"Juedixi": An Entertainment of War in Early China

Juedixi is a performance genre of the Western Han (206 BCE-23 CE) that developed from martial rites of the central state in early China. The genesis of this art from competitions and performances dedicate d to wu (martiality) and held in autumn and winter is detailed. The relationship of the art to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian theatre journal 2005-03, Vol.22 (1), p.87-106
Main Author: McCurley, Dallas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Art history
Bataille, Georges
Chinese languages
Consuls
Cultural factors
Emperors
Entertainment
Heng, Zhang
Immortality
Loanwords
Ritual violence
Shamans
Spectacle
Theater
War
Wu, Emperor of China
Xiongnu
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Summary:Juedixi is a performance genre of the Western Han (206 BCE-23 CE) that developed from martial rites of the central state in early China. The genesis of this art from competitions and performances dedicate d to wu (martiality) and held in autumn and winter is detailed. The relationship of the art to a Han strategem to soften and control nomad opponents is explained. The high point of the genre came under Emperor Wu, who used it to impress local and foreign audiences even as he waged a costly war on the frontier. The genre's excesses were related to the excesses of the unsuccessful war. Juedixi faded after Emperor Wu, but its legacy of variety performance was inherited by the "hundred entertainments" and wu would later reappear in xiqu as one of the two fundamental categories of performance style.
ISSN:0742-5457
1527-2109
1527-2109
DOI:10.1353/atj.2005.0010