production, with the ultimate consequence of perpetuating censorship and heteronormativity.

Crossing, Leaping and Transcendence：Analysis of Pakistani Film and TV dramas Released in China

Abstract: The friendship between Pakistan-China is deeply rooted in the hearts of people of the two countries. The exchanges and mutual learning through the film, television and drama playeda significance role to strengthen the bond among the people of both countries. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the exchange of film and television products have gone through ups and downs, and the dissemination of Pakistani film and television products have also experienced twists and turns. In 2020, the Pakistani film " Parwaaz Hai Junoon " was released in China, which aroused some response and gave impetus to cultural exchanges. It also open doors for Pakistani films and drama in China. Despite the improvement of the quantity and quality of Pakistani film and television products, these could not spread in China mainland at greater extent, with the advent of the era of "mixed war", the conflict of values has become a problem that should be addressed in film and television communication. The bilateral political trust, ideological security demand at present, ask for promotion of cross-cultural communication through film and television products. There should be mechanisms, which can help to overcome obstacles actively, expand new path, clever use of all kinds of social and short video platform. Pakistani film in China should also ensure communication quality at all level and at the same time boost the cooperation between two countries field of film and television products. The in-depth exchanges and high-level mutual learning in the fields of film and television between China and Pakistan are worth looking forward to.

The history of the Chinese translation of Chekhov's drama in the XX and XXI centuries.

Recently, there has been an increase in the interest of scientists in studying foreign translations of Chekhov's dramatic works. There are quite a lot of comparative studies of various Chinese translations of Chekhov's plays in a certain period, but the problem of systematic periodization of Chinese translations of Chekhov's plays has been little studied. The article is devoted to understanding the history of the Chinese translation of Chekhov's plays in the XX and XXI centuries. The subject of the study is various Chinese translations of Chekhov's dramatic works. The purpose of this work is a systematic analysis of the features and causes of the development of the Chinese translation of Chekhov's drama in different periods. Descriptive, analytical and comparative methods are used in the course of the study. For the first time, the work provides a relatively holistic overview of the history of reception and translation of Chekhov's drama in China since the XXI century. In a comparative study of Chinese translations of Chekhov's dramatic works, it is necessary to pay attention to the perception of foreign culture by different translators. We divide the complex history of reception and translation of Chekhov's drama in Chinese culture of the XX - XXI centuries into five stages. With the change of time and the development of theory and the level of translation, the artistic charm of Chekhov's drama is revealed even more. Chekhov's transformation from a typical realist writer into a recognized pioneer of modern drama of the XX century also confirms the complexity, ambiguity and advancement of Chekhov's work. We also need to look at the translations of Chekhov's dramaturgy from an intercultural point of view, timely consider the latest achievements of research in the field of translation of Chekhov's dramaturgy at home and abroad and look for ways of mutual comparison between different cultures in comparing translations.

