Nightmares, Daydreams, and Sleeplessness: Nighttime Performances and the Uneven End of Early Modernity in China

This essay uses nighttime theatricals and lighting as indices to understand the transition from early modernity to modernity in China. It draws upon textual and visual evidence of nighttime performance in China before the modern era to explore the ways in which the association of theatrical spectacle with night varied by class, locale, and gender; it further plots nighttime versus daytime performance along the continuum from ritual to entertainment opera. Theater in the countryside tended toward ritual performance at night for mixed-gender villagers, whereas in urban centers it was mostly about entertainment held during daylight hours for elite male audiences, at least before the advent of gas and electric lighting. Whether performed by day or night, theater in early modern China expiated nightmares and indulged daydreams, and—as it entered the modern era—more than ever fostered a world of perpetual sleeplessness.