Where is the Center of Cultural Production?: The Rise of the Actor to National Stardom and the Peking/Shanghai Challenge (1860S-1910S)

Introduction: The Yang Yuelou Case and the Issue of Star Culture

On December 23, 1873 (Tongzhi 12) the young Chinese-language newspaper Shenbao reported a court case relating to the Peking opera singer Yang Yuelou, who was engaged at the Dangui theater as lead singer with the title of "specially invited guest" (kechuan).¹ Yang had married the daughter of a well-to-do merchant from Xiangshan county in Guangdong during the latter's absence. The main objection by the Xiangshan people was that Yang as an opera singer was forbidden by social convention if not by law to marry into a "good family." Being the lowest caste in society, actors were to marry only within their own ranks.² On orders of the District Magistrate, Yang was severely flogged and was given a heavy sentence that was only commuted in 1875.³ The case created a considerable stir in Shanghai. As the Shenbao was a nationally distributed paper and was read by a broad range of readers, the flood of letters and editorials it published on the matter made the case—and Yang Yuelou's name—into information shared on a national scale.⁴

That such a case was deemed worthy of a long and heated public debate highlights some of the predicaments facing a society in a time of radical transformation. It reflects on the social position of actors at the time, and involves a unique business practice and theater organization in the Shanghai International Settlement, namely the system of invited guest singers. Yang Yuelou had come from Beijing to Shanghai in 1872 and had been invited first to perform at the Jingui xuan theater. Virtually single-handedly, his resounding success made the Jingui xuan a serious competitor to the other big Shanghai stage, the Dangui theater.⁵ For a large sum, the owner of the Dangui theater, Liu Weizhong, later lured Yang to his side and made him the lead singer at the second theater he had opened, the Dangui South (Nan Dangui).⁶ Shanghai audiences regarded such "guest singers" as an integral part of theater performances, and these singers were identified and advertised by their own individual name rather than as a member of an opera troupe, as was the custom in Beijing. The social standing as well as the financial rewards of these guest singers were on an altogether different scale from those of the regular members of the Shanghai troupe they happened to be performing with.

The event furthermore points to the new role of the Shanghai press. As one of the earliest Chinese-language newspapers, the Shenbao set the example of making theater matters part of its daily reporting. In the Yang Yuelou case the Shenbao went beyond reporting, translating from the Western papers, and editorializing: it opened its pages for a public debate on the case and its handling by Ye Tingjuan, the district magistrate who himself happened to be from Xiangshan. No such forum existed in Beijing.

Finally, one of the stated reasons for the harsh treatment of both Yang Yuelou and the young woman was Ye's intention to put a stop to women joining the theater audience. The presence of women in the theaters of the International Settlement was in striking contrast to the practice in cities such as Beijing where this was strictly prohibited. At stake in the case were thus public morals and social order. That a famous actor could fan up such a desire in a young woman to induce her to willingly risk the name and social standing of her family seemed to call for the magistrate's intervention, especially after the outraged protests of the Xiangshan native place association in Shanghai reached him.

From this case we see that the unique environment of the...