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Abstract
This essay investigates the construction of the notion of gewu (song and dance) by Qi Rushan (1875–1962), main advisor to the famous performer of female roles, Mei Lanfang (1894–1961), in his writings on Chinese opera/xiqu, taking contemporary Peking opera/Jingju as its epitome. Originally put forward as a theoretical basis on which to ground the new developments in the theatrical realm that he was trying to introduce, Qi's concept of gewu later became central to the scholarship and historical narrative of Chinese opera. This paper examines how Qi made use of the Confucian classics and pre-Song dynasty literature to invest the notion with historical depth in tracing back to antiquity the roots of the new (re-)emergence of synchronized performance of singing and dancing that he claimed was best illustrated in Mei's plays. This article also studies Qi's theoretical works in conjunction with the historiographical debates of the time. As such, it brings to the fore the influence of contemporary opera production and consumption on the formation of a new history of Chinese drama, and how the construction of a new aesthetic informed a new understanding of Chinese theatrical arts.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Xu Peng, the guest editor of this special issue, for her insight and support throughout the writing and revising process. I also thank Professor Margaret Wan for her editorial guidance and encouragement. The comments of Professor David Rolston and the two anonymous reviewers have been very helpful in sharpening the arguments of the paper.
Notes
1 On these two terms, xiqu and opera (geju 歌劇), see Xu Peng's introduction to this special issue.
2 The differences between Jingpai and Haipai opera include an emphasis in the former on aurality versus the dominant visuality of the latter, and the greater attention paid by the former to performance techniques versus the stage effects that played such an important part in Haipai. On the contrasts and competition between Jingpai and Haipai, see Joshua Goldstein, Drama Kings: Players and Publics in the Re-Creation of Peking Opera, 1870–1937 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), pp. 189–97.
3 This term refers to the two main musical modes used in this performance genre, xipi 西皮 and erhuang 二黃/簧.
4 I use “Peking opera” to translate the Chinese term Jingju 京劇 where others might prefer the romanization “Jingju.” By using the English term, I want to indicate a specific idea at a specific time—the English term emerged during the time period under study. I also wish to highlight, by using “Peking” instead of “Beijing,” the colonial context within which the term was developed and circulated. See Goldstein, Drama Kings, p. 3.
5 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu 國劇身段譜 (A Register of Choreographies of National Drama; Taipei: Qi Rushan xiansheng yizhu bianyin weiyuanhui, 1964). The title was first published in 1935 by Beiping guoju xuehui 北平國劇學會 (Beiping National Drama Study Association, founded in 1931). In the terminology of Chinese opera performance, shenduan 身段 and zuogong 做工 both mean onstage movements. Shenduan pu refers to the texts recording these movements. In his discussion, Qi Rushan sometimes used wushi 舞式, “the forms of dance,” to refer specifically to danced movements. To emphasize Qi's effort to study the onstage movements of Peking opera through his idea of dance, in my translation of the title Guoju shenduan pu 國劇身段譜, I render shenduan 身段 as “choreography,” and pu 譜 as “register.” A briefly review of the content of Choreographies appears in Liang Yan 梁燕, “Qi Rushan Jingju biaoyan jifa jianlun” 齊如山京劇表演技法簡論 (A brief examination of Qi Rushan's performance techniques of Peking opera), Zhongguo xiqu xueyuan xuebao 中國戲曲學院學報 (Journal of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts) 28.4 (2007): 83–85. Choreographies is also a major source for Liang's discussion of Qi's studies of opera in Liang Yan, Qi Rushan juxue yanjiu 齊如山劇學研究 (A study on Qi Rushan's opera research; Beijing: Xueyuan chuban she, 2008).
