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Theater and Society
Chinese spoken drama flourished in the 1980s when it generated a series of national controversies. In important respects, this was the golden age of drama in the People's Republic, as the stage became a most effective arena for exploring long suppressed cultural and political issues, constituting an indispensable dimension of the reform that has been altering the landscape of contemporary Chinese culture and society. The plays in this volume are among the most influential and controversial, having engendered intense cultural debate and political confrontations. They include the only complete English language translation of Bus Stop by Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian. The film script ...
The Eternal Present of the Past
This study draws together various elements in late Ming culture – illustration, theater, literature – and examines their interrelation in the context of the publication of drama. It examines a late Ming conception of the stage as a mystical space in which the past was literally reborn within the present. This temporal conflation allowed the past to serve as a vigorous and immediate moral example and was considered a hugely important mechanism by which the continuity of the Confucian tradition could be upheld. By using theatrical conventions of stage arrangement, acting gesture, and frontal address, drama illustration recreated the mystical character of the stage within the pages of the book, and thus set the conflation of past and present on a broader footing.
Records of the Three Kingdoms in Plain Language
The saga of the Three Kingdoms—which recounts the dramatic story of the civil wars (ca. 180–220 CE) that divided the old Han Empire into the Shu, Wei, and Wu states—remains as popular as ever in China, having served as the basis of not only traditional operas and ballads, but also, in more recent years, of movies, television dramas, and video games. Translated into English for the first time here, the Sanguozhi pinghua (thirteenth century CE) provides a complete and fast-paced narrative account of the events of the period, from the beginning of the civil wars to the demise of the Three Kingdoms and the short-lived reunification of the realm by the Jin dynasty. Shorter, clearer, and mor...
Text, Performance, and Gender in Chinese Literature and Music
Wilt Idema is one of the world's leading scholars and translators of Chinese literature, with research interests ranging from classical poetry to premodern fiction, performance literature and women's writing. His oeuvre is exceptional in its inclusiveness and its ability to let different historical periods, genres and issues speak to one another, and to make the riches of Chinese literature accessible to a wide range of readers. In honor of his work, this collection brings together new research by twenty-two prominent scholars in a field of tremendous scope and diversity, on topics including genre characteristics, literary representations of social and political history, gender and cultural identity, music, autobiography, women's writing, internet literature and more.
Contemporary Chinese Fiction Writers
In the years since the death of Mao Zedong, interest in Chinese writers and Chinese literature has risen significantly in the West. In 2000, Gao Xingjian became the first Chinese writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature followed by Mo Yan in 2012, and writers such as Ha Jin and Da Sijie have also become well known in the West. Despite this progress, the vast majority of Chinese writers remain largely unknown outside of China. This book introduces the lives and works of eighty contemporary Chinese writers, and focuses on writers from the "Rightist" generation (Bai Hua, Gao Xiaosheng, Liu Shaotang), writers of the Red Guard generation (Li Rui, Wang Anyi), Post-Cultural Revolution Write...
Handbook of Divination and Prognostication in China
This is the first comprehensive book that presents the manifold aspects of divination and prognostication in traditional and modern China, from the early period of oracle bones to present-day fortune-tellers. It introduces what is out there in the field of Chinese divination and prognostication, and how we can further explore it especially through different disciplines. Eminent specialists outline the classifications of divination, recently excavated texts, the relationship between practitioners and clients, the place of the “occult” arts in cosmology, literature and religion, and the bureaucratic system. Contributors are: Constance Cook, Richard J. Smith, Marc Kalinowski, Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Lü Lingfeng, Liao Hsien-huei, Philip Clart, Fabrizio Pregadio, Esther-Maria Guggenmos, Andrew Schonebaum, and Stéphanie Homola.
John Woo
The first edition of John Woo: The Films (McFarland, 1999) was the earliest English-language volume to address the motion picture output of the celebrated Hong Kong director. The book dealt with Woo's film career from his professional beginnings in 1968 through his first three Hollywood releases (Hard Target, Broken Arrow and Face/Off), situating his work within Asian and Western cinematic and cultural traditions. This second edition offers a wealth of additional information, including treatment of John Woo's Hollywood productions Mission: Impossible II, Windtalkers and Paycheck. Also featured is material on Woo's epic Red Cliff, filmed in China. A new foreword is provided by Tony Williams, author of John Woo's Bullet in the Head. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Peony Pavilion Onstage
After its completion in 1598, The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) began a four-hundred-year course of transmission and dissemination in China and around the world. Within China, the play’s wide popularity propelled its appearance in numerous editions, adaptations, and libretti. Performances ranged from “pure singing” at private gatherings to full stagings in commercial theaters. As the crown jewel of Kun opera reportoire, Mudan ting has a richly documented history and lends itself to careful study. In the late twentieth century, however, classical Kun opera is on the verge of extinction in China, and creative talent is gravitating to centers outside China’s mainland. In 1998, the play wa...
