Staging Revolution: Artistry and Aesthetics in Model Beijing Opera During the Cultural Revolution by Xing Fan

Xing Fan begins Staging Revolution: Artistry and Aesthetics in Model Beijing Opera during the Cultural Revolution with a performance anecdote. She recounts the night in 2001 when she saw The Red Lantern, among the most famous of the ten model jingju, performed at the Yisu Grand Theatre in Xi'an. (Though the term jingju has often been translated into English as Peking Opera or Beijing Opera, Fan joins the growing number of scholars who choose to call it jingju.) That night in Xi'an, a packed crowd of over a thousand intently watched the production, at times singing along, at other times discussing with fellow audience members how this night's cast compared with the original cast that had premiered The Red Lantern during the Cultural Revolution, when the ten model jingju were part of the eighteen Model Revolutionary Works (geming yangbanxi) considered exemplary by the Chinese Communist Party of the People's Republic of China. Far from a historical artifact of a time period many would prefer to forget, The Red Lantern was a living, flourishing work of art.

The phrase "work of art" is key. Fan's opening anecdote sets the stage for her eventual assertion that these model jingju had, and still have, artistic merit. Raising that assertion to a higher abstraction, Fan writes, "In this context, I argue that literature and art in service of politics are not automatically devoid of literary or artistic merit" (p. 3). Fan's assertion definitely ran contrary to my own previous perceptions of these works; I had subscribed to a not infrequent scholarly view that model jingju were simplistic political works viewers only enjoyed watching because they were required to do so. I sheepishly say this having even co-translated The Red Lantern for a major anthology. Working her way through each element of model jingju—script, acting, music, design, and directing—Fan demonstrates, in extensive detail, how the highly trained and deeply earnest jingju artists created artistic merit in the new model jingju. That is the most significant accomplishment of this book, brought about through extensive archival and interview-based research with the original creators of the works.

In part I, entitled "Jingju, Modern Jingju, and Model Jingju," Fan recounts the development of jingju against a historical and political background roughly spanning 1940 to 1970; each chapter in this part concludes with an extensive example from a selected play. In chapter 1, "Jingju at Yan'an," Fan disputes Mao Zedong's claims that jingju was revolutionized in Yan'an, both because traditional repertory still dominated, and because changes made for newer jingju were in content only, not form. Fan's concluding example, from the 1944 work Driven to Join the Liang Mountain Rebels, illustrates how, without an artistic way to make the masses' viewpoint more central than the classic hero's, there was no revolution in form to match the revolution in content. Chapter 2, "Jingju during the Xiqu Reform," recounts challenges of reforming xiqu (the larger genre encompassing jingju among other regional forms) in the early years of the PRC, a time period marked by discussions of whether modern lives could be presented through jingju's signature style. Ma Yanxiang advocated for comprehensive reform of each element, and the chapter concludes with Fan's analysis of Ma's many innovations in script, performance, and music when directing Three Mountains, which premiered in 1956.

Chapter 3, "Modern Jingju in Years of Uncertainty," looks at the period from 1956 to 1963, a time period of great political instability and vacillation. By 1963, the debate over whether it was possible to portray modern life through jingju was over, and focus shifted to how to make it happen artistically, with music, singing, and speech all contested areas. The chapter concludes by analyzing the artistic choices made in developing The White-Haired Girl to portray modern characters convincingly while maintaining the flavor of jingju. Chapter 4, "Modern Jingju as Pinnacle of Cultural Reconstruction," presents the transition from modern jingju to model jingju, a process influenced by Jiang Qing becoming the established leader of the modern jingju movement in 1963. Fan provides a balanced presentation of Jiang's contributions, which included elevating the role of playwriting in modern jingju. The actual designation of the first "model revolutionary works" came in November 1966, a significant designation, though Fan notes it was not the case, as is often believed, that no other works were performed during the Cultural Revolution decade. Fan's detailed account of the creative evolution of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy concludes the chapter, including a nine page table comparing scene synopses for five different versions of this model jingju.

