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On Stage. the Art of Beijing Opera. Basel: Museum Der Kulturen, 2

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On Stage. the Art of Beijing Opera. Basel: Museum Der Kulturen, 2 332 Rezensionen Karlsson, Kim, Anna Schmid, and Martina Werns- wan straits. Surprisingly, despite several authors’ use as dörfer (eds.): On Stage. The Art of Beijing Opera. Basel: an entry point to their discussions Brecht’s 1935 encoun- Museum der Kulturen, 2011. 281 pp., photos. ISBN 978- ter with Mei Lanfang (Riley, Kaulbach, Riemenschnit- 3-033-03081-7. Price: CHF 52.00 ter, Huang), no reference is made to Min Tian’s extensive This beautifully presented volume offers a collection and meticulous scholarship re-examining the intercultur- of essays on the centuries-old tradition of Beijing/Peking al flows of artistic inspiration between Chinese opera and opera (jingju) in an edgy, contemporary graphic package. European theatre artists, particularly Brecht (e.g., “The The hip cover photograph shows amateur jingju perform- Poetics of Difference and Displacement. Twentieth Cen- er Jialong Shen in full costume and make-up posed in tury Chinese-Western Intercultural Theatre. Hong Kong front of an urban construction barrier emblazoned with an 2008). Tian argues persuasively that, much of what Brecht enormous graffiti-art image of an earphoned tagger shoul- says about jingju’s aesthetic processes in his famous arti- dering an explosive quiver of spray cans and paint rollers. cle “On Alienation in Chinese Acting” is inaccurate and Towering behind the barrier is a row of highrise apart- that rather than sparking new ideas, Mei’s performance ment blocks. The photograph bends around the spine of provided Brecht with the opportunity to confirm ideas al- the book and morphs imperceptibly into its own mirror ready well under development (39–60). image on the back cover. The image stages the question The collection is bookended by photo essays, both around which the collection of essays within the covers with text by Hsin-Mei Chuang, photographs by Matthias revolve: what is the place of a traditional, conventional- Messmer. The first photo essay offers glimpses of the dai- ised performance form in contemporary society? Its wrap- ly life of Jialong Shen, from the cover image. The text around layout echoes the volume’s apparent attempt to interweaves biographical information about Shen, in- straddle boundaries of scholarly criticism and Museum cluding his family’s ambivalence about his interest in the exhibition souvenir – the impulse behind the book be- traditional form and especially his choice to study female ing a jingju exhibit at the Museum der Kulturen Basel, roles, with the plot of his favourite role, “White Snake” which published the volume. The collection of essays of- – a snake spirit who takes human form and falls in love fers a sampler of approaches from magazine photo-essay with a mortal young man. One particularly striking im- to dense academic argument, and a range of entries falling age of Shen in full costume amidst a block rubble from somewhere in between. demolished old-style housing suggesting Shen as a paral- The introduction by the museum’s director, Anna lel spirit out of his element. Schmid, offers a brief overview of jingju’s defining aes- Martina Wernsdörfer chronicles the “birth” of jingju thetics: a synthesis of “visual, oral, and musical elements” at the end of the 18th century through cross-pollination of into a “highly stylised and codified” performance language regional xiqu artists called to Beijing for Imperial birth- requiring mastery by performers, as well as audiences day celebrations. She offers a readable, broad-brush histo- who must be able to decode “the highly symbolic features ry that addresses the shift of performance emphasis from of the performance” in order to “follow the story” (8 f.). male (sheng) to female (dan) roles (and the rise of male After skimming superficially over 20th-century devel- performers of female roles, or male dan) as jingju de- opments, particularly the Cultural Revolution period, veloped. She touches also on the shift from three-sided Schmid outlines current performance conditions (a jingju stages that promoted audience interaction with the per- troupe in every province and most major cities, regular formance to European end-stage style theatres prompting broadcast of performances on state television, and fre- more passive audience behaviour and changes in troupe quent international touring) refuting predictions of its de- make-up from collaborative groups to star-based struc- mise. She then gives an insightful précis of each of the en- tures. This historical discussion is followed by Susanne tries. Each of the essays contains sufficient background to Knödel’s detailed analysis of two carved wooden lintels, stand alone without the introduction. No chronological or dated 1897, depicting theatre