Abstract: This article examines the art practice of Grass Stage Theatre, a minjian (grassroots) theatre established by Zhao Chuan and others in Shanghai, China, in 2005. Using a combination of qualitative study approaches, the study provides insights into a grassroots theatre art practice that is localized in the contexts of postsocialist China and interconnected with Asian theatre networks. Tracing Zhao Chuan's intellectual development from the 1980s, I portray how he had transitioned from an avid participant in the avant-garde and conceptual art and the Democratic Movement in China in the 1980s to a critic of the encroachment of capitalism and globalization in postsocialist China a decade later. Reviewing the establishment of Grass Stage Theatre and its active involvement in the East Asian People's Theatre network, I explore how Grass Stage Theatre transformed socialist and left-wing ideals and art legacies and invented a social theatre. The study scrutinizes the practice of Grass Stage Theatre, showing how it challenges the cultural hegemony imposed by both the postsocialist state and neoliberal capitalism. The analysis reveals that Grass Stage Theatre, through its practices, cultivates a social space that is absent in contemporary Chinese society and distinct from participatory art in the neoliberal Western art context. Their unique socially engaged art practice encourages people from diverse social strata to reflect on life and society.
Yan Zhou (2026) studied this question.