City, Opera And Gender: The Research Of Opera Actress Group In Beijing And Tianjin (1900-1937)

Opera actresses comprise a particular social group in early modern China. On theone hand, opera actresses belongs to the category of professional women; but on theother hand, they are also different from ordinary professional women. Since manyearly actresses were involved with prostitution, and since the opera business has oftenbeen overlooked, the social reputation of actresses is not high. In1912, Yu Zhentingintroduced the opera actresses into Beijing, and since that time many kinds of operaactresses have appeared on stage.Because the Beijing-Tianjin region has a long tradition of opera performance,modern the opera actress group take the lead in the emergence of the land hasinherent advantages in early modern. In the process of change of socio-economicstructure of modern Beijing and Tianjin areas, the full development of the expansionof public entertainment space, the emergence of new entertainment and thedevelopment of opinion media environment, create a good living environment for theappearance of opera actress group. Therefore, the opera actress group has twocharacteristics of the new and old professional women.In the modern Beijing-Tianjin region there are three major groups of operaactresses: the Hebei clapper, Peking opera and Peking actress. After an arduousapprenticeship and performances, actresses who use the advantage of their gender andrich stage experience can promote the development and progress of various operas.Most actresses come from families who are poor or not well off. The daily life ofdifferent levels of opera actresses are different, for example their affection andmarriage. However, they actively participate in a variety of social activities andpublic performances, trying to enhance their social status.The cross-gender performance of opera actress is shaped by men. For differentpurposes, they can created a "star " of an actress, but also promote the development ofurban mass entertainment culture. The form and content of the roles performed byactresses can tend to make the audience confused with the actress and kinky play. Specifically, Kui De She is the greatest Kung Pang She, which affects theBeijing-Tianjin region in modern China. The main role of the Kui De She is an operaactress. However, male leadership can support or help to complete its development ofthe evolution of the internal division of labor management and staged operas. Newfashion dramas performed played in clubs were very populare, giving full play to thedrama of social enlightenment.This dissertation explores the relationship between the actress groups with operaand urban development.First, actresses exert their own agency, thus promoting the development of operaart. Second, the rise of the modern opera actress groups reflects the development ofthe regional economy and urban culture of Beijing and Tianjin. By analzing theformation and development of groups of opera actresses, the public space, publicopinion, and the media and other influential factors can be studies. This enables us tobetter grasp the historical complexity of social change, and help to further explore thepractical significance of urban popular culture. The public performances and daily lifeof groups of opera actresses is both a reflection of the culture of the city, and thedriving force to promote the process of urbanization. Third, the social patterns ofopera actresses still have the characteristics of traditional society. Fourth, according togender studies, by the view of audience plays, screenwriters will reflect the society ofthat time by shaping the role of an actress, showing the actress’s own life trajectory,and her own image remodeling in groups of opera actresses of. Observed through theevolution of gender relations in the Beijing-Tianjin region, the traditional powerstructure of modern gender can be seen in urban society in the era of change.Overall, in the social transformation toward modernization, we can find theformation, development and growth of groups of opera actresses. These groupsdemonstrate that traditional society still has vitality, and they also bring variety to theprocess of modernization.