Again On Female Image In Chinese National Opera

As the major object of description and expression in traditional Chinese plays, femaleimages are not only the focus for the development of plays and the paradoxical expansion,but the “overwhelming part” in plays compared with male images, on top of that their ariasare a large share of plays. Therefore, female images have a central position in plays, which isthe result of the complex historical and cultural background. In the20thcentury, the feministthought deeply penetrated into Chinese revolution and literature and art, whereas thetraditional male power was still dominating. Influenced by both modern feminist thought andtraditional male power, female images have gradually acquired their central position. Thosefemale images in traditional Chinese plays can be generalized into three types:“male-likeheroines”(e.g., Han Ying),“intellectual women”(e.g., Jiang Jie), and “women farmers”(e.g.,Tian Yumei). Representing three different cultural images, they have different culturalidentifications and implications, which is their uniqueness in the generality of being“females” and “revolutionaries”. Their “gender identity” is “highlighted” in certain artisticexpressions, and “strengthened” in the dual influence from modern feminist thought andtraditional male power. They are “highlighted” in the process of “being hidden”, whilediminished in the “revolutionary” and “heroic narrations”, as well as in the “avoidance” fromlove and the “disenchantment” of character modeling.