WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Fall 1998
CHINESE 467/DRAMA 465: CHINESE THEATER
Instructor: Robert E. Hegel
116 South Ridgley
935-7476
email: rhegel@artsci.wustl.edu
Office hours: MWF 2:00-3:15
Course Webpage: http://artsci.wustl.edu/~rhegel/chtheater

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The purpose of the course is to survey the rich and varied theatrical traditions of China from their origins in ritual and spectacle to their current formulations in drama and film in China proper, in Taiwan, and in Hong Kong.

CLASS FORMAT:
Classes will combine lecture with discussion, with the emphasis on background information and analysis offered by the instructor. Videotaped theatricals will be used to the greatest possible extent. Graduate students will meet separately for further discussions of primary sources and critical approaches appropriate to each form of theatrical considered.

REQUIREMENTS
will consist of regular reading from the textbooks for the course (or the original works in place of translations) and of frequent viewing of videotapes both in class and in the Media Center. There will be several short papers, a final examination consisting of identifications and short essays, and a final paper of 10-15 pages for undergraduates, 20-25 pages for graduates.

READINGS
will include the following books and additional handouts; Graduate Students will have a further list of assigned readings from books on reserve in Olin and the East Asian Libraries.

William Nienhauser, ed., Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature

    Olin REF Z3108 L5 I53 1986

James I. Crump, Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan (R)

Wang Shifu, Story of the Western Wing, trans. Idema and West

Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion, trans. Cyril Birch

Cyril Birch, Scenes for Mandarins (R)

William Dolby, trans., Eight Chinese Plays (R)

Yan Haiping, ed., Theater and Society

Nick Browne, et al., New Chinese Cinemas

Rey Chow, Primitive Passions

Stephen Teo, Hong Kong Cinema

(R designates books on reserve in Olin Library, Room 252)

 
* * * * *
CHINESE 467/DRAMA 465: CHINESE THEATER
Fall 1998
SCHEDULE

(Note: Readings marked with an asterisk are suggested for graduate students and for others who wish to do further reading on this topic.)
 
 

I. The Theatrical Arts of China and Their Early History

August 28: Theatrical Settings, Role Types, Costumes, Make-up, Properties

August 31: Conventional Music and Traditional Stories September 4: Puppet Theater: From Exorcism to Entertainment September 11-14: Dramatic Narratives: Picture Narratives of Tang (bianwen) and Storytelling of Song (zhugongdiao or Medleys) II. Zaju Plays of the Yuan Period

September 18: Dramatic Narratives of the Song Period: "Vaudeville"

September 21: Conventions of Yuan and Ming zaju September 25: Bathos and Slapstick in zaju September 28: Crime and Punishment in zaju October 2: The Romantic Masterpiece, Xixiang ji  

III. Literati Masterpieces Among Ming and Qing chuanqi

October 5: The Development of the chuanqi Tradition

October 9: Literati Artistry October 12: The Romantic Masterpiece Mudan ting October 19: The Peony Pavilion October 23: The Peony Pavilion  

IV: Twentieth-Century Theatrical Forms
 

October 26: Traditional Regional Forms: Beijing Opera

October 30: Traditional Regional Forms: Local Operas November 2: Modern Drama of the Twentieth Century November 6: Revolutionary and Experimental Theater V. Chinese Cinema
 

November 9: Early Films Through the 1930s

November 13: Films Before the Cultural Revolution November 16: Films of the 1980s: November 20: Films of the 1980s November 23: Films of the 1990s November 30: "New Wave" Taiwan Cinema December 4: Outstanding Hong Kong Filmmakers December 7: The Role of Theater in Ideological Formations December 14-21: Final Examination Period
 

December 21, noon: Deadline for submission of term papers (Busch 6)

 
 
Books on Reserve at OLIN Library for CHI 467

Arlington, L. C. and Harold Acton, Famous Chinese Plays PL2658/E5A7/1963

Chang, H. C., Chinese Literature: Popular Fiction and Drama PL2658/E1/N53/1

Clark, Paul, Chinese Cinema PN1993.5/C4/C58/1987

Crump, James I., Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan PN2872/C7

Dolby, William, A History of Chinese Drama PN2871/D65

Dolby, William, Eight Chinese Plays PL2658/E5/E37/1978

Gunn, Edward, Twentieth-Century Chinese Drama PL2658/E8/T88/1983

Idema, Wilt L. and Stephen West, Chinese Theater, 1100-1450 PN2871/I3/1982

Johnson, David, Ritual Opera, Operatic Ritual ML1751/C4/I68/1987

K'ung Shang-jen, Peach Blossom Fan PL2717/U47/T313/1976

Lagerwey, John, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society BL1923/L34/1987

Leyda, Jay, Dianying: Electric Shadows PN1993.5/C4/L4

Mackerras, Colin, Chinese Theater PN2871/C534/1983 [CT]

Mackerras, Colin, Chinese Theater in Modern Times PN2871/M3/1975b

Mackerras, Colin, Performing Arts in Contemporary China PN2874/M3

Mair, Victor H., Tang Transformation Texts PL2365/M37/1988

Schechner and Appel, By Means of Performance PN2039/B9/1990

Stalberg, Roberta, China's Puppets PN1978/C5/S7/1984

Tan Sooi Beng, Ko-tai: A New Form of Chinese Urban Street Theatre ML1751/M4/T36/1984

West, Stephen, Vaudeville and Narrative PL2383/W4/1979

Wichmann, Elizabeth, Listening to Theater MT95/W49/1991

 

Useful Periodicals in English

Asian Theater Bulletin (American Theater Assn.) not in Olin

China Screen (Beijing, -1994)

CHINOPERL Papers (Ithaca, 1969- ), not in Olin

Comparative Drama (1967- ) PN1601/C65

Drama Survey (1961-1969) PN1601/D65

East-West Theater Journal (Honolulu )

Educational Theatre Journal (1950-1978)

Modern Chinese Literature (San Francisco, Boulder, 1984-)

Theatre Journal (1979- ) PN3171/E38

See also:

Beijing Review (Beijing, 1950-) AP8/P4

Chinese Literature (Beijing, 1951-) PL2250/C5

Echo (Taipei, 1971-1978)

Free China Review (Taipei, 1950-)

 

Assigned readings

Yu, Clara Cuadrado. "Cross-Cultural Currents in the Theatre: China and the West," New Asia Academic Bulletin 1 (1978), 217-237; rpt. China and the West: Comparative Literature Studies, ed. William Tay (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1980), pp. 217-237.

Crump, James I. Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan (University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies pb).

Wang Shifu, The Story of the Western Wing, trans. S. H. West and W. L. Idema (University of California Press pb).

Birch, Cyril. Scenes for Mandarins: The Elite Theater of the Ming (Olin Reserve)

Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion: Mudan ting, trans. Cyril Birch (Cheng and Tsui pb)

Browne, Nick et al., New Chinese Cinemas (Cambridge University Press pb).

Esherick, Joseph W. and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, "Acting Out Democracy: Political Theater in Modern China," Journal of Asian Studies 49.4 (1990), 835-865.
 

Optional Readings:

Yan, Haiping, ed. Theater and Society: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama (M. E. Sharpe pb)

Teo, Stephen. Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions (British Film Institute pb)