Ashley Thorpe

From Page to Stage: Chinese Opera and the Rise and Fall of Empires, 1759–1913

With the British finally securing trading rights with the Qing Empire through Canton in the 1760s, the author suggests that there was an increased interest in experiencing China in London in contradictory ways: through the reasoned categorisation of Chinese culture leading to the advent of sinology and fantasy imaginings that seemed to defy it. He analyses the first ‘serious’ British academic studies of Chinese drama undertaken by Sir John Francis Davis, showing how they were as much a product of the desire for increased trade as they were of genuine curiosity. He also explores the display of Chinese opera in a number of imperial exhibitions across the second half of the nineteenth century, culminating in the 1884 Health Exhibition, which witnessed the first performance of Chinese opera in London. He concludes by analysing The Yellow Jacket, a play that transferred from Broadway to London in 1913, and which brought together sinology, fantasy and exhibition for the amusement of London audiences.

Chinese Opera in the Diaspora from 1949

This chapter offers the first systematic documentation of the performance of Chinese opera amongst Chinese communities in London. Drawing upon primary research, the author records how Republic of China embassy staff began their own Peking opera society after they lost employment following the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Concurrent with the influx of Cantonese immigrants to Britain in the post-war period, Cantonese opera groups were established. These groups provided an opportunity for immigrants to socialise around a shared interest. The chapter then describes the more recent activities of the UK Beijing Opera Society, and the London Jing Kun Opera Society, both of which involved non-Chinese in performances. The author argues that if the first societies constructed a sense of community through the study of Chinese opera, the involvement of non-Chinese in the latter societies reflected the diasporic conditions of its performance, positioning Chinese opera as a hybrid form.

Fashion, Chinoiserie and Modernity in The Circle of Chalk, 1929

The author suggests that the enthusiasm for chinoiserie was reignited in the early decades of the twentieth century, though the context of this resurgence was contradictory. Whilst East Asian design was held in high regard as an inspirational source for new kinds of European self-expression, the cultural decontextualisation of it in the service of Western modernity was also an act of cultural imperialism. It was in this context that London audiences were able to see another ‘Chinese opera’ play, The Circle of Chalk, based upon a translation of the Chinese play of the same name, Huilan Ji. Much like The Orphan of China some 200 years earlier, The Circle of Chalk arrived in London via multiple European translations. Without a doubt, one of the main selling points was Anna May Wong, the star Hollywood actress making her British stage debut. The author suggests that Wong was undoubtedly objectified and commercialised as an ethnic object, yet she could also be considered to represent the edgier, more politically engaged, sides of chinoiserie fashion. He also analyses the Australian–Chinese actor Rose Quong, arguing that she was able to express both Australian–Chinese and Chinese identities in London.

‘Confucius’ Morals to Britannia’s Ears’: Modern Virtue in The Orphan of China, 1736–1759

The author shows how The Orphan of Zhao (Zhaoshi Gu Er) – the first Chinese play to come to Europe – was, like the literature analysed in Chap. 2, produced through a series of European translations and adaptations by missionaries, such as Du Halde. In accordance with the travel literature that preceded it, the author proposes that Chinese drama was ultimately harnessed as a foil to explore the British self via an invocation of the Chinese other that imagined a general cultural compatibility between the two nations. Through the adaptations of The Orphan of Zhao by Voltaire, Hatchett and Murphy, the author argues that the deployment of chinoiserie, and the assertion of Francophobic and Islamophobic sentiment, enabled the British to use China as a foil to present itself to itself as a modern, morally virtuous, state.

Introduction: Mirrors of Empire

The author proposes that the performance of Chinese opera, and its intercultural offspring, reflect the wider concerns of Sino-British relations. He suggests that its performance in London functioned as a mirror for both British and Chinese audiences to assess their place in the world. He claims that Said’s theory of Orientalism, which asserts a rigid dichotomy between the self and other, Britain and China, is too inflexible to account for this dynamic.

