Male Dan - The Paradox

Male Dan: the Paradox of Sex, Acting, and Perception of Female Impersonation in Traditional
Chinese Theatre
Author(s): Min Tian
Source: Asian Theatre Journal, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), pp. 78-97
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
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Male Dan: the Paradox of Sex,

Acting, and Perception of Female
Impersonation in Traditional
Chinese Theatre
Min Tian
The art of male dan-specialists in female roles-is one of the mostimportantissues

in traditionalChinesetheatre,especiallyin jingju (Beijingor Peking opera).In this
article,Min Tian considerstheproblemfrom a combinedgender-sociocultural-historical perspective.Tian tracesthe convention'shistoricaldevelopment,examinesits contemporarystatus, and deals with such issues as the dynamicsof sex and theparadox
of acting, which are centralto the art of the male dan. Not only does he exploremodern perceptionsof the art offemale impersonationwith respectto the traditionof the
male dan, but he also discussessimilar traditions,mostnotablythat of the classical
Japanesetheatre.
Min Tian holds a doctoratefrom China's CentralAcademyof Drama and has
taught thereas an associateprofessor.He recentlycompletedhis dissertationon interAsidefrom many
culturaltheatreat the Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
articlespublishedin Chineseacademicjournals, he has alsopublishedin Asian Theatre Journal, Theatre Symposium, New Theatre Quarterly, and Comparative
Drama.
Female impersonation has a time-honored tradition that

crossed national and cultural boundaries. While the art of female
impersonation in the West has been under extensive scrutiny from
gender, cultural, social, ideological, and political perspectives, its Chinese counterpart has not been treated seriously from such perspectives. In China today, issues such as gender and sex involved in the art
of female impersonation remain sensitive to critical investigation. This
article attempts to consider the paradox of the art of the male dana
(female role type) in traditional Chinese theatre, in terms of sex, act-
Asian TheatreJournal,vol. 17, no. 1 (Spring 2000). ? 2000 by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved.
MALE DAN
79
ing, and perception, from a combined gender-sociocultural-historical

perspective.
Ancient Roots
The tradition of the male dan can be traced back to ancient
music and dance. It probably dates back as early as the Han dynasty
(206 B.C.-A.D. 219). Jiao Xunb (1763-1820), a noted scholar of the
Qing dynasty (1644-1911), cites a source indicating that in the Han
dynasty there were male players impersonating jiniic (female singers
and dancers), a custom that ushered in the convention of female
impersonation later called zhuang dand (Jiao [ca. 1805] 1959, 91). At
the end of the Wei dynasty (220-264), Emperor Cao Fange (r. 240-254)
was said to have enjoyed watching his young male jesters play coquettes
whose excessive wantonness embarrassed passersby. Owing to his
debauchery and neglect of imperial duty, he was dethroned when he
was only twenty-three years old. Emperor Xuan Dif (r. 578-579) of the
North Zhou dynasty (557-581) ordered handsome young men of the
city, dressed as women, to sing and dance inside the imperial court for
the Emperor and his company (Wang [1911] 1984, 190). In the reign
of Emperor Yang Dig (605-616) of the Sui dynasty (589-617), from
January 1 to January 15, when foreign princes and visitors paid tribute
to the Emperor, thousands of singers and dancers gathered and performed in the capital, most of them in women's dress, wearing jewelry
and flowers (Wang [1911] 1984, 190). In 661, during the Tang dynasty
(618-906), the Empress asked for the prohibition of women from participating in theatrical performances-hence the segregation of male
players and female singers and dancers employed at the court (Wang
[1911] 1984, 199). Emperor Xuan Zongh (r. 712-756) created the
Liyuani (Pear Garden) and Yichunyuani (Pleasure House): the former
had only male performers while the latter had female singers and
dancers. It is highly possible that the performances by the Liyuan
actors might have involved female impersonation. It is clear that outside the court, jiafu xik (a performance featuring female impersonation) was part of various performances and entertainments in the
Tang dynasty. Records show that several male players were good at
impersonating women (Duan [ca. 894-906] 1959, 49). There is also
evidence that boys dressed as women performed for aristocratic families (Wang [1912] 1964, 13). In the Tang dynasty a much more popular performance involving female impersonation was the folk singing
and dance performance called tayaoniang'(stamping and swayingwife).
In this performance the wife, impersonated by a man, complains about
being beaten by her drunkard husband. She sings to the rhythm of her
dance while the audience responds in chorus (Cui [ca. 762] 1959, 18).
80
Tian
The miscellaneous plays (zajum) of the Song (960-1276) and

