Oriental fissures in the western canonical structure: Li Shutong and his aesthetical revolution against Chinese theatrical conventions

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the revolutionary power exerted on Chinese modern drama by Li Shutong (Master Hongyi, 1880–1942), the highly respected pioneer of modern drama and art in China. His work with the drama club Spring Willow Society revealed Li Shutong’s effort to employ the formulae and formalities in Chinese drama to challenge western canonical power and established structures. Taking western drama as a tool to reform Chinese drama, he made use of Chinese and Japanese aesthetics to negotiate western theory in his political agenda of anticolonialism. Li Shutong’s adaptation of La Dame aux Camélias, The Black Slave’s Cry to Heaven (Uncle Tom’s Cabin) and other western canonical works on the stage was an aesthetical activity as well as a political move to fight against the mainstream theatrical conventions in China. Meanwhile, he succeeded in providing an alternative to undermine western hegemonic power by his fusion of oriental elements into the western canons.