Jingju Male Cross-Gender Performers and Performance in the Post-Cultural Revolution Era
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GENDERING MALE DAN : JINGJU MALE CROSS-GENDER PERFORMERS AND PERFORMANCE IN THE POST-CULTURAL REVOLUTION ERA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THEATRE DECEMBER 2020 By Yan Ma Dissertation Committee: Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, Chairperson Julie A. Iezzi Kate Lingley Lurana Donnels O’Malley Kirstin Pauka Markus Wessendorf Keywords: jingju , male dan , gender, career development, training, performance ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my advisor and chair of the committee, Professor Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, for her consistent guidance of my academic research, for her continuous encouragement in my pursuit of a professional career, and her tremendous support of my personal life. I am very grateful to the members of my dissertation committee. Sincere thanks to Professor Julie Iezzi, Professor Lurana Donnels O’Malley, Professor Kirstin Pauka, Professor Markus Wessendorf for their instruction and passion to share their knowledge of the field of theatre, for their enormous contributions to my academic growth, and their generous support throughout my whole journey as a graduate student in my department. I would also like to thank Professor Kate Lingley for her consistent support and inspiration, and for her invaluable advice derived from her expertise in the field of Chinese studies. Special thanks to Professor Siyuan Liu and Professor Peng Xu for their insightful feedback on this research. Sincere thanks to my colleagues Dr. Ming Yang and Dr. Ju-Hua Wei for their support throughout my graduate study. I also owe a very important debt to my English-language editor Randi Hacker. This dissertation would not have been possible without the performance training in traditional Chinese theatre that I undertook in China and the US. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the teachers who introduced me to the fascinating world of Chinese performing arts: Bao Xiaohui 鲍晓慧 , Zhang Ling 张玲 , Zhang Xigui 张希贵 , Lu Genzhang 陆根章 , Ma Hailing 马 海玲 , Yao Meihong 姚美红 , Huan Guizhu 宦桂珠, and Xu Mingchi 许明耻 . Sincere thanks to all the theatre actors, students, scholars, and audience members who spent their precious time and shared their personal experiences with me during my field research. I am also very grateful i for the financial support of the UHM-Peking University Exchange Program Scholarship and the China and Inner Asia Council Small Grant of the Association for Asian Studies. Special thanks to my friends Zhang Shu 张舒 and Cao Jingyi 曹静怡 who generously provided accommodations during my preliminary and official field research, and to Lei Yutian 雷雨田 for his tremendous support in the field. Last but not least, I dedicate this work to my parents, Ma Jianguo 马建国 and Li Zhihui 李智慧 , and my wife Tong Tong 童彤 , for their unconditional love and their enormous support of my research and study. ii ABSTRACT The term male dan in this dissertation refers to the male actors who specialize in dan roles or female roles in jingju (Beijing/Peking “opera”). Female actors who act female roles are called female dan in this study. Male dan were instrumental in the development of jingju, beginning with the origin of this art form in the late eighteenth century . The socialist government that established the People’s Republic of China in 1949 had a negative attitude toward cross- gender performances, viewing them as the products of a feudal society; female dan artists who inherited the male dan legacy therefore became predominant in dan role performance after 1949. Public xiqu (Chinese “opera”/traditional Chinese theatre) training schools established in the 1950s did not accept male dan students. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), male dan who trained before 1949 almost disappeared from the stage. In the post-Cultural Revolution era (1976 to the present), the official attitude toward male dan has not been explicitly conveyed or implicitly suggested by the Party: this ambiguous attitude neither actively supports nor restricts the development of male dan . Starting in the late 1970s, male dan who had been trained before 1949 gradually returned to the stage. However, xiqu training schools remained closed to male dan. In addition to the lingering political sensitivity of male dan development, the social prejudice toward gender and sexual minorities was also a critical obstacle hindering the development of male dan , who were therefore stigmatized both morally and politically . After the 2000s, an increasingly open political and social environment allowed for the emergence of new male dan who explored various training and performance opportunities. Through the combined efforts of male dan and male dan advocates, a few of the new male dan were accepted by jingju training schools and state-run jingju troupes. Successfully established new