China Books

Thirty-eight years have passed since Mei Lanfang, the great master of China’s dramatic art, died. His outstanding personality and the unforgettable artistic images he created on the stage still linger in the minds of people in China and elsewhere. The artistic legacy of his achievements in the performing arts is treasured incomparably in traditional Chinese art and culture. Mei’s patriotism, and the moral integrity he retained during his life, has also won him high esteem in his motherland.This large-format pictorial album has been published in memory of the great master and in tribute to the significant lifelong contribution he made to Chinese drama, literature and art. It consists of more than 1000 photographs of Mei Lanfang on and off stage at different periods of his life. Many of the pictures were selected from the rare collection of the Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum. This album is worthy of the attention of collectors of Chinese art and drama. (ISBN:7200029084) (For this item please quote stock ID 10769) ISBN: 7200029084

(For this item please quote stock ID 406) ISBN: 9787119007502

This latest CD release from Cindy Mao features 14 of the best songs by contemporary Chinese composers. Cindy Mao is a graduate of the Wuhan Conservatory of Music where she also taught vocal music. Her earlier recordings include Sing Chinese II: China?s Best Folk Songs and Sing Chinese: Popular Children?s Songs and Lullabies. (For this item please quote stock ID 16600)

A stunning compilation (over eight hours worth) of the best routines from the 6th National Golden Lion Competition (the acrobatic ?Olympics?). Don?t try these at home! (For this item please quote stock ID 27104) ISBN: 9787885180867

'Organised as a delightful mixture that is part anthology of plays, part history, part literary criticism, part textual exegesis, part bibliographical clarification [of the Chinese language and poetry in Ming drama]. . .Of course what shines forth most brilliantly is Birch´s translation. It is a style pitched to the original text targeted to the poetically-minded mandarin'. ? Asian Thought and Society 'Historically informative and stylistically compelling, the book represents an outstanding scholar and translator of Chinese literature at his best'. ? David D. W. Wang, editor of Running Wild: New Chinese Writers 'This book will be a godsend. . .an imaginative excursion into the world of the drama together with a generous sampling of translated scenes'. ? Patrick Hanan, Harvard University The first introduction to the classical Chinese theatre of Ming drama contains highlights from six of the best plays of the period and lively commentary on each, providing the context necessary for Western readers to grasp the scope of the genre. (For this item please quote stock ID 4516) ISBN: 9780231102636

(For this item please quote stock ID 4522) ISBN: 9780044400370

This paperback edition contains more information on the theatrical arts of Asia-Oceania than any other single volume yet published. A broad-ranging pan-Asian essay lucidly explores the basic themes of ritual, dance, puppetry, masks, training and performance, while national entries explain the historical development of theatre in 20 countries. Major theatre forms of each country are accompanied by entries on significant playwrights, actors and directors. An index and reading lists make this work indispensable. Features: >Most substantial coverage of performance arts in Asia-Oceania available in a single-volume >Contributions by renowned scholars >The broad sweep of the history of theatrical traditions in twenty countries is accompanied by detailed entries on their genres & artists >Extensive reading lists, index of genres & artists, & rare photographs Contents: >Introduction >Bangladesh >Burma >Cambodia >China >Hong Kong >India >Indonesia >Japan >Korea >Laos >Malaysia >Nepal >Oceania >Pakistan >Philippines >Singapore >Sri Lanka >Taiwan >Thailand >Vietnam >Index to artists & genres. (For this item please quote stock ID 4661) ISBN: 9780521588225

This anthology of fifteen plays introduces Western readers to some of the finest Chinese drama of the last twenty years. Representing writers from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, the plays offer a wide selection of living Chinese theater, from socialist-realist, to comedic, to the experimental and avant-garde. (For this item please quote stock ID 5395) ISBN: 9780195868807