the Jin (1115-1234) dynasties feature the convention of zhuang dan.
Zhou Mi'sn WulinJiushio (Old Stories About the Greenwood), a book
recording social manners and literary miscellanies of the Song dynasty,
lists the titles of many lost plays and offers notes on actors. It mentions
that one of the zaju actors, Sun Zigui,Pwas a female impersonator. Tao
Zongyiq records in his ChuogengLu,r a collection similar to Zhou Mi's,
that zaju of the Song dynasty and yuanbensof the Jin dynasty feature
zhuang dan. In one of the important nanxit (southern drama) plays,
Zhang Xie Zhuangyuanu(Scholar Zhang Xie), a metatheatrical remark

by the jingVrole (painted face type) indicates that the dan role of the
play is acted by a man:
JING:
You are a fake woman.
I am a real woman.
As a woman, then, why did you not bind your feet?
MOW:You should look upwards. [Qian 1979, 160]
DAN:
JING:
In ancient China, a pair of bound feet was one of the definitive female
features. Despite the female attire on his upper body, the actor's
unbound feet betray his true identity.
In the Yuan dynasty (1277-1367), the military triumph of the
Mongolians over China undermined the foundation of Confucian
social, cultural, and moral dictates. It was actresses rather than actors
who predominated in theatrical performances. Xia Tingzhi'sx Qinglou
JiY (Green Bower Collection) provides biographical information on
many noted actresses who were not only good at impersonating dan
but also at performing in men's roles. No substantive evidence suggests
the existence of female impersonation in the Yuan dynasty; even if it
had existed, it could not have had more than marginal significance.
It was in the Ming dynasty (1368-1643)-when,
because of the
restoration of Confucian social ethics, female singers and dancers
were forbidden to perform-that female impersonation once again
became significant as an alternative. Shen Defu,z a scholar of the Ming
dynasty, has noted that since the Jin and the Yuan dynasties the dan
was played by prostitutes and that when prostitutes were not available,
young men served as alternatives (Shen [n.d.] 1959, 216).
In the Qing dynasty, owing to the repeated bans on performances featuring female singers and dancers, of which the most consequential was Emperor Qianlong'saa in 1772, female impersonation
again predominated and paved the way for a host of artists of the specialty in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were
81
MALE DAN
led by Mei Lanfang-arguably the most renowned female impersonator in the history of the theatre.
Sex and Subversion

