On "Harmony" And "Confrontation" Of Yang Yanhui Visits His Mother And Madama Butterfly In The Cross-cultural Context

The Jingju(Beijing Opera)Yang Yanhui Visits His Mother with its close to 200 year history,has been a phenomenal classic in the vast repertoire of Xiqu(Chinese Opera).Ever since its creation,the Western Opera Madama Butterfly has enjoyed its legendary reputation for over a century.The core conflicts of these two plays reside in the intercultural context,which define them as intercultural theatre based on their contents.However,the “cross-cultural” confrontation in Madama Butterfly is magnified,through which a culturally alienated character with seemingly affectionate quality is created,becoming a typical example of “ideal woman” in the male-centric system.Yang Yanhui Visits His Mother only applies “intercultural context” as a tool to enhance the dramatic nature and expand the space for performance,creating characters such as Yang Yanhui and Princess Iron Mirror in which the humanistic solicitude is reflectedThe fundamental reason that causes the sharply contrstive endings of these two plays under the circumstance of cross-cultural conflicts is the different way of exercising power in power relationship.Both two plays have multi-dimensional power relationships.The tragic ending in Madama Butterfly is caused by the suffering from the “dominant” power,whereas the "liberation" of power in Yang Yanhui Visits His Mother leads to a "harmonious" ending.The Jingju(Beijing Opera)Yang Yanhui Visits His Mother is a strong counterargument to the generally long believed view that "Chinese opera lacks literary value" in the academic circle.It addresses the gender politics which has been constantly debated even today by displaying the choice made by characters when they weigh between the sentiment and responsibility.Through its artistically fictional approach,the play provides a model solution to the social problems in real life.The world famous Western Opera Madama Butterfly has succeeded in establishing an artistic symbol of "vulnerable woman" who fails to find "self" on the verge of cross-boundary love.It also shows us that Orientalism and male-centralism is deeply rooted in the creative thinking subconsciously behind the work.The purpose of the study of contemporary cross-cultural theatre is not to eliminate the differences between two different cultures,but to make full use of the action of "cross" as a research method.Perhaps it will provide new research ideas for the study of Xiqu(Chinese Opera)which has attached more importance to performance as its center than the text in the past.This paper covers a range of fields including cross-cultural theatre,comparative literature and gender issues.That interdisciplinary and multi-perspective research can liberate us from the restraint of single aesthetic direction and re-examine art works such as the Jingju(Beijing Opera)Yang Yanhui Visits His Mother from a more international and modern perspective so as to explore their modern aesthetic value which was previously neglected.