Chinese Opera looks at Chinese society through an exciting series of photographs of operatic performances from many regions of the country. The book introduces the reader to this unique theatrical form and tells the traditional stories that are its narrative foundation. Siu Wang-Ngai's extraordinary images, taken in natural light during performances, lovingly reveal the visual excitement of Chinese opera and point to the differences in costuming and presentation that distinguish each regional style and character type. Through Peter Lovrick's engaging text, Chinese Opera provides a brief anecdotal history of the development of Chinese opera and introduces a language of theatrical convention entirely new to the Westerner. It also identifies the hallmarks of the dozen or so regional opera styles found in this collection. As well, the book arranges the stories in a rough chain of being, from heaven, through the whole social structure on earth from emperor to outlaw, to ghosts in the nether world, offering a revealing view of Chinese social tradition and experience. Chinese opera has a rich repertoire drawn from history, legends, folk tales, and classic novels. Chinese Opera opens a door onto the wealth of Chinese traditional drama in a way that will interest drama aficionados, admirers of theatrical photography, students of Chinese drama, those interested in the culture of China, and everyone who enjoys a lively story. Siu Wang-Ngai's photographic record of opera performances makes these stories come alive. Siu Wang-Ngai is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britian and Chair of the Federation of Hong Kong-Macau Photographic Association. He lives in Hong Kong, where he practices law. Peter Lovrick has taught the History of Performing Arts in China at the University of Toronto's East Asian Studies department for the past several years. He also teaches full time at George Brown College's English and Liberal Studies Department. (For this item please quote stock ID 12746) ISBN: 9780774805926

This is the first book ever published in the West on drama in the People's Republic of China. The plays, playwrights, theories, and performances range from the play that inflamed the Cultural Revolution to a post-Mao satiric drama that upset party leaders; from Jiang Qing's drama theory for her model plays to the discovery of Bertolt Brecht; from the problems and dilemmas that confront theater reform in the post-Mao era to the performance of Ibsen's Peer Gynt and Viennese operettas; and from a historical play glorifying Mao's supremacy to a playwright calling for individualism and women's rights. This book not only depicts aspects of drama in the People's Republic of China, it also provides analyses of the political and social conditions that shaped and are represented in this drama. Constantine Tung is Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Colin MacKerras is Foundation Professor in the School of Modern Asian Studies, Griffith University, Queensland. (For this item please quote stock ID 13584) ISBN: 9780887063909

(For this item please quote stock ID 15687) ISBN: 9780835111867

~Art images of antiques and historical relics are important sources in the study of such ancient performing arts as music, dance, traditional opera and quyi. This collection of more than 150 art images arranged in dynastic order, gives a brief and concise description of the development of the Ba Shu (Sichuan) performing arts in different historical periods. (For this item please quote stock ID 15748) ISBN: 9787562115854

Beijing Opera is a unique dramatic narrative that weaves music, movement and dialogue to create beautiful and moving stories from Chinese history, biography, folk legend, and literature. Twenty-six stories, selected from 200 of the most frequently performed Beijing operas, are presented here in seven categories: stories of moral instruction, tales of loyalty and duty, historical pieces, stories of palace intrigue, legal cases, love stories and legends about immortals. (For this item please quote stock ID 15755)

The intricacies of Chinese classical theatre receive expert analysis in this reliable and practical handbook - the first of its kind in English - by an authority on Far Eastern drama. Beginning with an introduction to the history and development of the Peking Theatre, the author surveys acting techniques, stage costume and symbolism, musical forms, and dramatic content. Enhanced with 25 drawings and 12 photographs, this outstanding study will fascinate students and scholars as well as general readers and theatre enthusiasts. (For this item please quote stock ID 16165) ISBN: 9780486415796

Contains the artistic style and elements of facial makeup in Beijing opera. (For this item please quote stock ID 17514) ISBN: 9787531808152

(For this item please quote stock ID 20801) ISBN: 9787119030753

Contains: >Formation of Peking Opera >Costume >Facial Make-up >Schools & Plays >Musical Instruments & Orchestras >Vocal Music >Setting & Props >Theatre Buildings >Types of Roles: Sheng (Male Roles), Dan (Female Roles), Jing (Painted-face Roles), Chou-Clowns, etc. (For this item please quote stock ID 25338) ISBN: 9787119036977