Traditional Chinese theatre, especially in the Qing dynasty, was
attacked for its moral corruption. Theatre was always associated with
brothels; female performers were inevitably linked with prostitutes.
Hence the ban on nuxiab (woman's performance)
in different dynas-
ties, especially the Qing. Because of the anxiety over such moral and
social corruption, the Manchuria Regime emphatically prohibited
Manchurians from playgoing (Zhang [1934] 1965, [1-2] 1621-1623)
with a view to maintaining their integrity and superiority. Female
impersonation was tolerated only as an alternative to the corruption of
female performers. But when female impersonation came to be considered immoral, it too was banned from the public. In the Qing
dynasty, the huadanac(a young, lovely, or coquettish female role type)
played by men was banned time and again because of its ostensible sexual appeal compared with other types of dan such as zhengdanador
qingyiae (virtuous and decent women), which were considered
accept-
able. As a result, there was for a time a significant lack of huadan performers (Wu [ca. 1890s] [1934] 1965, [14] 1517; Chen [1934] 1965,
[30] 1614). Wei Changshengaf (1744-1802), also known as Wei San,ag
who specialized in huadan, was considered one of the most popular
female impersonators of the Qing dynasty. Wei adopted a more feminine hairstyle and introduced an acting skill that became characteristic of female impersonation: cai qiaoah (walking with a pair of attached
wooden feet resembling women's bound feet (Yang [1842] [1934]
1965, [10] 719). Because his performance was apparently sexually oriented and extremely popular, he was banned from performing in Beijing (Wu [1786] [1934] 1965, [8-9] 124-25).
In general, female impersonation-especially role types such as
zhengdan, laodanai (old lady), and wudanai (female warrior)-was not
considered as dangerous and subversive as performances by real
women, because Confucian doctrine put more emphasis on the segregation of women from men to preserve the patriarchal social hierarchy. Thus Chinese antitheatrical thought was morally and socially
oriented, and its specific position toward female impersonation was
less consistent than religiously oriented English arguments against
female impersonation such as those fervently posited byJohn Rainolds,
Stephen Gosson, William Prynne, and Philip Stubbes. These arguments, drawing on biblical codes and classical patristic tradition, were
primarily essentialist and ontological as well as moral and social.
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82
Although antitheatrical sentiments tend to exaggerate the sexual associations of female impersonation, sexual appeal is inherent in
the art of female impersonation. Certainly the boy dan (chu linak) were
selected for their feminine physical features and voice quality. The
Fulianchengal training school-whose predecessor, the Xilianshenam
(later renamed the Xilianchengan), was founded in 1904-was the
most important and lasted until 1948. Its recruits were all male and
ranged in age from six to eleven years old. Candidacy for dan roles,
especially the huadan and qingyi, was determined, first of all, by the
boys' feminine characteristics, voice, and temperament. Biographical
data indicate unmistakably that boys were selected and trained as dan
for their charming facial features, slender figures, and feminine voices
(Tang [1933] 1974, 136, 168, 188). The criterion for an excellent
female impersonator was seyijujiaao-good looks and artistic (and sexually appealing) techniques.
Appreciation of female impersonation was based just as much
on the actor's sexual dynamics as on his artistic quality. This focus is
exemplified in those biographical sketches and poetic observations of
female impersonators collected in Qingdai Yandu Liyuan ShiliaoaP (His-
torical Sources on the Theatre in the Capital of the Qing Dynasty). In

Yanlan Xiaopuaq (Short Sketches of Actors), which provides biographical information on many performers, poems devoted to the male dan
actors were mainly concerned with the actors' sexual appeal, both
physical and spiritual. They were usually described in association with
a variety of "flowers"suggestive of their sexual appeal. It is perhaps due
to the ambiguous relationship between observer and observed that the
former usually wrote anonymously or under a pen name. Because of
the boy dan's inability to act realistically or stylistically like an adult
male dan, the audience's appreciation of the boy's performance
depended more on his sex appeal than on his imperfect technique
(Tiaoxi [1879] [1934] 1965, [2] 1137-1138). In a collection of poems
devoted to performers, one about Mei Lanfangar in his twenties was
fraught with poetic cliches and images suggestive of Mei's sexual appeal
(Yi [ca. 1890s] [1934] 1965, [7-9] 1372-1376). The poet claimed that
not only girls but eighteen-year-old male spectators would have liked
to marry Mei ([7] 1372). This clearly gives testimony to the sexual
dynamics and indeterminacy involved in such female impersonation.
The prevalent custom of xiadanas (dallying with dan) suggests
the improper intimate relationship between the female impersonators
and their admirers from the literati and officialdom (Zhang [1934]
1965, [4-10] 1627-1638). The boy dan actors were originally called
xiangguat in the sense that they resembled (xiang) women (gu) in their
MALE DAN
83
looks. Pinhua Baojianau(A Treasured Mirror for the Appreciation of

"Flowers"),a popular novel of the eighteenth century, describes the
contemporary society's fashionable addiction to the boy dan actors in
Beijing. The protagonist is obviously engaged in a homosexual relationship with two boy dan actors aged fourteen and fifteen years old.
Wang Mengsheng,av a scholar of the late nineteenth century, noted
that many young male dan in Beijing were well known for their homosexual appeal. He mentioned in particular that one of them, who was
pretty though not a very good singer or actor, could mesmerize audiences with his natural beauty alone. Wang emphasized that the appreciation of xiangguwas tied to the experience of homosexual erotic pleasures (Wang [1915] 1972, 143-44). Indeed, more often than not these
xiangguewere engaged in homosexual activities.
The Paradox of Identification

