Asian Studies 215:

Androgyny and Gender Negotiation in Contemporary Chinese Women's Theater

Ying Wang
Fall, 2016
Classroom Ciruti 217
Contact Information
Telephone: 538-2281
Email: yingwang@mtholyoke.edu
Office: Ciruti 118
Office Hours: 1:30-2:30pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays

Course Description
Yue Opera, an all-female art that flourished in Shanghai in 1923, resulted from China's social
changes and the women's movement. Combining traditional with modern forms and Chinese
with Western cultures, Yue Opera today attracts loyal and enthusiastic audiences despite pop arts
crazes. We will focus on how audiences, particularly women, are fascinated by gender
renegotiations as well as by the all-female cast. The class will read and watch classics of this
theater, including Dream of the Red Chamber, Story of the Western Chamber, Peony Pavilion,
and Butterfly Lovers. Students will also learn the basics of traditional Chinese opera. Meets
multicultural requirement; meets Humanities I-A requirement

Class Format and Assignments

The class will meet every Wednesday afternoon for two hours and fifty minutes (1:15-4:05pm).
Active participation in class discussion will be expected of all students. Four online
commentaries (250 words minimum for each), one short paper (5-7 pages), and one long paper
(8-10 pages) are required, as listed in the following schedule. One oral project is required as the
preparation of the final paper. The oral presentation will lead to finalization of the final essay.
Guidelines will be discussed in class for paper topics, and students will select individual topics in
consultation with the instructor.

Readings and Videos

All reading assignments and visual materials such as videos are to be completed by the dates
listed in the schedule. All of the videos required for this course will be streamed and made
available on the course Moodle. Please plan ahead for the E-reserved readings on Moodle and for
the purchased readings required by the course. Optional readings will be suggested during the
course, and you will be expected to make use of non-required materials for your papers.

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Videos available on Ella or LRC

Two Actresses

Butterfly Lovers

Saving a Prostitute

Liu Yi Delivers a Letter for the Dragon King’s Daughter

Romance of the Western Bower

The Peony Pavilion (Yue Opera)

Farewell to My Concubine

Mei Lanfang/ Forever Enthralled

Following books are available in Odyssey Bookstore:

Wilt L. Idema, edi. and trans., The butterfly lovers : the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai ;
four versions, with related texts, Indianapolis : Hackett Pub. Co., c2010.

Wang Shifu, (translated by Xu Yuanchong). Romance of the Western Bower. Hunan People’s
Publishing House, Foreign Language Press.

Cyril Birch and Catherine Swatek, trans., The Peony Pavilion: Mudan ting, Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2003.

Other reading materials are placed on E-reserves on Moodle.

Grading System
Class participation 15%
Short paper 20%
Leading Discussion 10%
Online Commentaries 15%
Oral presentation 15%
Final essay 25%

Bibliography
Fan Pen Li Chen. Chinese Shadow Theatre: History, Popular Religion, and Women Warriors.
Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen’s University Press, c2007. (SC Josten Book / PN1979.S5 C44
2007)

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Maghiel van Crevel, Tian Yuan Tan, Michel Hockx., eds., Text, Performance, and Gender in
Chinese literature and Music Essays in Honor of Wilt Idema. Leiden; Boston : Brill, 2009. (MH
ebrary / Online Resource)

J. I. Crump. Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan. Ann Arbor, Mich. : Center for Chinese
Studies, University of Michigan, c1990. (MH Stacks / PN2872 .C7 1990)

Wilt L. Idema, edi. and trans., The butterfly lovers : the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai ;
four versions, with related texts, Indianapolis : Hackett Pub. Co., c2010. (SC Neilson
Stacks / GR335.4.L53 B88 2010)

Wilt Idema and Beata Grant., The Red Brush Writing Women of Imperial China.
Cambridge : Harvard University Asia Center, 2004. (MH Stacks / PL2278 .I344 2004)

Wilt Idema and Stephen H. West., eds. Chinese Theater, 1100-1450: A Source Book.
Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1982. (MH Stacks / PN2871 .I3 1982)

Andrea S. Goldman. Opera and the City: The Politics of Culture in Beijing, 1770-1990. Stanford,
California: Stanford University Press, 2012. (E-Book ML1751.C58 G65 2012eb)

Joshua Goldste. Drama Kings: Players and Publics in the Re-Creation of Peking Ppera, 1870-
1937. Berkeley : University of California Press, c2007. (SC Neilson Stacks / PN2876.B37 G65
2007)

Eric Henry. Chinese Amusement: The Lively Plays of Li Yu. Hamden, Connecticut: The Shoe
String Press, Inc., 1980. (MH Stacks PL2698.L52 Z67)

Jin Jiang. Women Playing Men:Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Shanghai.
Seattle : University of Washington Press, c2009. (MH Stacks / PN2876.S53 J53 2009)

Daphne P. Lei. Alternative Chinese Opera in the Age of Globalization Performing Zero.
Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. (SC Josten Book / ML1751.C5 L44 2011)

Yun-tong Luk., ed., Studies in Chinese-Western Comparative Drama. Hong Kong : Chinese
University Press, c1990. (SC Josten Book / PL2274 .S78 1990)

Colin Mackerras. Chinese Theater from Its Origins to the Present Day. Honolulu : University of
Hawaii Press, 1983.(MH Stacks / PN2871 .C534 1983)