6 In addition to the reasons this article focuses on, Qi's theorization of Chinese opera aesthetics in the 1920s and early 1930s was also motivated by his preparation for Mei Lanfang's tour of the United States and the establishment of the Beiping Guoju xuehui. Guoju 國劇 (national drama) was a very important term to Qi Rushan, even if he used it ambiguously (in his writings sometimes it refers to all Chinese indigenous theater and sometimes just to Peking opera). It was and remains a highly contested category that emerged together with the nation-state and modern nationalism; its content and scope have constantly changed. In my own discussion, I will use instead terms “Chinese opera” to refer to the genres and styles that went into the creation of what was called national drama in modern China.
7 For instance, in Guoju yishu huikao 國劇藝術彙考 (A Comprehensive Examination of the Art of National Drama), a conclusive work of Qi's opera research published in 1961, Qi listed “every sound is sung” (you sheng bi ge 有聲必歌) and “no movement is not dance” (wudong buwu 無動不舞) as the principles (yuanli 原理) of Chinese national opera. See Qi Rushan, Guoju yishu huikao (Taipei: Qi Rushan xiangsheng yizhu bianyin weiyuanhui, 1964), 3–4. Liang Yen discussed Qi's ideas of singing and dancing in Liang Yen, “Qi Rushan juxue chutan” 齊如山劇學初探, Wenhua yishu yenjiu 文化藝術研究 (Study of Culture and Arts), 1997.5: 22–25. Shen Daren 沈達人 summarized the content of Qi Rushan's performance principles, in Shen Daren, “Qi Rushan juxue tanxi” 齊如山劇學探析, Xiqu yanjiu 戲曲研究 (Study of Chinese drama) 87 (2013): 8–11. Both Liang and Shen's articles view Qi's concepts of singing and dancing in separate terms.
8 In this article, I use both “gewu” and “song-and-dance”; using gewu when emphasizing Qi Rushan's theorization, and song-and-dance to describe a new mode of integrating singing and dancing in Chinese opera performance in the early decades of the twentieth century China.
9 Here I follow the translation of Joshua Goldstein and Catherine Yeh.
10 For instance, see Liang Yan, Qi Rushan juxue yanjiu, chapter 5.
11 Qi Rushan 齊如山, Qi Rushan huiyi lu 齊如山回憶錄 (Memoirs of Qi Rushan; Taipei: Zhongyang wenwu gongying she, 1953), p. 109.
12 Ibid.
13 For Qi and Mei's collaboration on contemporary-costume plays and the dismissal of this genre (as “hybrid drama”), see Goldstein, Drama Kings, chapter 4.
14 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyi lu, pp. 113–15.
15 Ibid, p. 111.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid, p. 112.
18 Catherine Vance Yeh, “Experimenting with Dance Drama: Peking Opera Modernity, Kabuki Theater Reform, and the Denishawn's Tour of the Far East,” Journal of Global Theater History 1.2 (2016): 28–37. Yeh emphasizes the emergence around this time of something close to modern dance—dancing without singing—in the plays of Mei Lanfang and the other actors now known as the four famous male performers of female roles (sida mingdan 四大名旦).
19 Mei Lanfang 梅蘭芳 and Xu Jichuan 許姬傳, Wutai shenghuo sishi nian 舞臺生活四十年 (Forty years of a career onstage; Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, 1987), p. 281. This book is narrated by Xu Jichuan and is primarily made up of quotations of Mei Lanfang's reminiscences on different topics and plays. This one-volume edition with continuous pagination appeared after earlier three-volume editions with separate pagination.
20 Ibid, p. 282. See also Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, p. 110.
21 Qi developed his concept of mythological play from his exposure to western theater; see Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, 98. He also emphasized that song-and-dance is the key to mythological plays (shenhua xi yi gewu wei zhong 神話戲以歌舞為重), see ibid, p. 116.
22 Mei and Xu, Wutai shenghuo sishi nian, p. 531.
23 Mei and Xu, Wutai shenghuo sishi nian, p. 523. Mei gives a very detailed description of the movement accompanying the lines he sings in “The Cloud Path”; see Mei and Wu, Wutai shenghuo sishi nian, pp. 521–25.