With respect to acting style, these earliest forms of Chinese
female impersonation, such as tayaoniang, must have been more realistic (and formally and artistically less refined), as they were either
court or folk entertainments. With the development of traditional Chinese theatre, especially in the Qing dynasty, female impersonation as
an artistic convention became more and more refined and formalized
as performers from their teenage years received consistent and intensive training-either as apprentices to a master, as members of a theatrical family, or as students in a training school such as the Fuliancheng. There students admitted between the ages of six and eleven
received an intensive training of up to seven years (Tang [1933] 1974,
15). After graduation, many of them continued their acting specialty
well into their old age. For the most part, their highly disciplined acting techniques were reinforced and perfected in their adult years. It is
not surprising that most of the Chinese female impersonators did not
reach their artistic maturity until their adulthood. Mei made his stage
debut at ten but did not excel in his art until he was nineteen. Mei performed in America when he was thirty-six and in Russia at forty-one.
Unlike most of the Elizabethan boy actresses who ceased to play female
roles after their voice broke or beyond the age of twenty (King 1992,
270), their Chinese counterparts could develop a falsetto and continue
to perfect their acting skills even after they had lost much of their sexual charm. Chen Delinaw (1862-1930), one of Mei Lanfang's teachers,
reached the peak of his acting career in his fifties long after his voice
had broken. Wei Changsheng returned to the Beijing stage in 1801
when he was fifty-seven. Mei Lanfang was last seen in a leading female
role at the age of sixty-two. Thus, after generations of accumulated
Tian
84
refinement and perfection, female impersonation was thoroughly conventionalized into a strictly encoded system prescribing the actor's
articulation, singing, gestures, and movements.
In traditional Chinese theatre, given the strict stylization and
codification, identification is, paradoxically, one of the cornerstones
of performance-and it is stressed even more in the art of female
impersonation precisely because of the prescribed necessity of dissolving the disparity between the actor and his female role. Tang Xianzuax
(1550-1616), the most outstanding playwright of the Ming dynasty,
maintained that "the performer who plays the female role should constantly imagine himself to be a woman" (Tang 1982, 1128). Gao LangtingaY(b. 1774), a noted male dan of the Qing dynasty, was said at the
age of thirty to have portrayed female characters so vividly and truthfully that his audience forgot that he was impersonating a female (literally, "forgot that he was a fake woman"). Together with Wei Changsheng, he was calledyi shi dCaz (a female of an age) (Xiao [1804] [1934]
1965, [14] 265).Ji Yunba(1724-1805), a well-known writer of the Qing
dynasty, records in his notes that a male dan was asked to talk about
his experience of performance. He had this to say:
Taking my body as a female, I have to transform my heart into that of
a female, and then my tender feelings and charming postures can
become truthful and lifelike. If a trace of male heart remains, there
must be a bit that does not resemble a female.... If a male impersonates a female on the stage, when he plays a chaste woman, he must
make his own heart chaste, and does not lose her chastity even if she
is laughing and making jokes; when he plays a wanton woman, he
must make his own heart loose, and does not hide her wantonness
even if she is sitting sedately; when he plays a noble woman, he must
make his own heart noble, and keep her dignity even if she is in humble dress; when he plays a virtuous woman, he must make his own
heart gentle, and does not appear agitated even if she is angry; when
he plays a shrew, he must make his own heart stubborn and perverse,
and does not fall silent even if she is in the wrong. And all other feelings, such as happiness, anger, sorrow, delight, gratitude, resentment,
love, and hatred, the actor must experience each of them, putting
himself in the position of the character, and thinking of them not as
fictional but as real, and the spectator also thinks of them as real. [Kui
and Wu 1992, 362; quoted in Tian 1997, 210-211]
Mei Lanfang claimed that identification is "the highest realm" of the
art of female impersonation and traditional Chinese performing art in
general (Mei 1951, 100).
It is worth noting that identification is not only central to the
performance of the Chinese male dan, but also to the art of female
MALE DAN
85
impersonation in no and kabuki, which is characterized by the same