scenes which she argues other structuring principle for the ordering of the essays show the spread of influences from the northern capital of is apparent. Essay topics move from historical and intra- Beijing south to Canton (Guangzhou) as skilled carvers, cultural issues through 20th-century innovation, followed like skilled performers, travelled to Beijing in response to by two essays analysing traditional conventions relating Imperial demand. to the visual aspects of make-up and costume design, the Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik, Professor of Chinese next several articles address international intercultural ex- Studies at the University of Vienna, covers complex terri- perimentations, and the collection ends with an essay on tory of 20th-century attempts to adapt jingju for modern puppets suggesting them as shamanic precursors to xiqu audiences in an accessible way but resorts to some overly (a generic term for the over 300 forms of indigenous Chi- simplistic binaries: absolutist traditionalist Chinese who nese music drama, of which jingju is one). see any incursion of “realistic” modes of staging as de- The entries are mostly quite short and offer some stroying the essence of Beijing opera are posed in opposi- version of the narrative of jingju in the post-Mao era as tion to “modernisers” who see integration of modern and/ threatened by declining audiences and struggling to main- or Western elements as one more ingredient in the already tain cultural relevance. Taken together, there are occasion- eclectic mix that is Beijing opera. When portrayed in such al contradictions and little editorial assistance for those extreme terms, the factions both warrant the scepticism coming to the volume without a firm grasp of contempo- the author levels against them. She frames the Cultural rary Chinese history and political pressures across the Tai- Revolution period as an extreme break in transmission of Anthropos 108.2013 https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2013-1-332 Generiert durch IP '170.106.35.76', am 26.09.2021, 14:21:44. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig. Rezensionen 333 tradition, with attempts at compromise and balance pri- editorial input could have helped resolve several apparent marily an impulse of the post-Mao era. contradictions between the two articles by advising that Barbara Mittler, Director of the Institute of Sinology different schemes of colour signification apply to make- at Heidelberg University offers a more complex, yet high- up than to costume. ly readable consideration of jingju in Maoist and post- Barbara Kaulbach, head of the Goethe-Institute Glas- Mao eras. Where Weigelin-Schwiedrzik emphasises the gow, offers an overview of corporeal emphasis in tradition- disjuncture between traditional performance modes and al training methods before briefly introducing three West- the modes adopted in the model plays of the Cultural Rev- erners who have studied jingju: performer of martial male olution, Mittler emphasises the continuity of the process roles, Ghaffar Pourazar, scholar/director/translator Eliza- of synthesising elite and popular impulses that gave birth beth Wichmann-Walczak, who studied dan roles with Mei to Beijing opera and other regional xiqu forms. She use- Lanfang’s disciple, Madam Shen Xiaomei, and composer/ fully links the strident political messages of the Cultural librettist, Karsten Gundermann. The discussion uncriti- Revolution plays, which were conveyed through depict- cally suggests that interest by non-Chinese will provoke ing real life on a stylised, exemplary manner and “offer- Chinese themselves to “reconsider the very special and ing the audience a role model and guidance for action,” to wonderful art form of the Beijing opera” (178). Address- emphasis in traditional plays on exemplary, often Confu- ing intercultural influences from a different angle, Alex- cian, behaviour (80–85). ander C. Y. Huang reviews jingju as a national and cultural After offering an engaging introduction to the complex icon, then examines how it is “transformed and renewed” conventional structure of role type divisions, University of in a two-way cultural flow: jingju adaptations of Shake- Hawai’i Professor Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak under- speare and incorporations of elements inspired by jingju takes a rigorous comparison of the role of Yang Yuhuan into intercultural productions. Between these two essays, in the famous play “Gui Fei Zui Jiu” (The Favourite Con- Andrea Riemenschnitter gives a theory-dense review of cubine Becomes Intoxicated) as performed by male dan jingju’s shifting position as ethnic and national marker as (female role type) Mei Lanfang with that of female dan “the traffic within and across thoroughly intertwined cul- Li Yuru. The article traces fascinating political and social tural realism has rendered
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