Contains: >Formation of Peking Opera >Costume >Facial Make-up >Schools & Plays >Musical Instruments & Orchestras >Vocal Music >Setting & Props >Theatre Buildings >Types of Roles: Sheng (Male Roles), Dan (Female Roles), Jing (Painted-face Roles), Chou-Clowns, etc. (For this item please quote stock ID 25470) ISBN: 9787119039978

A reclusive painter living in exile in Paris, Gao Xingjian found himself instantly famous when he became the first Chinese language writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (2000). The author of the novel Soul Mountain, Gao is best known in his native country not as a visual artist or novelist, but as a playwright and theatre director. This important yet rarely studied figure is the focus of Sy Ren Quah's rich account appraising his contributions to contemporary Chinese and World Theatre over the past two decades. A playwright himself, Quah provides an in-depth analysis of the literary, dramatic, intellectual, and technical aspects of Gao's plays and theatrical concepts, treating Gao's theatre not only as an art form but, with Gao himself, as a significant cultural phenomenon. The Bus Stop, Wild Man, and other early works are examined in the context of 1980s China. Influenced by Stanislavsky, Brecht, and Beckett, as well as traditional Chinese theatre arts and philosophies, Gao refused to conform to the dominant realist conventions of the time and made a conscious effort to renovate Chinese theatre. The young playwright sought to create a 'Modern Eastern Theatre' that was neither a vague generalisation nor a nationalistic declaration, but a challenge to orthodox ideologies. After fleeing China, Gao was free to experiment openly with theatrical forms. Quah examines his post-exile plays in a context of performance theory and philosophical concerns, such as the real versus the unreal, and the Self versus the Other. The image conveyed of Gao is not of an activist but of an intellectual committed to maintaining his artistic independence while continuing to voice his opinion on political matters. Sy Ren Quah is assistant professor of Chinese literature at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. (For this item please quote stock ID 22634) ISBN: 9780824826291

Among all traditional Chinese operas Peking Opera is a relative newcomer. However, it has become the more important and influential opera for Chinese audiences and is now regarded as a nationally accepted art form. Like other traditional opera Peking Opera tells stories through movement, singing and elaborate dance. This book give a detailed introduction to Peking Opera and covers its formation and development, storylines and plays, costume and stagecraft, and its unique sense of time and space, acting, settings and props, facial make-up, and songs and music scores. (For this item please quote stock ID 8381) ISBN: 9787507208504

In the cities of the Yangzi River delta region of China, audiences sip tea in story houses while storytellers speak and sing stories accompanied by stringed instruments. The stories unfold week after week, usually revolving around a love intrigue. Plum & Bamboo is a thorough introduction to this enchanting oral narrative tradition that still flourishes in Shanghai and in Suzhou, an ancient city known as the 'city of gardens'. Storytelling in China was once a major art form that rivalled opera and other performance genres. The Suzhou chantefable of today is a rich, local tradition and one of the most viable storytelling traditions in the world, with hundreds of active storytellers in the Yangzi delta region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and an appreciation of the Chinese art, Mark Bender utilises a folkloristic approach to provide an overview of the tradition, focusing on the contextualised performance of narrative. In addition to supplying historical and contextual background, the book examines how oral territory is opened and explored in performance. Plum & Bamboo also features an in-depth exploration of a performance transcript of the Meng Lijun story and interlinear commentary by the storytellers; four appendixes including outlines of traditional stories, some synopsises of which are here for the first time in English; and a romanised transcript of a portion of a performance in Suzhou dialect. 'A truly important work, a major contribution to a field virtually unstudied in the West and poorly studied in China until very recently' - Susan Blader, associate professor of Chinese at Dartmouth College. Mark Bender is an assistant professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Ohio State University. His articles have appeared in numerous journals and collections. (For this item please quote stock ID 20037) ISBN: 9780252028212

