UNIVERSTIY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Not Yet Farewell: Postsocialist Performance and Visual Art in Urban China A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies by Jiayun Zhuang 2009 UMI Number: 3401649 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3401649 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. uest ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 The dissertation of Jiayun Zhuang is approved. Michael HaoJ&tt <^ys^—x^^^ ^ Shelley Salamensky £• ?- R. Bin Wong lu-mei Shjh; Committee Co-Chair ilping Yan, Committed Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2009 11 Dedicated to, my dearest and most fascinating parents, who have always been supportive, encouraging, and inspirational, unconditionally, even when they were puzzled by what I was doing, and even though they once painted a rather different picture of my life. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments vi Vita vii Abstract of Dissertation ix Chapter 1: An Introduction about "the Post" 1 Notes 36 Chapter 2: Resignifying the Ideologized Bodies through Zhiti Xiju 41 Notes 92 Chapter 3: Factory 798: the Site of Nostalgia and its Dwellers 99 Notes 125 Chapter 4: The New Long March—Walking along the Thin Line 130 Notes 187 Bibliography 197 IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1. Tongue's Memory of Home 74 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those whose support and love have inspired me to successfully complete this project. Professor Sue-Ellen Case has provided me with a wide variety of opportunities and challenges ever since I became a member of the critical studies program in Theater and Performance Studies. She has been immanent in every one of the steps in the process. Without her essential support and provocative insights, this project would have been impossible for me to accomplish. I am deeply indebted to Professor Shu-mei Shih, my dissertation Co-Chair. Her abiding commitment to scholarship and mentorship has been of immense importance to me. The advice and support I received from her have encouraged me through both my dissertation writing and my job hunting experiences. Professor Bin Wong has provided me with his continuous guidance and intellectual generosity, making time for me even during his busiest times. He has had an important impact on my research methodology and theoretical perspective, for which I am much obliged. I wish to extend my warm and sincere thanks to Professor Michael Hackett and Professor Shelley Salamensky, for their mentorship and willingness to help throughout the dissertation process! It was Professor Haiping Yan who helped me create a vision of this project; she provided critical and important suggestions for this dissertation in its developmental stages, and for that I offer my genuine thanks. vi Also, I truly owe many thanks to Professor Hui-shu Lee who has brought me into a new field of visual knowledge that is so pertinent to my research. She also introduced me to an amazing community of friends and colleagues, from whom I have benefited greatly! I would like to note with great appreciation the sustained support and encouragement that I have received from the following persons: Professor Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, Professor Howard Blanning, Professor Claire Conceison, Mrs. Shelly Rosenberg, Dr. Robert Sung and Mrs. Patsy Sung, and Professor Carol Sorgenfrei. A BIG and heartfelt "thank you" to my friends and fellow colleagues who read my chapters/research ideas and gave me precise and useful feedback! Their original insights, critical comments, and helpful suggestions have been invaluable. I am especially grateful to Jenny Lin, Fiona Ng, Gary Richardson, Chantal Rodriguez, Stephanie Su, Chun-Yen Wang, Hui Zhang, and Xin Zhang. For their unconditional love and belief in me over the years, I dedicate this dissertation to my parents—Jinyun Liu and Qinjie Zhuang—as a token of appreciation. I also cannot express enough gratitude and love to my sister and brother-in-law—Jiaxu Zhuang, and Wei Zhang. Last and most important, I am extremely grateful to have such a remarkable partner as Joe, who makes all of this possible with his unfailing love, patience, and passion. I share this work with him, as he has been the one who always shares my pleasure, frustration, and affection. For everything you have done for me, Joe, I thank you. vii VITA 2004 M.A. Theatre Miami University 2004-2006 Global Scholar Fellowship UCLA International Institute University of California, Los Angeles 2006 Kurnitz Creative Writing Award Second Prize