male dan pursued the male dan identity by negotiating with various institutional and social obstacles and enhanced iii their male dan identity by cautiously adhering to the male dan tradition created by male dan masters both onstage and offstage. One of the crucial factors in the success of these new male dan is the belief shared among male dan and male dan advocates that male dan performance has its unique values and characteristics which cannot be replicated by female dan. Unlike female dan , who may have to make a fair amount of adjustment to adapt the stylized vocal and physical performance skills and techniques created by male dan to their own circumstances, in the process of imitative learning, male dan may imitate much more directly. In dan role performance, male dan are believed to have more potential for approaching the ideal, refined and stylized beauty established by the male dan tradition. Though the 2010s ushered in an era of a firmer recognition of the unique value of male dan art, and a comparatively more relaxed political and social environment for male dan , xiqu schools were still, in general, not open to accepting male dan students. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….……………….i ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...............iii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………….v LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………….....vii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………..viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………….………………………………………...............1 1.1 Terminology and Purpose of the Research ……………………..................................1 1.2 Justification and Previous Research……………………..............................................8 1.3 Methodology and Chapter Outline……………………..............................................18 CHAPTER 2: THE CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING MALE DAN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………………………..35 2.1 The Official Restriction on Male Dan Training and Performance, 1950s–1970s ………………………………………………………………………..35 2.2 The Official Guidelines for Xiqu after the Cultural Revolution…………………….49 2.3 Political and Social Obstacles of Male Dan Training and Development, 1980s–1990s ………………………………………………………………………..55 2.4 The Issue of Male Dan Training and Development, 2000s–2010s…………………64 2.5 Challenges and Uncertainties in the Future: The Case of NACTA…………………83 CHAPTER 3: GENDERING THE CAREER OF MALE DAN : NEGOTIATING MALE DAN IDENTITIES IN ACTING CAREERS……….................................................................91 3.1 Wen Ruhua: The Pioneer of New Male Dan .............................................................91 3.2 Hu Wen’ge: Meipai Male Dan .................................................................................102 v 3.3 Mu Yuandi: A Dan Role Actor.................................................................................120 CHAPTER 4: GENDERING THE ART OF DAN IN THE POST-CULTURAL REVOLUTION ERA: TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE ...................................................................147 4.1 Training…………………………….........................................................................149 4.2 Performance……………………………………………………………..................165 CHAPTER 5: GENDERING THE ART OF DAN IN THE POST-CULTURAL REVOLUTION ERA: VOCAL AND PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE………………..193 5.1 Vocal Performance…………………………………………………………………194 5.2 Physical Performance: Movement…………………………………………………216 5.3 Physical Performance: Facial Expression………………………………………….245 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION: NOW IS THE TIME TO TRAIN MALE DAN……………….. 271 APPENDIX 1: LIST OF OFFICIAL INTERVIEWEES……………………………………….291 APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE LISTS OF CORE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS…………………….294 APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE……………………………………………………………296 GLOSSARY……………………………………………………………………………………300 Xiqu Troupes, Schools, and Associations (alphabetized by English translation)………300 Theatre Houses and Other Theatrical Performance Venues (alphabetized by English translation)……………………………………………………………………………...301 Theatrical Terms, Plays and Scene Titles (alphabetized by English translation)……....301 Theatrical Terms (alphabetized by Chinese romanization)…………………………….305 Names of People………………………………………………………………………..307 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………………...311 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Questionnaires Received from the Male-Dan-Performance-Related Events………28–30 Table 2. Audience Interviews Conducted before the Dan-Role-Related Performances…….30–31 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The technique of qiangbei…………………………………………………………………... 132 Figure 2. The technique of diaomao…………………………………………………………………...132 Figure 3. Bi Guyun’s 1982 performance in Lady Lü Zhu in Beijing ……………………………… 133