EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Section 5 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 63 Chirita Andreea (University Lucian Blaga of Sibiu) The Aesthetics of Morality in Chinese “NewTheatreWave”: the Case of Wang Chong and Li Jianjun Key words: Chinese New Theatre Wave, aesthetics of morality, eco-theater, Li Jianjun, Wang Chong, This study investigates, through a hermeneutical approach, the performance aesthetics which charac- terize the Chinese New Theater Wave, from 2011 until present. It relies on the performance discourses exposed and the plays staged after this year by two young prominent experimental mainland directors: Wang Chong and Li Jianjun. In the context of China’s political agenda to “go global” at all costs and the rise of neoliberal values, I argue that the new performance aesthetics, which experiment with social reali- ties in order to awaken the audience to a moral way of life, are not the result of directors’ quest for global recognition; theatre’s local-global overlapping and its strong ethical social purpose are rather generated by the psychological need of directors and urban youth alike to form a civil society and find a moral cure to the many debilitating aspects of Chinese modernity. I farther argue that The New Theater Wave’s aesthetics of morality call for audience’s participation and direct involvement into the plays on stage; this performance practice generate a form of eco-theater concerned not with nature, but with the ecology of the Chinese moral landscape and beautification of everyday life. Such aesthetic concept is legitimized by Berleant’s “aesthetics of engagement” and China’s latest appraisal of eco-criticism, which goes back to the Chinese tradition, namely to the moral quality of beauty. Considering the many techniques that Wang and Li borrow from theWest in order to expose and redefine the very specific local moral background of contemporary China, this study lastly analyzes the “paradox” of this strategy which manages both to connect Chinese theater to the global trends and to connect the Chinese audience to their own, specific societal issues. Di Nallo Ileana (Università degli Studi di Urbino ) Huang Zuolin and Italian Commedia dell’Arte: an Experimental Study in the Conception of Xieyi Theatre Key words: Chinese theatre, intercultural theatre, intercultural studies, modern Chinese theatre, Chinese reception of Italian theatre Italian Commedia dell'Arte and Carlo Goldoni’s theatre played a particular role in Huang Zuolin (1906–1994) articulation of Xieyi ( 写意 ) theatre theory (Huang 1990). During the Sixties, when Chinese dramas were performed according to the standards of revolutionary realism and Stanislavskij method, Huang Zuolin made an important effort for the creation of a new method which supports the ideology of socialist China as well as maintains the essence of national culture. Huang merged Western theatre with traditional Chinese theatre, focusing especially on Brecht, Stanislavsky and Beijing Opera of Mei Lanfang (Chen 2002). Huang also made an interesting research on Commedia dell’Arte and Goldoni’s theatre (Huang 1990). This contribution aims at illustrating the study of Huang Zuolin on Italian impro- vised theatre and his comparative work with Chinese traditional theatre in order to create an alternative to Stanislavsky method and make the renovation of Chinese modern theatre possible. This contribution will focus on how Huang traces the history of Commedia dell’Arte, draws attention to Goldoni’s reform and its role in worldwide theatre. He highlights the importance of Goldoni’s theatre for its reform value and for its ideological meaning, which Chinese scholars have connected to Chinese revolutionary theatre (e.g. Tian Han 1957; Wen Qi 1957; Xu Suling 1962). He identified Goldoni’s reform as the origin of modern European theatre and compared him to great names as Gorky and Stanislavsky. These names had a great influence and an important ideological value for Chinese revolutionary theatre. In this way, Huang directly linked Goldoni’s theatre and Commedia dell’Arte to Chinese revolutionary theatre and included them among artistic forms which were allowed and supported by Chinese Government. The contribution will lastly illustrate how Huang compared Commedia dell'Arte to the Beijing Opera, and how he suggested to employ this type of theatre to improve Chinese theatre.