A Traditional Play in the Traditional Manner: Chinese Opera and the Politics of Diplomacy, 1946–1958

The author offers an overview of the political machinations that brought the performance of Chinese opera to London for the first time in the twentieth century. He explores its importance in asserting identity and nation to the wider international community in a time of Chinese political and social upheaval. In the context of the Cold War, British concern over the future of Hong Kong following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the PRC and Taiwan jockeying for recognition as the ‘true’ China, as well as the Communist Party of Great Britain’s (CPGB) own interest in maintaining relations with the communist bloc, the arrival of Peking opera troupes in London created a flurry of diplomatic activity. The author documents the objections voiced by the British government to CPGB involvement in the visits, as well as PRC objections to a visit by a troupe from Taiwan. Such criticism highlights the significance of Chinese opera to assertions of nation, identity and statehood.

Postmodern Politics: Olympic Ties and Cultural Exchange in 2008

The author focuses on a British response to the Chinese opera Monkey: Journey to the West, a production that was first performed in 2007 – a period in which Beijing would host the Olympics in 2008 and it was announced that London would do so in 2012. He suggests that the production could be construed as Orientalist and as sustaining a British fascination for theatrical chinoiserie. Yet, he highlights how China itself is no stranger to self-Orientalisation, and thus Monkey might also demonstrate how the increasing circulation of transnational stereotypes is, itself, indicative of China’s growing economic influence.

Chinese Drama in the European Imagination Before 1736

The author contends that before the first translation of a Chinese play into English in 1736, the English understanding of Chinese drama was pieced together through a pan-European sharing of information gleaned from the accounts of missionaries and travellers. Such accounts suggested correspondences between European and Chinese drama, which, rather than assert the supremacy of European culture, sought to demonstrate European compatibility with a politically stable and economically prosperous China.

Opening the Stage Door: Opera, Reform and International Economic Policy, 1979–2008

The author argues that the resumption of tours from the late 1970s onwards correlate with the economic strategy that led China towards greater internationalism following the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Although the artistic decisions behind the intercultural experiments from the 1980s and 1990s are not directly connected to PRC government initiatives, and were motivated as much by aesthetic concerns as political ones, the author nevertheless argues that they took place in a socio-political and economic context that made such intercultural experiments, and the prospect of touring them abroad, possible. By drawing upon models from foreign policy and international relations, he argues that Chinese opera remains a potent tool of cultural diplomacy both in this period and into the twenty-first century, and continues to play an important role in asserting Chinese structural power.

Seeking Subalterneity in S. I. Hsiung’s Lady Precious Stream , 1934

Hsiung Shih-yi, a professor and translator of English Literature, came to Britain in 1933 to further his academic career. After arriving in London, he achieved fame with his play Lady Precious Stream, a spoken drama adaptation of a Chinese opera Lady Precious Bracelet (Wang Bao Chuan), which opened in London on 22 November 1934. The author argues that Lady Precious Stream may have been sufficiently exotic to excite interest, but this ‘traditional Chinese play’ was anything but traditional. The first production fused Chinese and British dramatic styles to create something both exotic and familiar to British audiences in a way that was more sophisticated than the plays discussed so far in this study. The author also analyses the visit of Mei Lanfang – China’s most celebrated opera actor – to London. The author concludes that Mei’s time in London was a personal failure: he was unable to transcend the barriers placed in his way, possibly because theatre impresarios understood that British audiences preferred chinoiserie. However, in his support for Hsiung’s endeavours, Mei demonstrated a commitment to raising China’s profile through the international performance of Peking opera. The author concludes with an analysis of Hsiung’s second – and final – attempt to stage Chinese opera in London. The Western Chamber, based upon Jin Shengtan’s Xixiang Ji, was a commercial failure, demonstrating how London audiences preferred to consume Chinese opera as amusement and chinoiserie, rather than as a serious alternative to Western dramaturgy.