Local, National, and International Performance of Barbarians at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Gold sparked an international migration to California—Chinese actors were included—in the mid-nineteenth century. San Francisco’s Chinatown became the first contact zone of Sino-American theatre. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, a different breed of seekers, Western Imperialists and colonialists, were embarking on a migration of a different direction. Nineteenth-century China was itself a freshly discovered gold mine that attracted many Western colonial powers. The newly introduced colonial forces challenged the existing authorities, and the populace had to negotiate their survival with the two powers; at the same time, they struggled to maintain a sense of Chinese national identity. Theatre, where meaning is generated and interpreted through public expression, offered a unique space in which an ideal Chinese identity could be performed and reinforced. This theatrical performance of Chinese national identity took place both on the local level, in traditional regional operas, and on the International level, in Western-styled modern theatre. Both performances can be seen as a response to and commentary on contemporary affairs and an exemplary model for solving crises; they were a mirror to life and a mirror for life.