Subjectivity of the people in practice and means to actualize a new socialist culture in rural China: an ethnographic study of drama in Shaanxi’s rural regions in the 1960s

ABSTRACT

From the mid-twentieth century, the evolving tension between modernity and tradition has become a troublesome issue for the newly-established independent nation-states in Asia. With the ethnographic methodology of field study, this article retraces the drama practice in 1960s’ rural China and tries to reveal the practical formation and specifically, the operative mechanism with which the socialist new culture remolds and summons the subjectivity of People. In such practical process, the subjectivity of People is a key concept of socialist values and a leading principle of people’s everyday life in rural China, which contributes to the formation of a “new tradition” in practice. The “new tradition” has a profound influence on the pathway of the Chinese socialist development, and may also provide necessary reference to other Asian states.

KEYWORDS:

• People
• the socialist new culture
• sending dramas to the countryside
• the mass cultural activities
• reform of rural drama

Notes on contributors

Yao Sha 沙垚 obtained his PhD at the School of Journalism and Communication Tsinghua University. He is a visiting scholar of Simon Fraser University, and is currently the research fellow at Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Science. His researches focus on rural cultural communication, communication of political and economy. He is the author of 吾土吾民：农民的文化表达与主体性 [Wu Tu Wu Min: the peasants’ Cultural Expression and Subjectivity] (China Social Science Press, 2017), and author of “新中国农民文化主体性的生成机制探讨” [The Generative Mechanism of the Peasants’ Cultural Subjectivity in New China] (Opentimes, 2016, No.5).

Fu Qiang 付蔷 obtained her MA in International Journalism from the School of Journalism, Communication and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, and is now a PhD candidate at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University. She was a science reporter of China Radio International before starting her PhD in Tsinghua.

Notes

1. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai or Liang Zhu is a famous love romance in praise of the couple’s anti-oppression spirits and loyal and steadfast quality in love.

2. Mu Guiying in Command is an ancient drama depicting the bravery, loyalty and patriotism of a female general called Mu Guiying.

3. The plenary session discussed and approved the Resolution to Further Consolidate Communes’ Collective Economy and Develop Agricultural Production and the draft amendment of Work Regulations of People’s Communes in Rural Regions. To be more specific, the latter document puts emphasis on “motivating and centralizing forces of the whole party and actively supporting the agriculture from all aspects.”

4. Yangko, or yangge, is a popular rural folk dance pervasive in north Shannxi.

5. Meihu, or mihu, is a type of opera aria in mid-Guan region of China.

6. Meihu and Wanwan are two types of opera aria in mid-Guan region. Meiwan troupe is a cultural institution that gives show of Meihu and Wanwan.

7. The Judge of a Chair is a modern drama about a trial on chairs to know who has stolen the public property, created in 1960s.

8. Tong Priest or Tong Monk is the tutor of the Monkey King, a figure in the ancient Chinese novel Story of The Pilgrimage to the West.

9. Crops, Borrowing Boots, Zhang Yun Sold Cloth and A Couple watched Lantern; the four modern dramas are about the peasants’ or the citizens’ daily life.

10. Sleeping on the Brushwood and Taste the Gall is a traditional drama.

11. The quotations in the article are originally in Chinese and translated by the authors.

12. Cornered to Join the Liangshan Rebels is an old drama about peasant revolt in the Song dynasty 1000 years ago. The other two modern dramas, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy and Raid the White-Tiger Regiment, are about the socialist revolution.

13. The Accountant Girl and The Red Heart and Rising Sun were both new modern dramas in the middle 1960s.

14. Nunnery of Qingsu and Garden of Immortality Peach are two traditional dramas.

15. Family Goes Working in the Dam is a new drama about the farmers’ support for the socialist construction.

16. Shajiabang and The Red Lantern are two of the eight model operas. The two figures, Hu Chuankui and Diao Deyi, were the typical local tyrants in Shajiabang, and the traitors in the original show.

17. Searing Vengeance and Zuo Liancheng’s Lawsuit are the new dramas about the oppression and resistance of the underclass.