24 Anonymous, “Mei ju zhi mingjia xinping” 梅劇之名家新評 (New Comments from authorities on Mei Lanfang's plays), Gongyan bao 公言報 (Public Opinion News), May 17, 1918.
25 Catherine Yeh, “Where Is the Center of Cultural Production? The Rise of the Actor to National Stardom and the Peking/Shanghai Challenge (1860s-1910s),” Late Imperial China 25.2 (2004): 96–97.
26 Su Shaoqing 蘇少卿, “Xiandai sida mingdan zhi bijiao (xia)” 現代四大名旦之比較 (下) (A comparison of the four leading male performers of female roles of our times [part 2]), Banyue xiju 半月戲劇 (Drama bi-monthly) 6 (May 1, 1937): no page number.
27 Xu Muyun, Zhongguo xiju shi 中國戲劇史 (A history of Chinese drama; Shanghai: Shijie shuju, 1938), p. 347. For the rise in status and importance of performers of female roles (dan 旦) actors on the Peking opera stage in early twentieth-century China, see Goldstein, Drama Kings, p. 18; for the four famous male performers of female roles (sida mingdan), among whom Mei was given pride of place, see pp. 245–63.
28 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, pp. 85–86.
29 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, p. 94.
30 Shen Chongsui 沈寵綏, Duqu xuzhi 度曲須知, ed. Koo Siu-sun 古兆申 and Diana Yue 余丹, Kunqu yanchang lilun congshu 崑曲演唱理論叢書, vol. 3 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2006).
31 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, p. 85.
32 Ibid, pp. 93–94. For a modern edition of Liji and Zhouli, see Chen Shuguo 陳戍國 punctuated and proofread, Liji, Yili, Zhouli 禮記 儀禮 周禮 (The Book of Rites, The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, The Rites of Zhou; Changsha: Yuelu shuyuan, 1989). For Wen Xuan, see Xiao Tong 蕭統 ed., Zhang Qicheng 張啟成 and Xu Da 徐達 annotated, Zhao Ming Wen Xuan 昭明文選 (The Selections of Refined Literature by the Prince Zhaoming; Taipei: Taiwan guji, 2001).
33 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, p. 85. For study on huapu in the Qing, see Andrea S. Goldman, Opera and The City: The Politics of Culture in Beijing, 1770–1900 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012), chapter 1.
34 On Qing textual criticism, see Benjamin Elman, From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual and Social Aspects of Changes in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1984).
35 For the historical continuity between Qing antiquarianism (jinshi 金石) and emerging fields of humanistic research (e.g., archeology), see Shana J. Brown, Pastimes: From Art and Antiquarianism to Modern Chinese Historiography (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2011).
36 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, p. 85.
37 Fan Chunyi 范春毅, Jiao Xun xijuxue yanjiu 焦循戲劇學研究 (A Study on Jiao Xun's drama research; Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2012), pp. 42–51. Native to the Yangzhou region, Jiao grew up in an area with a vibrant theatrical culture and famous libraries. He associated with dramatists and other theatrical connoisseurs, most notably Li Dou 李斗 (d. 1817), the author of The Painted Boats of Yangzhou (Yangzhou huafang lu 揚州畫坊錄), which included many details on the theater culture of Yangzhou. For Jiao Xun's exposure to Jiangnan theatrical culture and his association with dramatists and theatrical connoisseurs, see Fan Chunyi, Jiao Xun xijuxue yanjiu, pp. 11–41. Such experiences and opportunities should have ensured that Jiao would produce a rich study of the long history of drama.
38 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, p. 85.
39 Jiao Xun, Jushuo, in Jiao Xun lun qu sanzhong 焦循論曲三種 (Three works on songs by Jiao Xun), annotated by Wei Minghua 韋明鏵 (Yangzhou: Guangling shushe, 2008), p. 33.
40 Ibid.
41 He Changqun 賀昌群, “Wang Guowei xiansheng zhengli Zhongguo xiqu de chengji jiqi wenyi piping” 王國維先生整理中國戲曲的成績及其文藝批評 (The achievement of Mr. Wang Guowei in organizing materials on Chinese opera and his literary criticism), Wenxue zhoubao 文學周報 (Literature weekly), June 16, 1927.