Colin Mackerras. Chinese Drama : A Historical Survey. Beijing, China : New World
Press : Distributed by China International Book Trading Corporation, 1990. (SC Neilson
Stacks / PN2871 .M22 1990)

James S. Moy. Marginal Sights: Staging the Chinese in America. Iowa City : University of
Iowa, c1993. (MH Stacks / PS159.C5 M69 1993)

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Jo Riley. Chinese Theatre and the Actor in Performance. Cambridge, U.K. ; New
York : Cambridge University Press, 1997. (SC Josten Book / PN2871.5 .R56 1997)

Catherine C. Swatek. Peony Pavilion Onstage: Four Centuries in the Career of a Chinese
Drama. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, c2002. (MH PL2695.
M83 S93 2002)

Jing Shen. Playwrights and Literary Games in Seventeenth-Century China Plays by Tang
Xianzu, Mei Dingzuo, Wu Bing, Li Yu, and Kong Shangren. Lanham, Md. : Lexington
Books, c2010. (AC Frost Stacks / PL2386 .S54 2010)

Chung-Wen Shih. The Golden Age of Chinese Drama, Yüan Tsa-Chü. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton
Univ. Press, 1976. (MH Stacks / PL2384 .S5)

A.C. Scott. Actors Are Madmen : Notebook of A Theatregoer in China. Madison, Wis.
: University of Wisconsin Press, c1982. (SC Josten Book / PN2874 .S36 1982)

________. The Classical Theatre of China. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1978. (HC
Stacks / PN2871 .S4 1978)

Sophie Volpp. Worldly Stage Theatricality in Seventeenth-Century China. Cambridge, Mass.

: Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2011. (SC Neilson
Stacks / PN2872 .V65 2011)

Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema., trans. Story of the Western Wing. Berkeley : University of
California Press, c1995. (UM W.E.B. Du Bois / PL2693.H75 E5 1995)

Tan Ye. Historical Dictionary of Chinese Theater. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, c2008. (MH
Reference / PN2871 .Y46 2008)

Zuyan Zhou. Androgyny in Late Ming and Early Qing Literature. Honolulu: University of
Hawai‘i Press, 2003. (MH Stacks / PL2296 .Z474 2003)

Weekly Schedule

Sept. 7
Course Introduction
Movie: Two Actresses (on Moodle)

Sept. 14
Readings:
1) The Origins of Yue Opera (on Moodle)
2) Masculinity in Transition (on Moodle)
Video: Liu Yi Delivers a Letter for the Dragon King’s Daughter (on Moodle)

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Sept. 21
Readings:
1) The Rise of Feminine Opera (on Moodle)
2) Femininity and Sisterhood (on Moodle)
Video: The Peony Pavilion (on Moodle)

Event: The Beauty of Yue Opera: Appreciation and Learning to Sing

Hosted by Jun’an Wang 王君安, Leading Artist from Fanghua Yue Opera Troupe, China
Time: 4pm-5:30pm, Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Location: Morrison Room, Willits-Hallowell Conference Center, Mount Holyoke College

Class Discussion on the Educational Function of Yue Opera, hosted by Jun’an Wang
Workshop for Online Commentary
Sept. 28
Mountain Day (no class)

Oct. 5
Readings: The Butterfly Lovers: the Legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (Introduction &
The Ballad of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai’s Common Study as Sworn Brothers, Parts One and
Two, pp.1-68)
Video: The Butterfly Lovers

Mid Semester Break: Oct. 8-11

Oct. 12
Readings:
1) “The Performance of Classical Theater” (on Moodle )
2) “Traditional Theater in Contemporary China” (on Moodle)
3) ”Patron and Patronage” (on Moodle)

Oct. 19
Readings:
1) Rescued by a Coquette (on Moodle)
2) Yuan Drama (on Moodle )
Vidoe: Saving the Prostitute
Online Commentary
First paper due (Ciruti 118)

Oct. 26
Readings:
1) The Dragon King’s Daughter
2) “Androgyny Defined” “Androgyny in Chinese Philosophy” “Gender Ambiguity in Late Ming

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and Early Qing Culture” (on Moodle)
3) “A Feminine Aesthetics” (on Moodle )
Review Vidoe:Liu Yi Delivers a Letter for the Dragon King’s Daughter

Nov. 2
Readings:
1) Romance of the Western Bower (Acts 1, 2, and 3)
2) “The Status of Wang Shifu’s Story of the Western Wing in Chinese Literature” (on Moodle)
3) “Author and Authorship” (on Moodle)
Online Commentary

Nov. 9
Readings: Romance of the Western Bower (Acts 4 and 5)
Video: Romance of the Western Bower

Nov. 16
Readings:
1) “Introduction: “Mudan ting and the Theatrical Culture of Kun Opera” (on Moodle)
2) The Peony Pavilion (Scenes 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23 [pp.128-135], 24, 26,
28, 30,32, 33, 35)
Online Commentary
Thanksgiving Break: Nov. 23-27

Nov. 30
Readings:
The Peony Pavilion (Scenes 36, 39, 41, 44, 48, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55)
Review Video: The Peony Pavilion (Yue Opera)
Oral Presentation

Dec. 7
Oral Presentation
Final paper due at 5pm, Dec. 16th 2016 (Ciruti 118, yingwang@mtholyoke.edu)

Final Paper: Hard copy is preferred. I will leave an envelope (with the AS215 on it) inside of my
mailbox outside of the Asian Studies Office (112 Ciruti). You can put your final essay inside of
the envelope.