Presented by Dr. Man HE, Assistant Professor of Chinese at Williams College. The role of ideology in modern Chinese theatre has been well studied; but what about the role of sight? How did Chinese dramatists translate the realm of senses, newly shaped by their experiences of seeing the world around them, into works of theatre in the early twentieth century? How did modern Chinese theatre (or huaju, spoken drama) mediate the science, art, and act of “seeing” to overwhelm and formulate both spectators and dramatists? This talk analyzes Yu Shangyuan’s (1897-1970) early drama work The Art of Seeing: Another Chinese Realist Theatre in the 1920s continues
