Cheung 1 Imperial College London Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication Cultural Production in Shanghai Theatre during the Japanese Occupation Period: Yang Jiang's Reception and Transformation of Jane Austen's Comedic Art Hiu Yan Cheung Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Culture of Imperial College London, August 2015 Cheung 2 Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: 1. This work was done wholly while in candidacy for a research degree at Imperial College London; 2. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; 3. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work. Cheung 3 Copyright Declaration The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives licence. Researchers are free to copy, distribute or transmit the thesis on the condition that they attribute it, that they do not use it for commercial purposes and that they do not alter, transform or build upon it. For any reuse or redistribution, researchers must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. Cheung 4 Abstract In the wartime China of the 1940s, Yang Jiang 楊 wrote two very popular comedies: As You Desire 稱心意 (1943) and Swindle 弄真假 (1943). The genre of these two comedies and their relation to Western literature is discussed, and the connection between the styles of Yang and Austen is noticed and established on the ground that their works are regarded as belonging to the genre of the comedy of manners. This study focuses on Yang's reception of Austen's comedic style in her own comedies and examines how she receives and transforms the comedic elements of Austen's works onto the stage of the 1940s wartime Shanghai theatre. This thesis is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the background and horizon of expectations of Yang's reception of Austen's comedic art. Yang's direct reception of Austen's comic style is observed in her critique of Austen, in which her interpretation of Austen's style is generically related to the comedy of manners. Yang's reading experience of the familiar works of the comedy of manners in classical Chinese literature, as well as the comedies of manners written by Chinese playwrights in the China of the 1920s to 1940s, is the significant key to comprehending her horizon of expectations in the reception of Austen's style. Part II examines Yang's reception of Austen's style of the comedy of manners. The similarities between the styles of these two writers are discovered in the contexts of the Cheung 5 depiction of female laughter, the spatial settings and anti-romanticism. Part III discusses Yang's transformation of Austen's comedic art in her own comedies. Living in a more turbulent environment than did Austen, Yang transforms Austen's comedic art in accordance with wartime Shanghai's socio-historical and socio-literary context. This transformation is demonstrated in two aesthetic orders of Yang's comedies: disillusionment and detachment. Cheung 6 Acknowledgment I started to write this dissertation about six years ago. Over the years I have been indebted to the support and assistance offered by many people. This project could not have been accomplished without their help and encouragement. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Ruth A. Herd, for her encouragement and her guidance throughout the process and for her invaluable comments and patience, not only in respect of the substance of this dissertation, but also writing style and English usage. Discussions with her on the subject of modern Chinese drama gave me many intellectual insights, and her attention to detail afforded me great help in refining the thesis. Without her perceptive criticism of the drafts this thesis would never have been completed. I am also grateful to Professor Charmian Brinson. She gave me advice at an early stage on how to approach the research. Special thanks are also due to my teachers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Their teachings inspired me and stimulated my interest in research. I am thankful for the encouragement and friendship of those friends who have given me strength all these years. My appreciation of their intellectual and emotional support is more than words can express. Sincere thanks are due to Venus Ma, Cindy Lam and Vicky Leung for their assistance in helping me access library resources. Reassurance from many members of my family, each in their own way, has been Cheung 7 crucial in sustaining my interest in the research and in providing the environment for undertaking it. My late Grandfather Kin Sun Cheung, whose tales of life in the army and wonderful bedtime stories ignited my initial interest in Chinese history and literature. My Grandmother Suet Ching Hui, whose recollections of Shanghai of the 1940s always fascinate me and excite my interest in exploring more about that special milieu. Special thanks to my Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Angel, who were so generous as to lend me their place as a studio for working; and to Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Polly, who took the pains to read through several chapters of this research and gave me valuable comments. Above all, my deepest appreciation goes to my parents, Catherine Yuen and Chun Fai Cheung, for their unfailing emotional and moral support. I would not have had the strength and confidence to finish this project without their trust in me. Their constant support has taught me the meaning of unconditional love and encouraged me to continue the work whenever I cast doubts on my own ability. Their caring and constant supply of delicious foods provided me with both the materially and emotionally stable environment that I particularly needed at the time of writing up my thesis. I would also like to thank my brother, Alan, for the support he has given me throughout these years. To them I dedicate this dissertation with all my love. Cheung 8 For my parents Catherine Wai Shum Yuen & Chun Fai Cheung Cheung 9 Contents Abstract 4 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction The Emergence of Yang Jiang as a Writer of Comedy 10 Part I The Background Chapter 1 Jane Austen, Yang Jiang and the Feminist Comedy of Manners 64 Chapter 2 In Search of the Comedy of Manners in Traditional Chinese Literature 94 Chapter 3 The Chinese Comedy of Manners: Yang Jiang and Her Contemporaries 106 Part II The Reception Chapter 4 Female Laughter as a Weapon of Subversion 127 Chapter 5 The Closed Domestic Space 150 Chapter 6 The Anti-Romantic Writers 181 Part III The Transformation Chapter 7 Disillusionment as an Aesthetic Order 217 Chapter 8 Detachment (I) - the Distance between Yang Jiang and her Comedies 244 Chapter 9 Detachment (II) - an Outsider in a Confined City 266 Conclusion Modern China through the Eyes of a Humourist 289 Bibliography 296 Appendix 1: The Reviews of Yang Jiang’s Comedies Written in the 1940s 311 Appendix 2: Yang’s Oeuvre 315 Appendix 3: The Reviews, Translated Works of Jane Austen in the Journals or Magazines Published in Early Modern China 322 Appendix 4: The Works of Yang Jiang Read Before 1943 331 Appendix 5: The Scholar-Beauty Romance Discussed in Yang Jiang’s Critiques 339 Cheung 10 Introduction The Emergence of Yang Jiang as a Writer of Comedy This is a study of Yang Jiang’s 楊 (1911-2016) two comedies – As You Desire 稱心 意 (1943) and Swindle 弄真假 (1943), which were written and staged in Shanghai during the Occupation Period of the War of Resistance1. This study will examine the plays in comparison with the novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817) in terms of their comedic art. The extant literature on Yang’s comedies concerns itself either with the playwright’s comic style or the place which her plays occupy in the history of modern Chinese comedic drama, including consideration of their connections with Western literature. What special qualities are to be found in Yang’s humour? How can we historicize Yang’s comedies in relation to her predecessors in modern Chinese drama? What is the connection between Yang’s comedies and Western literature, especially in terms of their dramatic form? Inevitably, either discourse leads to the question of to what genre Yang’s comedies belong. Most critics agree with Li Jianwu’s 李健吾 (1906-1982) comment on Yang’s comedies, i.e. that they are comedies of manners2, and they discuss them in accordance with the more 1 The history of wartime Shanghai is usually divided into two phases: 1. The gudao 孤島, or Orphan Island period, (from 13th August 1937 to December 1941), and 2. The Occupation Period (from December 1941 to 15th August 1945). A further explanation of these two phases will be given in the latter part of this chapter. 2 Li Jianwu is the first person to regard Yang’s comedies as belonging to the genre of the comedy of manners, but the extant text of his suggestion does not elaborate what he had in mind. Li’s comment will be discussed further in this chapter. For the full text of Li’s comment on Yang Jiang, see Meng Du 111. Cheung 11 superficial generic features of this Western dramatic genre - such as the living-room setting and romantic stories of middle-class youth.