A Couple Of Soles: A Comic Play From Seventeenth-Century Chinaby Li Yu

Reviewed by: A Couple Of Soles: A Comic Play From Seventeenth-Century Chinaby Li Yu Whitney Emerson A COUPLE OF SOLES: A COMIC PLAY FROM SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY CHINA. By Li Yu. Translated by Jing Shen and Robert E. Hegel. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. 360 pp. Paperback, $25.00. A Couple of Soles: A Comic Play from Seventeenth-Century China comes as a welcome addition to Columbia University Press’ Translations from the Asian Classics series; it offers an accessible new translation of an important comic work by playwright Li Yu. Jing Shen and Robert E. Hegel’s translation allows English-speaking scholars and theatre artists access to another seminal work of dramatic literature from China; this also serves to aid the teaching of theatre history within a global context. Shen opens the book with a thorough introduction to the playwright and plot, giving context to the drama for readers unfamiliar with early Qing dynasty theatre (1644–1661). In the plot summary, Shen makes a point of highlighting the playwright’s depiction of the lead actors both on and off stage as chaste and virtuous as a way into the play’s broader discussion of morality and ethics. However, as Shen notes, the depiction may also be Li Yu’s attempt to elevate the poor reputation of actors during the Ming/Qing dynastic transition. Sections on vocal music conventions help the reader imagine the play in performance, giving an aural dimension to what could have been a dry translation. The introduction also draws attention to Li Yu’s controversial professional and personal life through discussion of the choice to invite the “woman scholar Wang Duanshu” to write the original 1661 preface to the play, also included in this translation. The historical significance of the work, especially when put in conversation with both previous Yuan dynasty zaju and contemporary Qing dynasty chuanqi, facilitates a deeper appreciation of the work within the context of traditional drama in China. Eye-catching artwork on the cover and the inclusion of several contemporaneous woodblock prints of the play in performance serve as illustrations of dramatic moments in the play and add a pleasing visual element to the book. The plot, performed through aria, poetry, and spoken dialogue, concerns a young scholar named Tan Chunyu, who falls in love with the beautiful young actress Fairy Liu. In order to get closer to her, he joins her family’s acting troupe and works his way up to playing romantic lead roles opposite her. Performing as lovers, they express their love for each other through onstage dialogue. However, the evil Moneybags Qian purchases Fairy Liu as a concubine from her greedy mother. The distraught lovers then commit suicide mid-performance by jumping [End Page 221] from the stage into a nearby river. However, the local river god learns of their plight and transforms them into the titular pair of soles to save their love. Murong Jie, a retired official who became a fisherman, catches the fishandthepairarerestoredtotheiroriginal humanforms. Followingthe sage advice of Murong, Tan quickly attains a government position and, aftersomestruggles, defeatsalocal bandofmonstrous brigands. Tanthen resigns his post to spend a quiet life with Liu in the mountains. In keeping in line with the stage conventions of chuanqi drama, the scenes of this lengthy play alternate in tone-romantic “wen” scenes of the lovers Tan and Liu are contrasted with military-focused “wu” scenes about brigands attacking a town. Many hallmarks of comedy are present: lovers separated by a disapproving father, mistaken identity, weddings, and metatheatre, particularly the consequential scene of the actress Fairy Liu playing an inconsolable lover in a play-within-a-play. The use of metatheatre within a kind of tongue-in-cheek criticism of the culture of performing arts is perhaps testament to Li Yu’s own command of the theatre. The work of the translators to enhance the comic tone of the play is perfectly encapsulated in the choice for the title, which plays on the pun of the homonyms “souls” and “soles.” The title also incorporates the offhanded “couple of” which has the meaning of a romantic couple as well as the casual way of referring to a small number of things...

The Educational Drama in China

Recently, Educational Drama has been a hot topic in English language teaching in China. Educational Drama originated in Europe and America, which has a history of nearly one hundred years in western countries. While compared with western countries, domestic Educational Drama only has 20 years. Hong Kong and Taiwan is earlier than the mainland to introduce Educational Drama. Educational Drama research has gone through the pre-research stage, the embryonic development stage, the exploratory growth stage and the vigorous development stage in China. This paper summarizes the research results of Educational Drama in China based on the development process, research content and research methods, in order to provide some guidance for the further development of dramatic teaching method in China.

Cat and the Plumber: An American Radio Drama in China

Abstract The translation and adaptation of Arthur Miller's 1941 radio drama “The Pussy Cat and the Expert Plumber who was a Man” in 1980s China not only conveys the witty humor and intriguing critique of the original, but also carries unique marks of its receiving culture. A comparative close reading of the original and the translation shows how the original survives in a translation. Instead of antagonizing the east and the west as mutually unintelligible, my analysis of the translated Chinese radio drama “Cat and the Plumber” explores ways in which interlingual, intermedia, and intertextual references and variations help build the “image” of the west in post-Mao China through sound media. The literary event of a 1940s American radio drama traveling to 1980s China not only provides us with a new perspective in looking at the social soundscape as well as popular culture of 1980s China but also contributes to the repertoire of Sino-American cultural exchanges during the last decade of the Cold War. At the dawn of a new era in the history of China, the introduction of this American radio drama shows both achievements as well as limitations of the early post-Mao cultural reforms.

