TRANSLATION OF AESTHETICS: LOCAL PERFORMANCES IN COLONIAL TAIWAN, 1895-1945 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Chun-Yen Wang May 2012 © 2012 Chun-Yen Wang TRANSLATION OF AESTHETICS: LOCAL PERFORMANCES IN COLONIAL TAIWAN, 1895-1945 Chun-Yen Wang, Ph. D. Cornell University 2012 This dissertation examines “the multitude” and “the local” in Jingju and Gezaixi in Colonial Taiwan, looking into the way in which how local performances of such transcend colonially political boundaries, colonized intellectuals’ imagination of people, and identity politics embedded in the Xiqu epistemology. By analyzing the transformation of “the theatrical” from the colonial period to the postwar period, the dissertation also argues that cultural materiality matters in looking at aesthetics, and asserts that aesthetical imagination derives from epistemological discourse. The Xiqu epistemology is formed in racialization in relation to imperialism and colonialism. This is to say that colonial modernity “creates” traditional drama by distinguishing from modern drama. The dissertation begins with critiquing colonial modernity by locating xiqu performances in the regime of cultural translation, and suggests an episteme and political imagination that are not subject to colonial modernity by looking into Baizixi and Gezaixi. It follows to analyze the way in which local performances transcend the limits of ethnicity and language by discussing the relationship between Jingju and Taiwanese islanders. The dissertation argues that two concepts of ethnic performance and local identity emerge along with nationalist discourse that reacts against yet paradoxically reproduces the colonialist-modern episteme by examining the transformation of Jingju in the postwar Taiwan. I conclude the dissertation with questioning the imagination of subjectivity of Taiwanese culture that come into being in the formation of colonial modernity by investigating the Reformed drama of Gezaixi in relation to national realism in the wartime period. The dissertation challenges colonial modernity that functions as an epistemology that is at the same time colonial and anti-colonial, imperial and national. By redefining xiqu as local performances that do beyond national/racial/ethnic identity, I map out a picture of the discursive relation between nation and aesthetics, history and knowledge, and performance and ethical-politics since 1895 when Taiwan is incorporated in the modern structure of the global. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Chun-Yen Wang was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1976. He received a B.A. degree in Chinese literature in 1999 and a M.A. degree in Drama and Theatre in 2004 both from National Taiwan University. He was a recipient of J. William Fulbright Scholarship and Taiwan Merit Scholarship in 2005. Before entering Cornell University in 2008, he studied Critical Studies in performance at University of California, Los Angeles. His chosen fields of study within theater and performance were Critical Theory, Post-colonialism and Transnationalism. Chun-Yen earned his Ph.D. in Theater Arts in May of 2012. iii For my mother, Hui-Yuan Huang iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like first to thank my committee members. This work could not have been accomplished without their strong support and warm encouragement. It is my great honor to be able to study with Professor Naoki Sakai, from whom I learned what makes an excellent scholar and teacher. In addition to his academic instruction, his endless patience for students and sharp yet gentle perspectives toward the world provided me with the best example of working in the humanities. I deeply appreciate Professor Haiping Yan, who persistently encouraged me to study, to think and to expect myself globally with truly looking into modern world history and critically examining its problematic. I would never forget how crucially she expanded my scholarship and helped in my education. Sincere gratitude is also given to Professor Sara Warner, who was not only a wonderful instructor but a sympathetic mentor and discussant. Her consideration and cheers comforted my soul during the days when I felt frustrated and weak. During my education in the United States, I am very grateful to many institutes in support of my study. Generous supports from Fulbright Scholarship by Institute of International Education (IIE), Taiwan Merit Scholarship by National Science Council of Taiwan, C. V. Starr Fellowship and the Hu Shih Memorial Award by East Asian Program at Cornell, as well as Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance, the Society for the Humanities, etc. made this Ph. D. possible. I thank many professors whom I studied or worked with in various ways both in the U.S. and Taiwan. Professor Victor Koschmann, Professor Brett de Bary, Professor Don Fredericksen and v Professor Amy Villarejo offered their invaluable inspiration and assistance during the years at Cornell. I deeply appreciate Professor Sabine Haenni for her continuous assistance and advices. Professor Shiao-Ying Shen, who is also a graduate of Cornell’s Theatre Arts, was the key person who led me to the world of film and theatre when I studied at National Taiwan University. Professor Chia-Ling Mei’s long-lasting expectation for my study sustained my determination in pursuing a doctoral degree. I am much obliged to Professor Ayling Wang, whose wholehearted mentorship assured my stay at Academia Sinica as a doctoral fellow. This dissertation owes a special thanks to Professor Ya-hsiang Hsu. Without Professor Hsu’s generous sharing and enthusiastic help, initial observations and thoughts could not have been approved and my further research based on fieldwork could not have been possibly conducted. Thanks all my friends in Los Angeles, particularly Jiayun Zhuang, Hui Zhang, Julia Grimes, and other members of China Forum. I am very thankful to Lothar Von Falkenhausen, from whom I can always receive the warmest smiles. I have benefited consistently from Jia Tan’s company with her smart advices and great suggestions. It was one of the most enjoyable things to talk, discuss, and share with her during my dissertation writing. Thanks Chris Ann, Masuda Hajimu and Akiko Ishii for their inviting me to the reading group granted by the Institute for Comparative Modernities. Wah Guam Lim and Chia-Chen Chou were two of my best friends in Ithaca. On those freezing cold days, our chatting always brought me genial warmth. I also would like to express my gratitude to Karen Durfee and Sharon Beltaine for their cordial friendship that accompanied me in Ithaca. Mark Mcconaghy and Peter Lavelle were more than generous with their time in helping vi me through editing in English, and for this I am indebted. A special thanks also goes to Chia-Wei Chang for his tremendous help in the dissertation formatting. Hsiu-Chun Chu has been one of the most important persons in my life. Without her company for so many years since I was eighteen, I could not imagine how I would have been able to get through all the hard times. I owe my sincere gratitude to Yang-Yi Kuo, Yi-Mei Lai, Gazion Lin, Chieh-Wen Cheng and Yi-Chun Chen for their love and trust that are never withdrawn. My gratitude also goes to Shun-Yu Yang, Chen-Wen Huang, Roger Shih-Chieh Lo, Viola Fei, Chien-Ling Huang and the Wei-Mong sisters for their constant encouragement. Finally, this work would not have been completed without their unlimited support from my mother, Hui-Yuan Huang, my father, James Jenn-Yng Hwang, and my sisiter Chia-Hsuan Wang, whose love and tolerance have helped me more than they can know. vii TABLE CONTENTS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .............................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................... v TABLE CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... viii 1. How Local Performances Become Xiqu? :The Epistemological and the Translational .. 1 1.1 Colonial Politics and the Islanders .................................................................................. 2 1.2 Dramas in Colonial Taiwan .............................................................................................. 5 1.3 Art and Modernity: Nation-State ..................................................................................... 7 1.4 Chinese Music Drama or Xiqu? The Imperial-cum-National Epistemology ................. 14 1.5 Modern Drama and the Invention of Xiqu ................................................................. 17 1.6 National/Nationalized Drama and Local/Localized Drama .................................... 19 1.7 Materialist or Discursive? ............................................................................................... 21 1.8 Translation and Colonial Modernity ............................................................................. 22 1.9 Global Citizen: Intellectuals’ Expectation of the Islanders ....................................... 25 1.10 The Masses ....................................................................................................................... 27 1.11 Or, the Multitude? Baizixi and Gezaixi’s Audience .................................................... 28 1.12 Baizixi and Gezaixi in a New Articulation ..................................................................