Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Desire for Connection: Qiao Ying (The Fake Image) and Portrait-Reading

Desire for Connection: Qiao Ying (The Fake Image) and Portrait-Reading This article focuses on the play Qiao Ying (The Fake Image), a one-act play written by the female playwright Wu Zao (1799–1862). Previous scholarship mainly viewed this play as Wu's denunciation of the inequality of gender in the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), assuming that the Qing women were the oppressed subjects. I take issue with that assertion and argue that The Fake Image offers more than a request for gender equality. Placing this play in its historical and social contexts, I contend that The Fake Image shows the protagonist's desires for connection with the world outside the boudoir in the nineteenth-century Qing China. With special regard to the portrait-reading fashion in the Qing, I present a detailed literary and performance analysis that demonstrates how Wu Zao observed the changing Qing society, and made use of this play to convey her anxiety and desire. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asian Theatre Journal University of Hawai'I Press

Desire for Connection: Qiao Ying (The Fake Image) and Portrait-Reading

Asian Theatre Journal , Volume 39 (2): 15 – Nov 12, 2022

Desire for Connection: Qiao Ying (The Fake Image) and Portrait-Reading

Asian Theatre Journal , Volume 39 (2): 15 – Nov 12, 2022

Abstract

This article focuses on the play Qiao Ying (The Fake Image), a one-act play written by the female playwright Wu Zao (1799–1862). Previous scholarship mainly viewed this play as Wu's denunciation of the inequality of gender in the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), assuming that the Qing women were the oppressed subjects. I take issue with that assertion and argue that The Fake Image offers more than a request for gender equality. Placing this play in its historical and social contexts, I contend that The Fake Image shows the protagonist's desires for connection with the world outside the boudoir in the nineteenth-century Qing China. With special regard to the portrait-reading fashion in the Qing, I present a detailed literary and performance analysis that demonstrates how Wu Zao observed the changing Qing society, and made use of this play to convey her anxiety and desire.

Loading next page...
 
/lp/university-of-hawai-i-press/desire-for-connection-qiao-ying-the-fake-image-and-portrait-reading-741n6K7Hh4

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © The University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1527-2109
DOI
10.1353/atj.2022.0024
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article focuses on the play Qiao Ying (The Fake Image), a one-act play written by the female playwright Wu Zao (1799–1862). Previous scholarship mainly viewed this play as Wu's denunciation of the inequality of gender in the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), assuming that the Qing women were the oppressed subjects. I take issue with that assertion and argue that The Fake Image offers more than a request for gender equality. Placing this play in its historical and social contexts, I contend that The Fake Image shows the protagonist's desires for connection with the world outside the boudoir in the nineteenth-century Qing China. With special regard to the portrait-reading fashion in the Qing, I present a detailed literary and performance analysis that demonstrates how Wu Zao observed the changing Qing society, and made use of this play to convey her anxiety and desire.

Journal

Asian Theatre JournalUniversity of Hawai'I Press

Published: Nov 12, 2022

References