Asian Studies 215: Androgyny and Gender Negotiation in Contemporary Chinese Women's Theater Ying Wang Fall, 2016 Classroom Ciruti 217 Contact Information Telephone: 538-2281 Email: [email protected] Office: Ciruti 118 Office Hours: 1:30-2:30pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays Course Description Yue Opera, an all-female art that flourished in Shanghai in 1923, resulted from China's social changes and the women's movement. Combining traditional with modern forms and Chinese with Western cultures, Yue Opera today attracts loyal and enthusiastic audiences despite pop arts crazes. We will focus on how audiences, particularly women, are fascinated by gender renegotiations as well as by the all-female cast. The class will read and watch classics of this theater, including Dream of the Red Chamber, Story of the Western Chamber, Peony Pavilion, and Butterfly Lovers. Students will also learn the basics of traditional Chinese opera. Meets multicultural requirement; meets Humanities I-A requirement Class Format and Assignments The class will meet every Wednesday afternoon for two hours and fifty minutes (1:15-4:05pm). Active participation in class discussion will be expected of all students. Four online commentaries (250 words minimum for each), one short paper (5-7 pages), and one long paper (8-10 pages) are required, as listed in the following schedule. One oral project is required as the preparation of the final paper. The oral presentation will lead to finalization of the final essay. Guidelines will be discussed in class for paper topics, and students will select individual topics in consultation with the instructor. Readings and Videos All reading assignments and visual materials such as videos are to be completed by the dates listed in the schedule. All of the videos required for this course will be streamed and made available on the course Moodle. Please plan ahead for the E-reserved readings on Moodle and for the purchased readings required by the course. Optional readings will be suggested during the course, and you will be expected to make use of non-required materials for your papers. 1 Videos available on Ella or LRC Two Actresses Butterfly Lovers Saving a Prostitute Liu Yi Delivers a Letter for the Dragon King’s Daughter Romance of the Western Bower The Peony Pavilion (Yue Opera) Farewell to My Concubine Mei Lanfang/ Forever Enthralled Following books are available in Odyssey Bookstore: Wilt L. Idema, edi. and trans., The butterfly lovers : the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai ; four versions, with related texts, Indianapolis : Hackett Pub. Co., c2010. Wang Shifu, (translated by Xu Yuanchong). Romance of the Western Bower. Hunan People’s Publishing House, Foreign Language Press. Cyril Birch and Catherine Swatek, trans., The Peony Pavilion: Mudan ting, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. Other reading materials are placed on E-reserves on Moodle. Grading System Class participation 15% Short paper 20% Leading Discussion 10% Online Commentaries 15% Oral presentation 15% Final essay 25% Bibliography Fan Pen Li Chen. Chinese Shadow Theatre: History, Popular Religion, and Women Warriors. Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen’s University Press, c2007. (SC Josten Book / PN1979.S5 C44 2007) 2 Maghiel van Crevel, Tian Yuan Tan, Michel Hockx., eds., Text, Performance, and Gender in Chinese literature and Music Essays in Honor of Wilt Idema. Leiden; Boston : Brill, 2009. (MH ebrary / Online Resource) J. I. Crump. Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan. Ann Arbor, Mich. : Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, c1990. (MH Stacks / PN2872 .C7 1990) Wilt L. Idema, edi. and trans., The butterfly lovers : the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai ; four versions, with related texts, Indianapolis : Hackett Pub. Co., c2010. (SC Neilson Stacks / GR335.4.L53 B88 2010) Wilt Idema and Beata Grant., The Red Brush Writing Women of Imperial China. Cambridge : Harvard University Asia Center, 2004. (MH Stacks / PL2278 .I344 2004) Wilt Idema and Stephen H. West., eds. Chinese Theater, 1100-1450: A Source Book. Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1982. (MH Stacks / PN2871 .I3 1982) Andrea S. Goldman. Opera and the City: The Politics of Culture in Beijing, 1770-1990. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2012. (E-Book ML1751.C58 G65 2012eb) Joshua Goldste. Drama Kings: Players and Publics in the Re-Creation of Peking Ppera, 1870- 1937. Berkeley : University of California Press, c2007. (SC Neilson Stacks / PN2876.B37 G65 2007) Eric Henry. Chinese Amusement: The Lively Plays of Li Yu. Hamden, Connecticut: The Shoe String Press, Inc., 1980. (MH Stacks PL2698.L52 Z67) Jin Jiang. Women Playing Men:Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Shanghai. Seattle : University of Washington Press, c2009. (MH Stacks / PN2876.S53 J53 2009) Daphne P. Lei. Alternative Chinese Opera in the Age of Globalization Performing Zero. Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. (SC Josten Book / ML1751.C5 L44 2011) Yun-tong Luk., ed., Studies in Chinese-Western Comparative Drama. Hong Kong : Chinese University Press, c1990. (SC Josten Book / PL2274 .S78 1990) Colin Mackerras. Chinese Theater from Its Origins to the Present Day. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 1983.(MH Stacks / PN2871 .C534 1983) Colin Mackerras. Chinese Drama : A Historical Survey. Beijing, China : New World Press : Distributed by China International Book Trading Corporation, 1990. (SC Neilson Stacks / PN2871 .M22 1990) James S. Moy. Marginal Sights: Staging the Chinese in America. Iowa City : University of Iowa, c1993. (MH Stacks / PS159.C5 M69 1993) 3 Jo Riley. Chinese Theatre and the Actor in Performance. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1997. (SC Josten Book / PN2871.5 .R56 1997) Catherine C. Swatek. Peony Pavilion Onstage: Four Centuries in the Career of a Chinese Drama. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, c2002. (MH PL2695. M83 S93 2002) Jing Shen. Playwrights and Literary Games in Seventeenth-Century China Plays by Tang Xianzu, Mei Dingzuo, Wu Bing, Li Yu, and Kong Shangren. Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, c2010. (AC Frost Stacks / PL2386 .S54 2010) Chung-Wen Shih. The Golden Age of Chinese Drama, Yüan Tsa-Chü. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton Univ. Press, 1976. (MH Stacks / PL2384 .S5) A.C. Scott. Actors Are Madmen : Notebook of A Theatregoer in China. Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, c1982. (SC Josten Book / PN2874 .S36 1982) ________. The Classical Theatre of China. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1978. (HC Stacks / PN2871 .S4 1978) Sophie Volpp. Worldly Stage Theatricality in Seventeenth-Century China. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2011. (SC Neilson Stacks / PN2872 .V65 2011) Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema., trans. Story of the Western Wing. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1995. (UM W.E.B. Du Bois / PL2693.H75 E5 1995) Tan Ye. Historical Dictionary of Chinese Theater. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, c2008. (MH Reference / PN2871 .Y46 2008) Zuyan Zhou. Androgyny in Late Ming and Early Qing Literature. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003. (MH Stacks / PL2296 .Z474 2003) Weekly Schedule Sept. 7 Course Introduction Movie: Two Actresses (on Moodle) Sept. 14 Readings: 1) The Origins of Yue Opera (on Moodle) 2) Masculinity in Transition (on Moodle) Video: Liu Yi Delivers a Letter for the Dragon King’s Daughter (on Moodle) 4 Sept. 21 Readings: 1) The Rise of Feminine Opera (on Moodle) 2) Femininity and Sisterhood (on Moodle) Video: The Peony Pavilion (on Moodle) Event: The Beauty of Yue Opera: Appreciation and Learning to Sing Hosted by Jun’an Wang 王君安, Leading Artist from Fanghua Yue Opera Troupe, China Time: 4pm-5:30pm, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 Location: Morrison Room, Willits-Hallowell Conference Center, Mount Holyoke College Class Discussion on the Educational Function of Yue Opera, hosted by Jun’an Wang Workshop for Online Commentary Sept. 28 Mountain Day (no class) Oct. 5 Readings: The Butterfly Lovers: the Legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (Introduction & The Ballad of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai’s Common Study as Sworn Brothers, Parts One and Two, pp.1-68) Video: The Butterfly Lovers Mid Semester Break: Oct. 8-11 Oct. 12 Readings: 1) “The Performance of Classical Theater” (on Moodle ) 2) “Traditional Theater in Contemporary China” (on Moodle) 3) ”Patron and Patronage” (on Moodle) Oct. 19 Readings: 1) Rescued by a Coquette (on Moodle) 2) Yuan Drama (on Moodle ) Vidoe: Saving the Prostitute Online Commentary First paper due (Ciruti 118) Oct. 26 Readings: 1) The Dragon King’s Daughter 2) “Androgyny Defined” “Androgyny in Chinese Philosophy” “Gender Ambiguity in Late Ming 5 and Early Qing Culture” (on Moodle) 3) “A Feminine Aesthetics” (on Moodle ) Review Vidoe:Liu Yi Delivers a Letter for the Dragon King’s Daughter Nov. 2 Readings: 1) Romance of the Western Bower (Acts 1, 2, and 3) 2) “The Status of Wang Shifu’s Story of the Western Wing in Chinese Literature” (on Moodle) 3) “Author and Authorship” (on Moodle) Online Commentary Nov. 9 Readings: Romance of the Western Bower (Acts 4 and 5) Video: Romance of the Western Bower Nov. 16 Readings: 1) “Introduction: “Mudan ting and the Theatrical Culture of Kun Opera” (on Moodle) 2) The Peony Pavilion (Scenes 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23 [pp.128-135], 24, 26, 28, 30,32, 33, 35) Online Commentary Thanksgiving Break: Nov. 23-27 Nov. 30 Readings: The Peony Pavilion (Scenes 36, 39, 41, 44, 48, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55) Review Video: The Peony Pavilion (Yue Opera) Oral Presentation Dec. 7 Oral Presentation Final paper due at 5pm, Dec. 16th 2016 (Ciruti 118, [email protected]) Final Paper: Hard copy is preferred. I will leave an envelope (with the AS215 on it) inside of my mailbox outside of the Asian Studies Office (112 Ciruti). You can put your final essay inside of the envelope. 6 .