degree of stylization and codification as its Chinese counterpart. Zeami
notes that the principle-"first
truly become the thing you are perto
its actions as well"-applies
to
imitate
find
the
skill
then
forming;
the playing of each role in no, including the performance of a woman's
role by a man. "When performing a woman's role," Zeami continues,
"the actor should slightly bend the hips, hold his hands high, sustain
the whole body in a graceful manner, feel a softness in his whole manner of being, and use his physique in a pliant manner" (Zeami 1984,
77). Moreover, Zeami argues that the actor should not just imitate the
external appearance of a woman; he should identify the spirit of a
woman. He summarizes this concept as "concentration on mind and
relinquishing physical strength," maintaining that if the actor takes
the concept as "a basis for his performance," and if he truly tries to
express "the body and the spirit of a woman," he can achieve the
"sphere of accomplishment" (p. 143). But if the actor "merely tries to
imitate the surface appearance of a woman, he cannot attain the
proper level of attainment" (p. 143). Zeami distinguishes between two
levels of imitation: "externalization" is mere imitation, "a surface copy";
"internalization" is "becoming the essence of a character." Zeami
insists that the actor must attain "the level of internalization" before he
returns and creates "the external aspects of his performance" (p. 143).
one of the greatest onnagata
Yoshizawa Ayame (1673-1729),
(female impersonator) in the history of kabuki, was noted for his devotion to his profession. He was said to have refused to accept a certain
kind of food at dinner because he did not want to lose his feminine
manner even in his daily life (Ayame 1969, 51). According to Ayame:
The onnagatarole has its basis in charm, and even one who has innate
beauty, if he seeks to make a fine show in a fighting scene, will lose
the femininity of his performance. Or again, if he tries deliberately to
make his interpretation elegant, it will not be pleasing. For these reasons, if he does not live his normal life as if he was a woman, it will not
be possible for him to be called a skillful onnagata.The more an actor
is persuaded that it is the time when he appears on the stage that is
the most important in his career as an onnagata, the more masculine
he will be. It is better for him to consider his everyday life as the most
important." [Ayame 1969, 53]
In Ayame's view, "the basis of the art is not to depart from a woman's
feelings" (p. 62) and the onnagata "should continue to have the feelings of an onnagata even when in the dressing room" (p. 61). One of
the greatest kabuki actors, Sakata Tojiuro (1647-1709), used to take care
of the onnagata opposite him like a real woman. During rehearsals he
Tian
86
had dishes served according to the taste of each onnagata "in a way
which would have made them easily eaten by a real woman," and he
treated them "asif they were women" (Jurobe 1969, 125).
These observations, along with those of Chinese artists, attest to
the paradox of the acting of female impersonation in traditional Asian
theatres. Given the apparent stylization, more significance was attached
to the actor's identification with the role he impersonated. Moreover,
paramount importance was given to the representation of the essence
and spirit of the role rather than its outward appearance. Nevertheless, questions should be raised about the assumption of the male
dan's or the onnagata's representation of a woman's essence or spirit.
What exactly is this essence or spirit? What kind of woman is represented in the first place?
Perceptions of Impersonation
During a visit to Rome in 1787, Goethe saw an all-male performance of Goldoni's La Locandiera.Writing about the female impersonation, Goethe reflects on his experience of "a double charm":
We see a youth who has studied the idiosyncrasiesof the female sex
in their characterand behavior;he has learnt to know them, and
reproduces them as artist;he plays not himself, but a third, and, in
truth, a foreign nature. We come to understand the female sex so
much the better because someone has observed and meditated on
their ways,and not the process itself, but the result of the process,is
presented to us. [Goethe [1788] 1883, 569]
Goethe's view provides a raison d'etre for one of the most persistent perspectives on female impersonation in premodern times: a
patriarchal critical tradition of "aestheticizing male transvestitism on
the stage" in order to legitimate it, as Sue-Ellen Case has noted (Case
1988, 24). Underlying this aesthetic rationale is the assumption that
male artists are superior in understanding the true essence of women
and that female impersonation is a genuine art because male artists
are considered capable of presenting women in a more idealized and
artistic manner while actresses tend to exploit their natural properties
and appear to be too realistic and without aesthetic value. Certainly
this assumption has influenced modern attitudes toward the representation of women in Shakespeare's plays and their modern revivals.
Thus Walter Raleigh believes that Shakespeare has suffered from "the
genius of the latter-day actresses, who bring into the plays a realism
and a robust emotion which sometimes obscure the sheer poetic value
of the author's conception" (Raleigh 1909, 120). In the same vein,
MALE DAN
87
W. Robertson Davies urges actresses to abandon "the policy of consciously exploiting their own charm" in order to gain "the universal
quality which must have been the great attraction of the best of the
