Collecting Theater in Republican Beijing: Research Methods and the Birth of Chinese Opera Studies in Early Twentieth-Century China

• Published in: Twentieth-century China 2021, Vol.46 (1), p.3-21
• Main Author: Wu, Hsiao-Chun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 19th century; 20th century; Academic disciplines; Actors; Chinese opera; Learned societies; Mei Lanfang; Opera; Pulp & paper mills; Research methodology; Scientific method; Theater; Transnationalism
• ISSN: 1521-5385; 1940-5065; 1940-5065
• DOI: 10.1353/tcc.2021.0001

As scholars propelled the study of Chinese opera into the twentieth century, they turned to collecting as their main research method, determined to ground their new discipline on a strong material base. Scholars such as Qi Rushan (1875–1962) and Zhang Cixi (1909–1968) explored every corner of Beijing, the one-time imperial capital, in search of a wide variety of materials not previously subjected to critical examination. Several of the city’s distinctive traits—thriving urban theaters, a rich tradition of imperial performances, and lively cultural marketplaces—enabled researchers to expand the conception and scope of what study materials could be. Beyond that, scholarly exchanges between China and Japan led to the reevaluation of once-overlooked texts of theatrical connoisseurship. The collection and publication of those texts equipped Chinese opera researchers with new resources to grow an emerging field of knowledge.