How to Read Chinese Drama: A Guided Anthology ed. by Patricia Sieber and Regina Llamas, and: How to Read Chinese Drama In Chinese: A Language Companion ed. by Guo Yingde et al. (review)

Reviewed by: How to Read Chinese Drama: A Guided Anthology ed. by Patricia Sieber and Regina Llamas, and: How to Read Chinese Drama In Chinese: A Language Companion ed. by Guo Yingde et al. Yizhou Huang HOW TO READ CHINESE DRAMA: A GUIDED ANTHOLOGY. Edited by Patricia Sieber and Regina Llamas. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022. Paperback, 40. 00; cloth, 160. 00; e-book, 39. 99. HOW TO READ CHINESE DRAMA IN CHINESE: A LANGUAGE COMPANION. Edited by Guo Yingde, Wenbo Chang, Patricia Sieber, and Xiaohui Zhang. New York: Columbia University Press, 2023. Paperback, 35. 00; cloth, 140. 00; e-book, 34. 99. How to Read Chinese Drama: A Guided Anthology and How to Read Chinese Drama in Chinese: A Language Companion are the two volumes devoted to xiqu in the "How to Read Chinese Literature" series. This ambitious collection will eventually include ten books that cover premodern poetry, fiction, drama, prose, and literary criticism. Each genre gets a guided anthology that aims at presenting cutting-edge scholarship in digestible formats, plus four language companions and an additional book on poetic culture. Though written by Chinese studies specialists and designed primarily for teaching and learning the Chinese language and culture, theatre scholars will find valuable resources in both publications. The anthology comprises of sixteen chapters divided into four roughly chronological parts: Yuan and Ming zaju, Ming and early Qing nanxi and chuanqi, Mid-Qing zaju and chuanqi, and, lastly, ritual plays in Ming, Qing, and the modern era. With each chapter penned by different specialists on different dramatic works, the anthology distinguishes itself from single-authored scholarly monographs such as William Dolby's A History of Chinese Drama by closely analyzing the plays at hand. As a result, these chapters are better suited for classroom use: one can either assign them for the play under discussion or reference the comprehensive table of thematic contents (eight categories, thirty-nine subcategories with further explanations) in the beginning. Given the limited space, I only address selected chapters that stand out for teaching and researching theatre. End Page 221 Guan Hanqing's plays are often featured in theatre history classes as exemplars of Yuan zaju. In Chapter 3 "The Pavilion for Praying to the Moon and The Injustice to Dou E: The Innovation of the Female Lead, " Patricia Sieber covers many grounds while focusing on two plays by Guan. Starting with the theatrical culture of Yuan zaju theatre, she addresses audiences' admiration for versatile and virtuosic actors who could play multiples roles that differ greatly from one another in a single play. In such a milieu, playwrights like Guan probably worked closely with contemporary stars such as actress Zhulian Xiu and wrote plays which abound with stage directions, especially those concerning vocal delivery. As a result, the "affective breadth and nuance" (p. 80) of Yuan zaju renders the hackneyed question regarding its status as tragedy irrelevant and inadequate. Sieber then goes into a close analysis of Guan's two female protagonists who use powerful (borderline subversive) speech acts to navigate the established moral compass for their own sake. This chapter is particularly enlightening to students who are confused by Dou E, a strong-willed woman who seems to defend Confucian values at the cost of her own life. Chapter 15 "Mulian Rescues His Mother: Play Structure, Ritual, and Soundscapes" is good course material for theatre history professors who teach by topic instead of by dramatic literature. It would be a good addition to a "theatre and religion" module for those who seek to decolonize the often Christianity-centered subject. Originally recorded in a Buddhist sutra in Sanskrit, monk Mulian saves his impious mother who has been condemned to suffer as a hungry ghost from hell. Since the sutra's translation into Chinese during the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316), Mulian's story evolved to integrate with Confucianism, Daoism, and ancestral worship. Starting from the twelfth century, its xiqu renditions have been performed at the Ghost Festival (15 July in the lunar calendar) in many parts of China for ritual purposes. In the chapter, Sai-shing Yung accounts for the Buddhist genealogy of Mulian's tale, the iconography of the Buddhist Hell depicted in. . .