Chinese-Ness’: Articulating Identities-Of
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PERFORMING ‘CHINESE-NESS’: ARTICULATING IDENTITIES-OF- BECOMING IN THE WORKS OF FOUR SINOPHONE THEATRE DIRECTOR-PLAYWRIGHTS IN THE 1980s A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Wah Guan Lim August 2015 © 2015 Wah Guan Lim ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Performing ‘Chinese-ness’: Articulating Identities-of-Becoming in the Works of Four Sinophone Theatre Director-Playwrights in the 1980s Wah Guan Lim, Ph.D. Cornell University, 2015 This dissertation is the first full-length comparative study of contemporary drama that attempts to reflect the diversity of the Chinese-speaking world. By presenting a circuit of Sinophone creativity that differs substantially from that assumed by conventional literary history, which focuses on the People’s Republic of China, I investigate the formation of identity in the 1980s through the works of four important diasporic theatre director-playwrights — Gao Xingjian (China), Stan Lai (Taiwan), Danny Yung (Hong Kong) and Kuo Pao Kun (Singapore). I focus on the problem of “Chinese-ness,” arguing that the foregoing dramatists share an interest in problematizing essentialist notions of Chinese identity. In the aftermath of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain not only divided the “two Chinas” across the Taiwan Straits, but also impacted the two former British colonies. Two imagined scenarios emerged — a re-sinification and eventual handover to China, and a clamp down on Chinese education due to the Red Scare — that forced the ethnic Chinese majorities of each state to respond to the accelerating emergence of China on the world economic and political scene on the i one hand, and simultaneously grapple with the ever-changing internal paradigm of the differing circumstances among each of the four sites on the other. While these dramatists were performing resistance against their individual ideological state apparatuses to monopolize identity through their theatre praxis, I argue that their formulation of cultural identities alternative to those sanctioned by their respective states is a reaction against cultural forces beyond national borders. Since the didactic function inherent in theatre produces, reconstructs, and problematizes identities in ways that other genres do not, my privileging of drama in the production of a global Chinese consciousness contributes to the discussion of Chinese-ness by providing a comparative vantage that highlights the diversity of Chinese-ness scripts in play. By mapping out the problem of Chinese-ness concretely and historically through my investigation of four geographically dispersed playwrights, therefore, this dissertation challenges the notion of a unified Chinese-ness that underscores a transnational perspective by which to view the question of identity construction as a postcolonial issue vis-à-vis China’s ascendance that impacted the East Asia and Southeast Asia region. ii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Wah Guan Lim received his Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class 1) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, a Master of Studies (M.St.) from the University of Oxford and a Master of Arts (M.A.) from Princeton University. In August 2015, he received his Ph.D. in Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture from Cornell University and became Assistant Professor of Chinese at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to many generous people who accompanied me throughout my Graduate School journey. Chief among them are the six members of my Special Committee — Edward Gunn, Petrus Liu, Sara Warner, Lorraine Paterson, Steven Sangren and the late Donald Fredericksen — whose tireless advice, nurturing guidance and wise counsel that I “keep focused on [my] thesis, first, last, and always” saw me through to completion. Their high erudition, accomplished teaching and mentorship — as displayed by their constant encouragement, ever-patient tolerance towards my shortcomings, emotional support and advice to me on the different facets of academia and beyond — are inspiring attributes of the exemplary scholar-teacher I would love to emulate but whose high standards I can never hope to achieve. There are many other inspiring teachers at Cornell to whom I am indebted. My project has benefited immensely from formal in-class inquiries or casual interactions with these wonderful faculty who have been equally concerned for my personal wellbeing as well as academic progress in Graduate School. I thank Nick Admussen, Shelley Sunn Wong, Naoki Sakai, Huang Hong, Janice Kanemitsu, Andrea Bachner, Anne Blackburn, the late Karen Brazell, Thak Chaloemtiarana, Jumay Chu, Sherman Cochran, Stephanie Divo, Pedro Erber, David