Themes Of Chinese Dramas (30-40 Years In The First Half Of Thetwentieth Century)

The article examines the development theater and drama in China in the first half of the XX century, as well as the theme of dramas created in the 30-40s.

Between Emotion, Politics and Law: Narrative Transformation and Authoritarian Deliberation in a Land Dispute-triggered Social Drama in China

AbstractThrough studying a revenge murder triggered by a land dispute in China and the subsequent trial, this article explores “narrative transformation” in a social drama and proposes an event-based model for authoritarian deliberation. It argues that an obscure murder rose to prominence because it came to be narrated as a different kind of story. Initially viewed as “a normal killing,” it was transformed to represent a “contest” between a law-and-order frame, which emphasizes individual guilt, and a righteous-revenge frame, which symbolizes wider conflicts. The article also contends that in the absence of an institutionalized issue forum, contentious events present a model for authoritarian deliberation. That is to say, deliberation is often pegged to social dramas on the “judicial periphery,” thanks to a liminal phase inviting reflexivity, and exposes elite dissent that is otherwise veiled by an interest-driven alliance. In this case study, the media engaged with other institutions in contentious performances that affirmed hidden social fault-lines but also encouraged deliberation.

40 Years of Soyinka’s Drama in China

40 Years of Soyinka’s Drama in China

Research on the Characteristics of Chinese Network Animation Drama

Since 2012, the influence of network animation drama in China"s network audiovisual field has become increasingly evident, such as the third season of the network animation drama One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes on the iQIYI site, for which the volume of single-set clicks exceeded 400 million, and from which two animated films have been released. In addition, animations such as Fights Break Firmament, HuaJiangHu, The Legend of Qin, and others in 2019 have once again attracted the interest of the audience. The cultural phenomenon in which network animation drama continues to prosper is worthy of an in-depth study of its characteristics. Through research, it is found that the audience of Chinese network animation drama are mainly adults, narrative features have anti-intellectual tendencies, aesthetic styles are exaggerated, communication channels are interactive, and profitability is mainly based on advertising revenue.

Agenda-setting in the realm of popular culture: The case of the Korean Wave in East Asia

The spread of South Korean popular culture across the globe, known as the Korean Wave, has signalled a significant challenge towards the traditional one-way flow of media culture. This study applies agenda-setting effect, which has been largely applied to political communication, to the domain of mass-produced popular culture. It explores how Korean media’s news coverage of the popularity of Korean TV drama in China influences not only the first and second agenda-setting effect but also Koreans’ perception of Chinese audiences. The findings suggest that the Korean Wave could serve as a form of reversed cultural diplomacy by promoting soft power in East Asia.

Shaw and Chinese Music: Exploring Cross-Cultural Peking Opera with Mei Lan Fang and Hsiung Shih I

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to examine Shaw and Chinese music, especially how his meeting the Chinese Peking opera superstar Mei Lan Fang (梅蘭芳 1894–1961) in 1933 and 1935 revealed why Peking opera has been used as a showcase of modern China. This article situates the Shaw-Mei meetings within modern China's attempt to build bridges to the world, to show the impact of Shaw's sojourn with Chinese music on the world stage. It also explores how Shaw's encounter with Chinese music had an impact on Hsiung Shih I (熊式一1902–91), leading to his writing new plays based on Peking opera that had phenomenal success on Western stages in the United Kingdom and United States. Equally important was Shaw's belief that meeting Mei Lan Fang would teach him about the great drama in China. Peking opera was one of the significant ways modern China strove to connect to the international arena.