42 There is no judgement on the Mongol rule over China in Qi's writings. Nevertheless, Qi's distaste for non-Han rule was clear as he had supported anti-Manchu revolution; see Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyilu, pp. 70–74.
43 Patricia Sieber, Theaters of Desire: Authors, Readers, and the Reproduction of Early Chinese Song-Drama, 1300–2000 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p. 26.
44 Ibid, p. 6.
45 Yuming He, “Wang Guowei and the Beginnings of Modern Chinese Drama Studies,” Late Imperial China 28.2 (2007): 130.
46 Song Chunfang 宋春舫, “Xiju gailiang pingyi” 戲劇改良評議 (Suggestions for drama reform),” Gongyan bao, August 17, 1918.
47 In his memoir, Qi did not specify the dates of his stays in Europe. He mentioned that he had visited Paris three times during the last years of the Guangxu reign and the Xuantong 宣統 reign (1908–11); it was after his father's death in 1911 that he returned to Beijing to settle down. Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyiliu, pp. 68–69 and 148.
48 Ibid, p. 139.
49 Ibid, p. 140.
50 Ma Meixin 馬美信, Song Yuan xiqushi shuzheng 宋元戲曲史疏證 (A History of Song and Yuan Drama: with annotation; Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 2004), pp. 4 and 57. This work first appeared in print in 1913–1914; the title was changed in 1922 to Song Yuan xiqu kao 宋元戲曲考. For the textual history of this work, see Yuming He, “Wang Guowei and the Beginnings of Modern Chinese Drama Studies,” p. 129, n 1; and Sieber, Theaters of Desire, p. 25.
51 For instance, after the performance of Chang E Flies to the Moon, Qi Rushan's friend, Wu Zhenxiu 吳震修, said to him that “Now we have a play that we can give foreigners to see!” See Qi Rushan, Mei Lanfang you Mei ji 梅蘭芳遊美記 (Mei Lanfang's tour of the United States), 2 vols. (Taipei: Qi Rushan xiansheng yuzhu bianyin weiyuanhui, 1964) juan 1, 6. In Beijing, Mei performed Chang E Flies to the Moon at his first performance for foreign audiences in 1915. See Goldstein, Drama Kings, p. 123.
52 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 1.
53 Ibid, p. 1. For “Rhapsody on Dancing” by Fu Yi 傅毅 (47–92) and “Rhapsody to the Goddess of the Luo River” by Cao Zhi 曹植 (192–232), see Wu Wangang 吳萬剛 and Zhang Jucai 張巨才 eds., Zhongguo lidai mingfu jindian 中國歷代名賦金典 (Golden classics of the fu literature of different eras; Beijing: Zhongguo wenlian, 1998), pp. 148 and 240. For an English translation of “Rhapsody of the Goddess of the Luo River,” see Burton Watson, Chinese Rhyme-prose: Poems in the Fu from the Han to the Six Dynasties Periods (New York: New York University Press, 1971), pp. 55–60. For “Rhapsody on the Dancing Crane” by Bao Zhao 鮑照 (414–66), see Xiao Tong ed., Zhang Qicheng and Xu Da annotated, Zhaoming Wenxuan, pp. 821–27. For “Watching a Dance” by Xie Yan 謝偃 (?-634), see Dong Gao 董誥 et al. eds., Quan Tang wen 全唐文 (Complete collection of literature of the Tang; Taiyuan: Shanxi jiaoyu, 2002), p. 957. Qi presumably mistook Xie Yan as a writer of the Six dynasties period.
54 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 1.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
57 Brown, Pastimes, p. 95.
58 Ibid, p. 96.
59 Peter Zarrow, “The New Schools and National Identity: Chinese History Textbooks in the Late Qing,” in Tze-ki Hon and Robert J. Culp, eds., The Politics of Historical Production in Late Qing and Republican China (Brill: London, 2007), p. 23.