A book of Peking opera painted faces of interest to lovers of traditional Chinese opera and a useful reference for students of fine arts. It is also a good introduction to those general readers who have often wondered what Peking opera is all about. The Peking opera face is characterised by symbolism and exaggeration by the use of signs and symbols and exaggerated and distorted features to represent a person's character or attributes. Very often, for example, eyes, brows and cheeks are depicted like bats, butterflies or swallow's wings which, together with an exaggerated mouth and nose produce a desired facial expression. All the pictures in this book are full, frontal views of 272 selected painted face patterns depicting both traditional make-up and new patterns created for newly written operas. And, to place the opera faces in context, included are a number of pictures showing Peking opera actors in costume and with facial make-up. (For this item please quote stock ID 13857) ISBN: 9787505404120

When On Thrones of Gold was published in 1970, it was quickly recognised as a major work in the area of Asian theatre and literature. The book is no less valuable today.

"Impressive?important? enjoyable. Little enough has been written in English about the Wajang Kulit, but here the exposition is brilliantly clear and informative, the illustrations are elegant, and the translations are first class. Hats off to Professor Brandon" - Virginia Quarterly Review

"Perhaps the best English-language puppetry book in years. Brandon, an authority on Asian theatre, presents a lucid, well illustrated, indeed definitive text. He Displays great skill in bringing to life this fascinating national drama of Java. He also offers considerable insight into Indonesian culture. All told, this volume is a very successful accomplishment and must be considered a major contribution to theatre bibliography - Library Journal

About the Author
James R. Brandon is a professor of Asian theatre at the University of Hawaii. During his distinguished career, he has received numerous fellowships and awards. Among his publications are Kabuki: Five Classic Plays and Sanskrit Drama in Performance

(For this item please quote stock ID 31685) ISBN: 9780824814250

Blending a flair for textual nuance with theoretical engagement, Theaters of Desire not only contributes to our understanding of the most influential form of early Chinese song drama in local and international cultural contexts, but adds a Chinese perspective to the scholarship on print culture, authorship, and the regulatory discourses of desire. The book argues that, particularly between 1550 and 1680, Chinese elite editors rewrote and printed early plays and songs, so called Yuan dynasty zaju and sanqu, to imagine and embody new concepts of authorship, readership and desire, an interpretation that contrasts starkly with the national and racially oriented reception of song drama developed by European critics after 1735 and subsequently modified by Japanese and Chinese critics after 1897. By analysing the critical and material facets of the early song and play tradition across different historical periods and cultural settings, Theaters of Desire presents a compelling case study of literary canon formation. (For this item please quote stock ID 24875) ISBN: 9781403961945

'An articulate, exceptionally researched study of Chinese theater' - Choice. (For this item please quote stock ID 10425) ISBN: 9780824812201

(For this item please quote stock ID 1548) ISBN: 9787806030790

Absolutely stunning and elegantly presented volume on the history and various styles of Peking Opera. A must for any connoisseur of Peking Opera, literate in Chinese or not!
(For this item please quote stock ID 2510) ISBN: 9787532526550

Wonderfully and colourfully illustrated. Text and captions are in Chinese but accompanied by an English language supplement. (For this item please quote stock ID 9953) ISBN: 9787539903361

(For this item please quote stock ID 26015) ISBN: 9789620423321

Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s was a daring experiment in what it meant to be modern. Its taste for the new was everywhere apparent in its visual culture ? in its painters, graphic designers, cartoon and commercial artists, architects and interior decorators. Eclectically blending their own Chinese heritage with European, American and Japanese cultural influences, these artists created what Lynn Pan calls Shanghai Style, the defining look and ethos of the period. Denigrated by some at the time for being slick and superficial, and admired by others for being up-to-date and glamorous, today Shanghai Style is seen to be iconic, a true reflection of the city in its heyday. Shanghai Style ? the first in-depth book in any language on the subject ? combines a scholar?s rigorous research with an obvious delight in the engaging personalities it introduces and the stories it tells. AUTHOR & SERIES EDITOR Lynn Pan Lynn Pan lives in Shanghai, the city of her birth. She studied at the universities of London and Cambridge, England, and has worked in Kota Kinabalu, Geneva, Helsinki, Hong Kong and Singapore. Her books include Sons of the Yellow Emperor (which won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize), Tracing It Home, The New Chinese Revolution, Mao Memorabilia and The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas. (For this item please quote stock ID 28983) ISBN: 9789620427190