boy actors" (Davies 1964, 200). Echoing Raleigh's assumption that the
disappearance of the boy actor sounded the death knell of poetic
drama in England, Guy Boas further complains that actresses after the
Restoration never again exhibited women "on the great scale on which
Shakespeare created and his boys interpreted them" (Boas 1955, 16).
This impulse to aestheticize the art of female impersonation
was embraced by Asian classical theatre aesthetics as well. Zeami
argues: "If a woman connives to make herself beautiful and expends
efforts to manifest grace, her actions will be quite ineffective.... A
woman never imitates herself. But if the real essence of a woman is
given reality through an actor's performance, then the sphere of
accomplishment represented by that woman has been portrayed"
(Zeami 1984, 143). Yoshizawa Ayame observes: "If an actress were to
appear on the stage she could not express ideal feminine beauty, for
she would rely only on the exploitation of her physical characteristics,
and therefore not express the synthetic ideal. The ideal woman can be
expressed only by an actor" (Ernst 1956, 195).
With the rise and dominance of an antirealist avant-garde movement that draws on ancient theatres such as the Elizabethan, Chinese,
and Japanese, the aestheticization of female impersonation in traditional theatres gained new currency. Regarding Mei Lanfang's "ability
to depict a variety of female types" as "a great achievement" of his art,
Sergei Eisenstein writes: "The symbol of Tan [dan], as Mei Lanfang
emphasizes, while it describes the concept of woman on the Chinese
stage, stands primarily for a stylized, aesthetically abstract image of
woman, altogether unrealistic. The realistic depiction of woman is not
part of the Chinese actor's art. Instead, the audience is treated to an
idealized, generalized female image" (Eisenstein 1935, 764). Having
observed Mei's performance, Vsevolod Meyerhold states: "Here we
have so many stage actresses, but I did not see that any of our actresses
on stage could convey that very femininity exactly as did Mei Lanfang"
(Meyerhold [1936] 1978, 96; [1936] 1992, 380).
Bertolt Brecht saw two figures in Mei's presentation of female
roles: one as the demonstrator, the other as the demonstrated. He
noted that Mei demonstrated certain womanly movements. For Brecht,
however, the Chinese actor's chief consideration was to present the
walking and weeping of a certain (defined or fixed) woman rather
than those of a real woman; the main point for the Chinese actor was
his view about "the essential"-"something critical, philosophical about
the woman." Brecht insisted that one could never talk about art and
88
Tian
artistic effect if one considers the actor's performance as a real occurrence and the demonstrated as a real woman (Brecht 1967, 427).
Brecht did not make an explicit case against the presence of woman
performers on a traditional Chinese stage dominated by female impersonation. But according to Brecht's reasoning, the performance of
female roles by a female performer is certainly less desirable since such
a performance would appear too realistic, shorn of artistic quality, and
the audience could easily identify the performer with the role, which
Brecht considered characteristic of "the primitivity of Western performing art" (p. 427).
According to Eugenio Barba, the art of female impersonation
in Asian theatres "demonstrates how the interpretation of a role
depends not on the performer's sex, but rather on the way he models
energy" (Barba and Savarese 1991, 80). "The body is re-built for the
scenic fiction," he states. "This 'art body'-and therefore 'unnatural
body'-is neither male nor female. At the preexpressive level, sex is of
little import" (p. 81). In his dedication to Mei Lanfang for the 1986
ISTA Congress on "The Female Role as Represented on the Stage in
Various Cultures," Barba writes: "In the subterranean history of theatre, the presence of Mei Lanfang radiates in all directions. The inspiring energy of this female impersonator has had an intercultural
impact which still today subliminally influences our craft and our
visions" (Barba 1986, 1). In Barba's view, Mei's "subliminal"influence
on contemporary theatrical thought occurred not as an influence of
the generalization "Chinese Theatre" or the genre of "Peking Opera"
with a celibate tradition, not as the confrontation between two cultures, East and West, but as a meeting of craftspersons (Barba 1988,
11)-as a pure energy and a way of modeling energy that has little to
do with sex and culture. But in the art of female impersonation, the
difference of sex is fundamental not only to the way women are perceived but also to the way they are presented. Even at the "preexpressive level" of female impersonation, the way of modeling energy is preconditioned by sex because the received means and techniques of
arousing and modeling energy are already sexually defined and encultured. Energy cannot be aroused and modeled all by itself. This is
especially true with the art of Chinese andJapanese female impersonation: in this case the received, male-defined and encultured means,
techniques, or crafts have persistently been prescribed not only for
generations of male dan actors but also for those relative newcomersfemale performers. Even under the undifferentiated and reductive
umbrella of "Oriental,"the noted Indian dancer Sanjukta Panigrahi's
way of modeling energy is obviously different from Mei's, for Mei's is
filtered by the actor's male (not to say cultural and moral) sensibility.
MALE DAN
89
Barba's view of the art of female impersonation clearly partakes

