Hokkien Theatre Across the Seas: A Socio-Cultural Study by Caroline Chia (review)

Caroline Chia’s Hokkien Theatre Across the Seas: A Socio-Cultural Study investigates the transmission of Hokkien theatre throughout Asia. With a particular focus on Hokkien theatre, which originated in Fujian, a southeastern Chinese province, Chia covers its development from the ninth century into the contemporary era and examines how maritime interactions brought Hokkien theatre to these three sites: Taiwan, Kinmen, and Singapore. Chia is concerned with how the sociocultural, economical, and political context in each area shaped the development of theatre in the Hokkien ethnic groups. English scholarship on Hokkien theatre is scarce, making this book a valuable contribution on the topic. It also provides readers with a comparative analysis of how Hokkien theatre has experienced long-term change in the three selected geographical areas.

On account of the diverse theatrical forms in Hokkien theatre, Chia chose five theatrical genres which have been involved in religion or mass entertainment in the Hokkien groups in Taiwan, Kinmen, and Singapore. These are Liyuan opera, Gaojia opera, Gezai opera, glove puppetry, and string puppetry. The first three operatic genres belong to a broader field called Chinese opera performed by live actors; the last two theatrical forms are considered puppet theatre. In this book, Chia offers a detailed analysis of how these five theatrical genres have experienced booms and slumps as well as absorption and assimilation in local contexts of different political and social conditions.

The first two chapters cover the introduction and terminology used in the book. Chapter one offers informative definitions regarding Chinese opera and puppet theatre. Chia examines how maritime networks played a role in the migrated Hokkien ethnicity, and brought Hokkien theatre to Taiwan, Kinmen, and Singapore. In order to situate the book’s central concern, Chia positions Hokkien theatre in this regional context to survey its religious and linguistic functions. Chapter two traces the origin of Hokkien theatrical genres; in this chapter Chia is particularly concerned with the powers of local elites, as well as the Hokkien lineage, and the dynamics of popularity in Hokkien theatre. With a focus on mass culture, Chia highlights the entertainment function of most of these theatrical forms (except string puppet theatre, which is liturgical in origin, and is the only one which largely retains its liturgical features today). Chia also reveals the interrelated elements among Gaojia opera, Song Jiang drama, and He Xing drama. The body of the text of Hokkien Theatre Across the Seas is in chapters three through six, in particular chapters three and four. In chapter three, Chia details the encounter between colonial powers and Hokkien theatre in the three selected locations. Chia first traces colonial history in Taiwan and reveals how the theatre has been gradually “Taiwanized.” The Taiwanized Hokkien theatre not only mixed Taiwanese features, but also Japanese culture as a result of Japanese colonialization of the island. Compared with Taiwan, Kinmen, whose geographical location was closer to Fujian than Taiwan, was able to greatly maintain its original Hokkien heritage. As for Singapore, although it was ruled by British colonialism until 1965, the British were relatively hands-off. As a result, Hokkien theatre in Singapore was well-established through temples and compatriot networks by the Chinese/Hokkien populations. They introduced Gezai opera to Singapore from Taiwan and made it replace Gaojia opera, whose language usage was classical, to become the dominant theatrical form since the 1920s due to its use of colloquial Hokkien.

Chapter four offers a comparative analysis of Hokkien theatre in the three sites after they separated from their colonial powers. This chapter covers Taiwan and Kinmen from 1949 until today, and the segment on Singapore covers from 1965 until today. Chia’s concerns in this chapter include the ways in which Hokkien theatre localized itself in different sites, the cultural tensions between the existing Hokkien population and the new governors, and the emergence of new hybrid theatrical forms, like Gezai opera style puppet theatre. At the same time, Hokkien theatre also faced a rapid decline...