Reading the Right Text introduces six new plays from contemporary China, five of which are translated here into English for the first time. Chosen from a wide variety of well-received dramas of the period, each play represents the traditions and changes in a particular subgenre: regional theatre, proletarian theatre, women's theatre, history plays, and experimental theatre. Xiaomei Chen's wide-ranging and perceptive introduction locates the plays in the political and cultural history of modern China to demonstrate the inter-relationship between theater, history, society, and everyday experience. She highlights the origin and development of the different sub-genres and outlines critical approaches from numerous fields, including gender studies, performance studies, subaltern studies, and comparative cultural studies. Quite apart from their importance as theatre, these plays are crucial for a fully rounded understanding of the cultural dynamics involved in the transition from Maoist to post-Mao China, from socialist realist drama to the post-socialist response to a market economy and a society in flux. Xiaomei Chen is associate professor of Chinese and comparative literature at Ohio State University, and the author of Acting the Right Part: Political Theater and Popular Drama in Contemporary China (UH Press, 2002). (For this item please quote stock ID 20687) ISBN: 9780824826895

Peking Opera, known as Jing Ju(Capital Opera),has a history of more than 200 years. It has grown from a local folk art to the standard bearer of theatrical art. Peking Opera attained the prominent status of Guo Ju or National Opera of China. Mei Lanfang was considered the "King of Peking Opera". An outstanding female impersonator, Mei was also an innovator and reformer of the art. Mei Lanfang introduced Peking Opera to other countries, including the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan. Mei was lauded as an Ambassador of Chinese Culture in the American press.

(For this item please quote stock ID 32228) ISBN: 9787119060477

Drawing upon a unique and untapped reservoir of newspapers, magazines, novels, government documents, photographs and illustrations, this book traces the origin, pinnacle, and ultimate demise of a commercial dance industry in Shanghai between the end of the First World War and the early years of the People?s Republic of China. Delving deep into the world of cabarets, nightclubs, and elite ballrooms that arose in the city in the 1920s and peaked in the 1930s, the book assesses how and why Chinese society incorporated and transformed this westernized world of leisure and entertainment to suit its own tastes and interests. Focusing on the jazz-age nightlife of the city in its "golden age" the book examines issues of colonialism and modernity, urban space, sociability and sexuality and modern Chinese national identity formation in a tumultuous era of war and revolution.

About the Author
Andrew David Field is an independent scholar of Chinese history and culture living and working in Shanghai. He has taught Chinese history for the University of Puget Sound, University of New South Wales, Dartmouth College, and New York University.
(For this item please quote stock ID 32736) ISBN: 9789629963736

The Flower Princess (Dae Neui Fa or Dinuhua in Mandarin) has become the most renowned Cantonese Opera since its 1957 premier in Hong Kong. The opera is a serious political drama played out between the Han and non-Han following the fall of the Ming dynasty, and the plot pits romantic love against the lofty Confucian ideals of social hierarchy and moral rectitude. This is the first complete English translation of the opera, featuring text, song titles, speech types, and choreographic and stage setting. It also contains a foreword by Pak Suet Sin (Bai Xuexian), the celebrated Cantonese Opera actress who created the role of the Princess in the original production.

About the Author
Tong Dik Sang (1917?1959) is one of the most highly respected playwrights of Cantonese Opera in the twentieth century. Being familiar with the classical dramatic literature such as the Variety Plays of the Yuan and the Southern Dramas of the Ming, he not only was inspired by the stories and themes of these old scripts but also became adept at creating poetry of refinement and beauty that was greatly admired and stood out from that produced by contemporaneous scriptwriters.

(For this item please quote stock ID 32737) ISBN: 9789629963743

(For this item please quote stock ID 32526) ISBN: 9787799825205