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Chinese Modern Theater and Racism

Kim Jong Jin 1

1영동대학교

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ABSTRACT

After the Sino-Japanese War, the intellectuals of China sought for more radical changes. At this time, the theory of social evolution translated and introduced by Yan Fu deeply affected those intellectuals who already had racism prejudice. To the Chinese intellectuals, Manchurians who ruled China by establishing Qing Dynasty were as inferior as Negroids. As a result, it was the Anti-Manchurian nationalism that the Xinhai Revolution took place. The reform movement of traditional opera at the end of Qing Dynasty also started from anti-Manchurian nationalism. The leaders of the movement believed that they could use Chinese traditional operas as enlightenment tools by reforming them to include the suggestive and western stories, and they put what they believed into practice. Consequently, the theory of social evolution, racism full of prejudice ran rampant in their operas. At that time, the spoken play was first brought into China and it was called as “New-Theater” together with the reformed Chinese opera. The stories of the spoken plays were similar to the those of the reformed Chinese operas, and the performances were banned many times by the Qing government. It is not difficult to find anti-Manchurian nationalism in the New-Theater repertories of those times. After the Xinhai Revolution, anti-Manchurian nationalism had lose its target. Sun Wen, the leader of the revolution asserted “Five Races Under One Union” to resolve the conflicts between different races in China. The reform movement of traditional opera lost its resilience and the New-Theater became corrupt rapidly. The Chinese spoken play could come into the world because it gained strength from the reform movement of traditional opera and the political agenda.

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