of Best Full-Length Play 2006 International Institute Fieldwork Fellowship UCLA International Institute University of California, Los Angeles 2006 Graduate Student Travel Grant UCLA Center for the Study of Women University of California, Los Angeles 2007 Quality of Graduate Education Funding University of California, Los Angeles 2008 Dissertation Year Fellowship University of California, Los Angeles 2006, 2008, 2009 Edna and Yu-shan Han Fellowship University of California, Los Angeles 2007, 2008, 2009 Teaching Assistant Department of Theater University of California, Los Angeles SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS Rajchman, John. "The Lightness of Theory." Theoretical Frontiers of Contemporary Art (Dangdai Yishu Qianyan). Ed. Qi Zhu. Trans. Jiayun Zhuang. Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House, 2009. Wu, Hung, ed. Beyond the Revolution: A Sourcebook for Chinese Contemporary Art, 1976-2006. Trans. Jiayun Zhuang (three pieces). New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2010. vin Zhuang, Jiayun. "Walk and Talk about the Other Shore of Desire." Art Manager (Yishu Jingliren) 2.8. 2008. — . "Factory 798: the Site of Nostalgia and its Incontinent Dweller." Extensions: The Online Journal of Embodiment and Technology. Volume 5: Performing Space and Place, 2009. — . (June, 2006) "Site-Specific Performances in Factory 798," UC Multicampus Research Group Conference, Irvine, California. — - -. (November, 2006) "The New Long March: A Walking Visual Display in 2002." American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), Chicago, Illinois. — . (January, 2008) "Resignifying the Laboring Body and the Ideologized Motherhood—The Living Dance Studio's Report on Giving Birth," UC Multicampus Research Group Conference, Asian Performance Colloquium, Irvine, California. — . (August, 2008) "Mapping and Drawing A Heard Beijing: the Significance and Limitation of Performing the City." Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Denver, Colorado. — . (August, 2008) "An Inconvenient Cultural Capital—Gao Xingjian and the 1980s." Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Denver, Colorado. — . (November, 2009) "Remember—A Postsocialist Memory Laboratory of the Cultural Revolution." American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), San Juan, Puerto Rico. ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Not Yet Farewell: Postsocialist Performance and Visual Art in Urban China by Jiayun Zhuang Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2009 Professor Shu-mei Shih, Co-Chair Professor Haiping Yan, Co-Chair This dissertation explores, in detail, a variety of postsocialist theater, performance, and visual art works that re-signify the country's revolutionary and socialist history. Taking a deep look at the somatic and semiotic practices of performative resignification, this dissertation examines the pieces that invent new ways to represent how prior socio­ political and ideological codes continue to inform the culture of the postsocialist present. Overflowing with historically and ideologically-laden gestural and visual signs, these performative practices challenge the previously state-sanctioned ideologies in a cross- historical dialogue. x Chapter 1, as the introduction of this study, lays out the conceptual framework for the dissertation, probing the theoretical and historical ramifications of the postsocialist performance and visual art in the PRC, as well as engaging recent scholarship on the subject. Chapter 2 focuses on two independent theater groups in urban China as well as their major performance productions: (1) the dance-theater group Shenghuo wudao gongzuoshi (The Living Dance Studio) (2) the dance-theater group Zuhe niao (The Niao Collective). This chapter explores the ways in which the dance-theater groups deliberately rework the normalized physical and linguistic signifiers in the socialist representation system, in order to detach their practices of zhiti xiju (physical theater) from huaju (spoken drama—the particular form of modern, western-style theater that first made its appearance at the turn of the 20th century). Chapter 3 explores the new citadel of contemporary Chinese art—Factory 798 in Beijing, also called 798 Art District and Dashangzi Art District nowadays. This chapter, by examining a number of performance pieces enacted in Factory 798 in detail, tackles the question of post-socialist nostalgia, since a particular socialist history has been repeatedly compressed and resignified within this specific factory space. Chapter 4 focuses on a large-scale