Dr. Nancy Guy's Doctoral Dissertation Abstract





PEKING OPERA AND POLITICS IN POST-1949 TAIWAN

Nancy A. Guy, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh, 1996


        This dissertation examines the goals, mechanisms, and
        consequences of state control of performing arts, taking
        Peking opera in Taiwan as the subject.  Ever since its
        transplantation from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan in the
        late 1940s, Peking opera has been under almost total support
        and control from the exiled government of the Republic of
        China (ROC).

        Until 1987, the ROC government maintained a policy of no
        contact towards the Communist-controlled mainland.  As a
        result, Taiwan's Peking opera tradition remained sheltered
        from many changes undergone by the tradition on the mainland.
        Policy changes made during the late 1980s dramatically altered
        Taipei/Beijing relations, with the most profound change being
        the ROC government's lifting of its forty-year ban on travel
        to the mainland.

        In keeping with other political changes, the Peking opera
        censorship policy was revised in 1988 to allow for performance
        of much of the formerly contraband post-1949 mainland repertoire.
        This dissertation examines the ways in which government
        policy has shaped the growth of Peking opera in Taiwan.
        Censorship decrees and their close association with broader
        political policies are examined.  I assert that the decrees,
        which were instrumental in guiding the tradition's development,
        were essentially statements of the Nationalists' official position
        towards the mainland.  The government's administration and
        control of Peking opera were inseparably linked to the overall
        political environment.  The tradition's development can,
        therefore, be seen largely as a by-product of the political
        process. The dissertation analyzes the reaction of Taiwan's
        Peking opera world to the legalization of contact with the
        mainland, especially the performers' enthusiastic reception
        of the contemporary mainland repertoire.  Finally, a discussion
        of the difficulties encountered by Taiwan singers and musicians
        in learning new operas illustrates some of the musical differences
        that  evolved between the two traditions.
        The political issues and concerns that fundamentally affected
        the formation of Nationalist Peking opera policy (and hence,
        the tradition's artistic and creative development) also
        penetrated and influenced nearly every aspect of life in Taiwan.
        This study offers a unique perspective from which to view
        Nationalist Taiwan, and it shows that government control of
        politically symbolic institutions, such as Peking opera, can
        clearly reflect the policies and ideology basic to a regime's
        strategies for governing.



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