60 Tze-ki Hon, The Allure of the Nation: The Cultural and Historical Debates in Late Qing and Republican China (Leiden: Brill, 2015), p. 35.
61 Ibid, p. 47.
62 San'ai 三愛, “Lun xiqu” 論戲曲 (On drama), Anhui suhua bao 安徽俗話報 (Anhui vernacular news) 11 (1904): 2. “Yunmen,” “Xianchi,” and “Dawu” are the titles of ritual music alleged to be performed by ancient sages such as the Yellow Emperor, Yao, and King Wu 武 of the Zhou. Each title alludes to moral or political achievements of the sages. For instance, “Yunmen,” which literally means “cloud gate,” describes how the high morals of the Yellow Emperor were as lofty as gates in clouds (qi de ru yunmen 其德如雲門). See Zheng Xuan 鄭玄, Zhouli zhengchu 周禮鄭注 (The Zheng commentary on the Rites of Zhou; Taibei: Taiwan Zhonghua shuju, 1966), juan 22, p. 4.
63 San'ai, “Lun xiqu,” pp. 2–3. For the original context of the passage quoted by Chen, jin zhi yue you gu zhi yue ye 今之樂猶古之樂也 see Mencius 1B.1. For the original with commentary, see Li Xueqin 李學勤 ed., Mengzi zhushu 孟子注疏 (Annotations and explanations of Mencius; Taipei: Taiwan guji, 2001), p. 38. For an English translation, see D.C. Lau, Mencius: A Bilingual Edition (Hong Kong: the Hong Kong University Press, 2003), p. 27.
64 For instance, Lunyu (The Confucian analects) III.13: “If names are not rectified, then speech will not function properly, and if speech does not function properly, then undertakings will not succeed. If undertakings do not succeed, then rites and music will not flourish. If rites and music do not flourish, then punishment and penalties will not be justly administered. And if punishment and penalties are not justly administered, then the common people will not know where to place their hands and feet” 名不正, 則言不順; 言不順, 則事不成;事不成, 則禮樂不興; 禮樂不興, 則刑罰不中; 刑罰不中, 則民無所措手足. This translation comes from Burton Watson, The Analects of Confucius (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), p. 88. For the original with commentary, see Li Xueqin 李學勤, ed., Lunyu zhushu 論語注疏 (Annotations and explanations of The Analects; Taipei: Taiwan guji, 2001), p. 193.
65 San Ai, “Lun xiqu,” Anhui suhua bao 11 (1904): 2.
66 Ibid, pp. 1–2.
67 Li Hsiao-T'i (Li Xiaoti) 李孝悌, Qingmo de xiaceng shehui qimeng yundong, 1901–1911 清末的下層社會啟蒙運動, 1901–1911 (The late Qing movement to enlighten the lower echelon of society, 1901–1911; Taipei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo, 1992), pp. 154–55.
68 On the authorship and dates of the Record of Music, see Scott Cook, “‘Yue Ji’ 樂記—Record of Music: Introduction, Translation, Notes, and Commentary,” Asian Music 26.2 (1995): 2–10.
69 Liu Shipei 劉師培, “Yuanxi” 原戲,” in Liu Shipei xinhai qian wenxuan 劉師培辛亥前文選 (Collected essays of Liu Shipei from before Xinhai [1911]), edited by Li Miaogen 李妙根 (Hong Kong: Sanlian shudian, 1998), pp. 201–202. Zuo zhuan is a commentary on the chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu 春秋). For its obscure authorship and date of completion, see Burton Watson, The Tso Chuan: Selections from China's Oldest Narrative History (New York, 1989), pp. xiii-xvi. A new English translation is available; see Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg, trans., Zuo Tradition (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016).
70 Ibid, p. 202.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid, p. 203.
73 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 1. For the original passage in Liji, XIX.31, see Yang Tianyu 楊天宇, ed. and trans., Liji yizhu 禮記譯注 (The Book of Rites, annotated and translated [into modern Chinese]; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1997), p. 651.
