Staging Chinese Revolution surveys propaganda theatre performances in China from the 1960s into the twenty-first century, revealing a dynamic and commercial capacity in works often dismissed as a top-down practice of censorship. From an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, Xiaomei Chen demonstrates how, in a socialist state with ‘capitalist characteristics’, theatrical propaganda promotes mainstream ideologies to legitimize the state's right to rule. At the same time, propaganda performance brings contradictions and inconsistencies to question common understanding about propaganda's advocacy. Propaganda also insinuates itself in the form of commercial culture that orients everyday life practice and gives a popular appeal.
Recent Western scholarship by Jonathan Auerbach and Russ Castronovo has yielded insights into propaganda studies but failed to pay close attention to dramatic culture, and the majority limits itself to the Cold War mentality. Several pioneering scholars, including Rudolf G. Wagner, Barbara Mittler and Ban Wang, have contributed to the growing field of modern Chinese propaganda studies. Chen's book fulfills the need to analyse the case of China in the intersection between propaganda studies and the fields of theatre and performance.
The first three chapters focus on the history of theoretical representations of the ‘founding fathers’ of the Communist Party. Chapter 1 examines the performance history of Chen Duxiu. The Chen Duxiu character embodied shifting, even oppositional, identities that reflect changing political agendas and different national sentiments. Chen was first portrayed as a villain in the process of celebrating Mao as the supreme leader; second and conversely, he was viewed as a superhero against Stalinism and Soviet interference in the Chinese revolution in the reform era. The reinterpretation of the character paved the way for the legitimacy of the post-Mao regime against the dogmatic Maoist culture.
Chapter 2 traces stage representations of the life of Mao Zedong in the reform era beginning in the 1980s by focusing on the theme of ‘never becoming a Li Zicheng’. The allusions to Li as a peasant uprising leader who had been overthrown by his own arrogance and detachment from the masses shortly after seizing power worked to celebrate Mao as a wise leader who had warned his party never to repeat Li's mistakes. When compared to other plays on Mao's co-leaders, however, these performances can have dramatized the very process by which Mao became just like Li, who had also persecuted his fellow leaders. Furthermore, the Mao character presents a mirror image of their counterparts in contemporary China to promote the official anti-corruption campaign. Paradoxically, Mao's caring about the poor reminds one of the post-socialist regime's betrayal of Mao's original call of serving the ordinary people.
Chapter 3 examines performance pieces from the late 1980s into the twenty-first century on the life story of Deng Xiaoping, who inherited Mao's legitimacy to rule while rejecting some of his legacy during the decades of economic reform following the death of Mao. Deng was portrayed as a great successor of Mao and even a greater leader as he survived two downfalls caused by Mao during the Cultural Revolution and finally brought prosperity to China through his capitalist restoration against Mao's wishes.
As a conclusion of the three previous chapters, Chapter 4 broadens the scope of inquiry by examining three influential mass performances from 1964 to 2009: The East Is Red, The Song of the Chinese Revolution and The Road to Revival. These epics illustrate their enduring power of manipulating historical narratives and political orientations to justify the legitimacy of the ruling party and to harmonize the inherent contradictions in the party ideologies. The epilogue briefly argues that women characters in propaganda performance have often been reduced to supporting roles in contrast to their once prominent, central position in the high Mao socialist theatre.
Overall, Chen has eloquently explored the dynamic nature of propaganda performance in contemporary China. While mainstream theatre works to promote profit and carry out the ideological campaign, it also can be seen as challenging the very principles of the state's regimes. By positioning theatrical propaganda at the dynamic intersection among party history, personal memories and popular culture, Chen convincingly presents multiple perspectives and complex relations among self, subject, agent, state building and national identity. Chen's book is an important source for those interested in theatre studies, comparative literature and cultural and political studies.
