Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera
This article explores gender politics in China through the intersection of feminism and androgyny in contemporary classical Chinese opera, focusing on how gender fluidity and feminist representation on the contemporary xiqu stage create the conditions of connection with new audiences today. The dis...
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ZHAW
2025-01-01
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| Series: | JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation |
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| Online Access: | https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/6941 |
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| author | Lisha Xu |
| author_facet | Lisha Xu |
| author_sort | Lisha Xu |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This article explores gender politics in China through the intersection of feminism and androgyny in contemporary classical Chinese opera, focusing on how gender fluidity and feminist representation on the contemporary xiqu stage create the conditions of connection with new audiences today. The discussion focuses on two examples, firstly, feminism in Amy Ng’s translation of Rescuing one’s sister in the wind and dust (2021) and, secondly, the androgynous body in the all-female Yue Opera productions New Dragon Gate Inn (2023) and Coriolanus and Du Liniang (2016). It investigates how translation and performance as representational forms interrogate entrenched gender norms, and engage with themes of marked relevance today, such as domestic violence and the commodification of women’s bodies. In particular, gendered representation in xiqu not only provides an aesthetic revival of the past, but also subtly contests the perceived binary of traditional gender constructions by establishing portals of relatedness between past and present, both of which are unfixed and destabilised by the way in which these performance traffic in simultaneity. By exploiting connections across different temporal layers, these forms can enable feminism and a queer sensibility to permeate contemporary performances of classical Chinese art, enriching the current discourse available for promoting gender politics within this particular socio-cultural framework in (but not limited to) China.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ab3d7f0b88df4d2c909c97e348a2824c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1740-357X |
| language | deu |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | ZHAW |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation |
| spelling | doaj-art-ab3d7f0b88df4d2c909c97e348a2824c2025-02-01T19:43:17ZdeuZHAWJoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation1740-357X2025-01-01434310.26034/cm.jostrans.2025.6941Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese operaLisha Xu0University of Glasgow This article explores gender politics in China through the intersection of feminism and androgyny in contemporary classical Chinese opera, focusing on how gender fluidity and feminist representation on the contemporary xiqu stage create the conditions of connection with new audiences today. The discussion focuses on two examples, firstly, feminism in Amy Ng’s translation of Rescuing one’s sister in the wind and dust (2021) and, secondly, the androgynous body in the all-female Yue Opera productions New Dragon Gate Inn (2023) and Coriolanus and Du Liniang (2016). It investigates how translation and performance as representational forms interrogate entrenched gender norms, and engage with themes of marked relevance today, such as domestic violence and the commodification of women’s bodies. In particular, gendered representation in xiqu not only provides an aesthetic revival of the past, but also subtly contests the perceived binary of traditional gender constructions by establishing portals of relatedness between past and present, both of which are unfixed and destabilised by the way in which these performance traffic in simultaneity. By exploiting connections across different temporal layers, these forms can enable feminism and a queer sensibility to permeate contemporary performances of classical Chinese art, enriching the current discourse available for promoting gender politics within this particular socio-cultural framework in (but not limited to) China. https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/6941doublenessfeminismandrogynyfandomqueer sensibilityclassical Chinese opera |
| spellingShingle | Lisha Xu Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation doubleness feminism androgyny fandom queer sensibility classical Chinese opera |
| title | Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera |
| title_full | Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera |
| title_fullStr | Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera |
| title_full_unstemmed | Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera |
| title_short | Feminism and androgyny: Gender politics in contemporary classical Chinese opera |
| title_sort | feminism and androgyny gender politics in contemporary classical chinese opera |
| topic | doubleness feminism androgyny fandom queer sensibility classical Chinese opera |
| url | https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/6941 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lishaxu feminismandandrogynygenderpoliticsincontemporaryclassicalchineseopera |