Feldshuh, Ellen Gainor, Magnus Fiskesjo, Chiara Formichi, Arnika Fuhrmann, Su Weiqing George, Sabine Haenni, TJ Hinrichs, Ichikawa Sahoko, Ngampit Jagacinski, Katagiri Yukiko, Katsuya Hirano, Jane-Marie Law, Bruce Levitt, Kaja McGowan, Frances Yufen Lee Mehta, Phiroze Mehta, Mei Tsu-lin, Andrew Mertha, Beth Milles, Sreemati Mukherjee, Shambhu Oja, Pan An- Yi, Jolanda “Ibu” Pandin, Hannah Phan, Naaz Rizvi, Bruce Rusk, Nicholas Salvato, Theresa Savella, Victor Seow, Sujata Singh, Son Suyoung, Robert Sukle, Suzuki Misako, Eric Tagliacozzo, Keith Taylor, Felicia Teng Qiuyun, Amy Villarejo and Helena Yan Haiping, who have taught me in more ways than one. The faculty who served as Directors of Graduate Studies in the field of East iv Asian Literature and then Asian Literature, Religion and Culture deserve special thanks for their concerned guidance in navigating me through the administrative pathway in Graduate School: Brett de Bary, Daniel Boucher, Ding Xiang Warner and Robin McNeal. I could not ask for a more supportive and nurturing intellectual home than Cornell. My American Graduate School experience began at Princeton and I am grateful to have studied with many of the wonderful faculty there whose penetrating insights laid the cornerstone of my research project. I am indebted to: Perry Link, Jill Dolan, Chou Chih-p’ing, Stephen Teiser, Andrew Plaks, David Bellos, Jerome Silbergeld, Michael Cadden, Janet Chen, Anne Anlin Cheng, Joanne Yang Chiu Chiang, Steven Chung, Martin Collcutt, Benjamin Elman, David Leheny, Matsui Kyoko Loetscher, Susan Naquin, Shibata Tomoko, Tokumasu Yukari and Wang Ping, for exemplifying the ideals that devoting to a life of scholarship and committed teaching goes way beyond the confines of the classroom. I am thankful to the staff in the administrative units and programs with which I am affiliated for supporting and steering me through the bureaucratic hurdle with skill, tact and efficiency: Sheila Haddad, Erin Knuutila and Kim Scott in my home Department of Asian Studies; Vladimir Micic in the Asian American Studies Program (AASP); Joshua Young, Siti Mai Shaikhanuar-Cota, Suzanne Kolodziej, Ma Hongnan and Doreen Silva in the East Asia Program (EAP); Daniel McKee, Teresa Mei, Jeffery Peterson, Suzanne Schwartz and Zheng Liren in the Olin and Kroch Libraries; Christopher Christensen, Donna Miller, Carolyn Palladino in the Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA); and Thamora Fishel in the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP). The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the support of several grants and fellowships. The Asian Studies Department, EAP, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Graduate School, and SEAP provided grants that allowed me to conduct dissertation research and conference v travel, and three one semester EAP and two full-year Sage fellowships relieved me of teaching responsibilities. Earlier drafts of my dissertation chapters were presented at the International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA) in Singapore, “Gao Xingjian: Freedom, Fate, and Prognostication” Conference at Erlangen, Kuo Pao Kun International Symposium in Singapore, Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature (ACCL) International Conference on ‘Global Sinophonia’ at Taipei, Association of Asian Studies Meeting at San Diego, Berkeley-Stanford Graduate Student Conference in Modern Chinese Humanities, “Sinophone Literature and Cinema: The 12th International Junior Scholars Conference on Sinology” at National Chung-hsing University, and Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) Graduate Student Conference at Cornell, which I am indebted to the participants and audiences at these conferences and especially my discussants Bao Weihong, Katherine Chou Hui-ling and Christine Ho for sharing their critical insights on my preliminary work. I am almost certain that I would not have gotten through Graduate School without the unflagging support and constant encouragement of friends from near and afar. Our extensive discussions about life within and outside academia often late into the night over the many many meals we shared have enriched my academic travels, and made research — an otherwise solitary affair — fun, exciting and memorable. They have been with me every step of the way, journeying with me through my hardest as well as celebratory moments, and have helped me in more ways than I can ever thank them. In Cornell I thank: Wang Chun-yen, Yulianto Mohsin, Eno Chen Pei Jean, Chen Xiangjing, Jack Chia Meng Tat, Daisy Cai Yiwen, Chen Shiau-yun, Annetta Fotopoulos, Park Jahyon, Christopher Ahn, Ruslan Abdulganiyev, Ai Baba, Alice Beban, David Bell, Bi Ran, Ryan Buyco, Kevin Carrico, Karbi Chan Yuet, Alice Chen Xiao, Chantal Croteau, Brian Cuddy, Lindsay Cummings, Marjorie Cummings,