From the Editor

From the Editor Siyuan Liu This issue starts with a special section on the 2016 quatercentenary celebration of Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare. Alexa Alice Joubin served as guest editor for this special cluster to shed new light on the performances and festivities around the quatercentenary of Tang (1550–1616) and Shakespeare (1564–1616) in East Asia and beyond. The promotion of these national poets and playwrights is very much part of Sino-British cultural exchanges and China's bid for global influence. With three essays and Joubin's brief introduction, this cluster enriches our understanding of intercultural theatre, the larger phenomenon of Asian Shakespeares, and Asian drama in the context of world theatre. The special section is followed by four articles, starting with Seokhun Choi's "Pansori Hamlet Project: Taroo's New Pansori Shakespeare for the Local Audience." Choi proposes an alternative model to the notion of "Global Shakespeare" by devoting attention to overlooked small-scale productions and verbal genres such as pansori, arguing that by relying on indigenous language and music, Taroo's pansori adaptation was geared toward the local audience, as "a powerful vehicle of sympathy and renewal of tradition." The essay provides a notable counterargument to the global orientation of the quatercentenary celebration that focused on the so-called "national poets." In "Politics and Tactics in Revolutionary Performance: A Sino-Burmese Arts Troupe in Transnational Circulation," Tasaw Hsin-chun Lu offers an engaging study of a Sino-Burmese performance troupe that was formed in Rangoon in the 1990s and migrated to Taiwan in 2006. Through this group of five sisters, the article examines the rarely documented phenomenon of leftist performance among Chinese expatriates in Burma, first in the 1950s and 1960s and, after the 1967 anti-Chinese riot and subsequent government restrictions, in the 1990s. Lu offers illuminating insight on the group's navigation between ideology and cultural identity by adapting its performance content and style from Rangoon to Taipei. [End Page v] The next article by Meera Baindur and Tapaswi H M continues the theme of ritual performance in recent ATJ issues. Titled "Bhuta Kola Ritual Performances: Locating Aesthetics in Collective Memory and Shared Experience," it concentrates on the case of the south Indian ritual performance of bhuta kola. In addition to detailed observations of the performances, the authors also offer two conceptual frameworks that focus on the aesthetics of order and place embedded in the audience's collective memory and on the shared aesthetic experience among the community members. The final article in this group is Shiao-ling Yu's "Tradition and Modernity: Two Modern Adaptations of the Chinese Opera Hezhu's Match," a comparative study on the influence of social and political conditions on literary and artistic creations. Specifically, the article examines two adaptations of the traditional Chinese play Hezhu's Match into spoken drama in China in the 1960s and in Taiwan in 1980. Yu focuses on the impact of ideology in the former case and the pioneering role of the latter in Taiwan's little theatre movement. The three emerging scholar articles offer perspectives from India, Taiwan, and Singapore. In "Applying/Contesting the Brechtian 'Model': Calcutta Repertory Theatre's Galileor Jibon (Life of Galileo)," Dwaipayan Chowdhury examines a 1980 production of the play directed by the German Brechtian expert Fritz Bennewitz. Specifically, Chowdhury focuses on the contradictions in applying the Brechtian "model" in the production headed by the famous actor Shombhu Mitra in the lead role, who borrowed techniques from the traditional form of jatra. In "Performing Intercultural Trauma: State, Land, and Women in Troy, Troy… Taiwan," Sophia Yashih Liu studies three versions of the Trojan War story by Taiwan's Golden Bough Theatre from the 1990s to the 2010. She views the iterations as linking the myth's traumatic connotation to the issues of state power, land, and women respectively while also serving to establish the identities of the theatre, Taiwan, and the director. In the group's final article, Nathan F. Bullock brings us to Singapore with "Spaces of Citizenship in Contemporary Singaporean Theatre: Staging the 2011 General Election." Focusing on two plays on the 2011 election, Bullock engages current studies of space and political identities by demonstrating how...