In part II, "Inside Model Jingju," Fan immerses herself in the task of demonstrating, at the "how to" level, the means by which jingju artists seriously and thoughtfully sought to create forms faithful to jingju style yet also suitable for modern revolutionary themes. Each chapter centers on a major component of model jingju: scripts, acting, music, design, and directing; this review can present only a small sampling of her many significant examples. Chapter 5, "Foundation of Productions: Scripts and Playwrighting," examines various elements of the scripts, which had become a more central guiding component than they had been in traditional jingju. Model jingju's structure, for example, blends aspects of traditional literature and the modern dramatic form of huaju. Fan's technical explanation of rhyme categories, named for the rhymed sounds at the ends of lines, shows how model jingju drew upon traditional jingju's use of rhyme, but greatly limited the range of rhymed sounds used, choosing firm and straightforward rhyme categories, while never using categories traditionally associated with grace and subtlety. This analysis, presented through explanation, a table, and bilingual examples, is emblematic of the detailed understanding of jingju that Fan conveys with clarity for those who are not connoisseurs themselves.

Chapter 6, "The Broken and the Breakthroughs in Acting," studies approaches to reconciling traditional stylized acting with the modern characters and actions needed for model jingju scripts. Fan discusses the creative method known as the Three Breakdowns: breaking down role-types, schools of performance, and the old forms. For example, in discussing role-types, Fan explains how the model jingju hero or heroine did not play a single role-subcategory throughout a production, as was the case in traditional jingju, but instead drew upon whichever sub-categories suited the character's dramatic situation in each scene. Chapter 7, "Fresh yet Familiar: Music," centers on music, which Fan notes is considered among the most successful aspects of model jingju. Despite major differences between Western and traditional jingju orchestras, ways were found to adapt for the model jingju orchestra, which included both Chinese and western instruments. As was the case for role-types and rhyme-types earlier, Fan explains the instruments, percussion notation, and musical modes in extensive detail. Fan shows how there was loyalty to tradition, but also changes musically, through an aria from The Red Lantern; she then illustrates the use of musical themes in Azalea Mountain.

Chapter 8, "Visual Communication through Design," looks at innovations in scenery, lighting, costumes, and makeup. Traditional jingju scenery was minimal and often symbolic; in model jingju, scenery and lighting reflected specific location, time, and mood. There was a new symbolism at play, however. In lighting, follow spots were used for both politically positive and negative characters, but positive characters received whiter, brighter lighting. Similarly, in make-up, positive characters wore warmer foundation than their negative counterparts. Chapter 9, "Mounting a Production: Directing," discusses the rise of directors in the era of modern jingju and model jingju. Traditional jingju were not directed in the modern sense, but these newer forms had a whole team of directors, led by a chief director, though even the chief had to be mindful of comments provided by administrative leaders like Jiang Qing. The use of directors brought more extensive script and character analysis, as well as more complex group dances, specifically designed for each dramatic situation. Fan's final example, illustrated with archival diagrams of choreography, is of the group skiing dance from Scene 9 of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, which combined movement from traditional jingju, Chinese folk dance, and skiing.

After illustrating the intense care jingju artists took to reconcile artistic inconsistencies when creating model jingju, Fan concludes with a coda that provides a theoretical argument as to why such reconciliation was ultimately an impossible task. Through analysis of expressions of "beauty" (mei) and various aesthetic imbalances, Fan concludes that the Combination of Revolutionary Realism and Revolutionary Romanticism, the directive upon which model jingju aesthetics were based, was a flawed premise. The coda could stand on its own as a separate analytical essay, though I myself understood Fan's argument much better with my newfound knowledge of model jingju's history and artistic elements, gained from reading parts I and II. Whether an expert in jingju or a reader with a huaju background like myself, every scholar of the modern Chinese theater could benefit from reading Staging Revolution. In Xing Fan's skillful hands, the theatre of the Cultural Revolution decade comes alive in glorious, contentious detail.