74 Cook, “Yue Ji,” pp. 12–13.
75 Ibid, p. 11.
76 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 2.
77 Cook, “Yue Ji,” p. 13.
78 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 2. Despite Qi's claim, the quotation is actually to be found in Ke Shangqian's 柯尚謙 work of the Jiajing reign period (1526–1566), Zhouli quanjing shiyuan 周禮全經釋原 (Explanations of the full text of the Rites of Zhou); see the Siku quanshu buzheng 四庫全書補正 (Supplement to the Complete Quadrapartite Imperial Library; Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1995), p. 108.
79 Michael Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 170–72.
80 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 2.
81 Erica Fox Brindley, Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of Harmony in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2012), p. 6.
82 Chen Weizhao 陳維昭, “Qi Rushan de xiqu shijian yu Han Wei suwu,” 齊如山的戲曲實踐與漢魏俗舞 (Qi Rushan's practice of xiqu and popular dance in the Han and Wei dynasties) Zhejiang daxue xuebao 浙江大學學報 (Journal of Zhejiang University) 42.3 (2012): 150.
83 For an overview of the characteristics of fu, see David Knechtges, The Han Rhapsody: A Study of Fu of Yang Hsiung (53 BC-AD 18) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).
84 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 3.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid, p. 4.
87 Ibid, p. 5.
88 Ibid, pp. 5–6.
89 Ibid, p. 6.
90 Chen, “Qi Rushan de xiqu shijian,” pp. 152–53.
91 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 1.
92 Ibid., p. 6.
93 This dance register of the Tang was preserved and edited by Zhou Mi 周密 (1232–1298) in his Guixin zashi 癸辛雜識 (Miscellaneous records written in my residence on the Guixing street; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1988); see also Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, pp. 7–8.
94 Qi Rushan, Guoju shenduan pu, p. 13.
95 Ibid, p. 3.
96 Goldstein, Drama Kings, p. 277.
97 Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyi lu, p. 122.
98 Ibid.
99 In preparing for Mei's United States tour, Qi visited John Leighton Stuart (1876–1962), a missionary and educator in China. Qi discovered over the course of his meeting with Stuart that the American “lacked a true understanding of national drama” 對國劇還不能真正明瞭. To educate Stuart, Qi wrote The Organization of Chinese Opera, which he claimed “took the principles of national drama and, through word and image, described them” 把國劇的原理, 用文字或圖畫, 把他描繪出來, to judge whether Mei would be welcome in the United States. See Qi Rushan, Qi Rushan huiyiliu, p. 126.
100 Qi Rushan, Zhongguo ju zhi zuzhi 中國劇之組織 (Organization of Chinese drama; Taipei: Qi Rushan xiansheng yuzhu bianyin weiyuanhui, 1964), pp. 27–28.
101 Qi Rushan, Mei Lanfang youmei ji, 1: 6.
102 Ibid., 1: 39.
103 Goldstein, Drama Kings, p. 154. For the relationship between theatricality and realism in the 1950s, see Anne Rebull's article, “Locating Theatricality on Stage and Screen: Rescuing Performance Practice and the Phenomenon of Fifteen Strings of Cash (Shiwu guan; 1956),” in this issue of CHINOPERL.
104 Goldstein, Drama Kings, pp. 170–71.
105 Qi Rushan, Zhongguo ju zhi zuzhi, p. 27.
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Hsiao-Chun Wu
Hsiao-Chun Wu received her Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation examines the emergence of opera study as a modern humanistic discipline within the transnational context in the early twentieth century. Her research has been funded by a Fulbright Fellowship, a Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, and an AAS China and Inner Asia Council Small Grant. She is currently working on a book manuscript that extends her dissertation project to the post-1949 era and investigates the intertwined histories of political competition, nationalizing drama, and the legitimization of the academic discipline of the study of Chinese theater. Her other research interests include intellectual history, aesthetics in modern China, and the history of collecting books.