of the modern avant-garde's essentialization and aestheticization of
female impersonation. This is even more striking as the ISTA conference program quotesJan Kott (inaccurately): "In fact, femininity only
exists in the eyes of men, just as blackness only exists for whites. The
onnagata portrays femininity to a much greater degree than if the
actor was a woman" (quoted in Barba 1986, 14). Kott also wrote about
the onnagata: "Femininity can only be acted by a man.... More than
a woman, an onnagata performs femininity itself" (Kott 1984, 124). But
Kott's next remark strikes one as an insightful observation that ironically undercuts the validity of his argument: "It is a femininity doubly
ambiguous, seen through the eyes of a man and performed by a pederast" (p. 125). Here, clearly, the "femininity"represented by the Japanese onnagata (or, for that matter, the Chinese male dan), is only a
certain kind of "femininity"defined in a male perspective, which could
be anything but "femininity itself."
Drawing on his "reading" (rather than "visiting")experience of
the art of onnagata in Japan, Roland Barthes argues: "The Oriental
transvestite does not copy Woman but signifies her: not bogged down
in the model, but detached from its signified; Femininity is presented
to read, not to see: translation, not transgression" (Barthes 1982, 53).
For Barthes, "Woman"as signified but not represented by the onnagata
(or the Chinese male dan) "is an idea, not a nature.... The Western
transvestite wants to be a (particular) woman, the Oriental actor seeks
nothing more than to combine the signs of Woman" (p. 91). These
signs, Barthes continues, are "the gestures of the idea" and "purifythe
body of all expressivity" (p. 91). He further generalizes that "the Asiatic theatre" is characterized by this "conjunction of sign and impassivity"(p. 91). Barthes' aesthetic or, rather, semiotic conception of "the
Oriental transvestite" is much like his notion of the desexed (by
Barthes) bunrakupuppet that according to Barthes, achieves "impassivity"and thereby "converts the body-as-fetish [of the Western actor]
into the lovable body" (p. 60). Such a conception is clearly devoid of
gender, cultural, social, and historical meanings. The onnagata or the
male dan is semioticized as a pure signifier which-like writing that,
paradoxically, writes nothing-expresses
nothing more than "femiBut
seen
from
a
sociohistorical
and
ninity."
gender perspective, the
idea (or, rather, the ideal) of woman as presented by the onnagata or
the male dan is defined by man and a patriarchal society and history
in the first place and thereby is culturally and socially infected and predetermined. Furthermore, seen from Barthes' view, the presence of an
actress-whose face does not need to be white-painted like "the theatrical face" of the onnagata, which, according to Barthes, "dismisses
90
Tian
any signified, i.e., any expressivity" (p. 89)-is certainly less appropriate and desirable in such celibate theatres as traditional Chinese and
Japanese because her performance supposedly tends to be realistic and
representational (rather than impassive or inexpressive) and therefore
is not ideal for the scheme of semiotics.
This antirealistic and ahistorical aestheticization of female
impersonation essentializes and legitimizes female impersonation as a
definitive component of such celibate theatrical traditions as the Elizabethan, Japanese, and Chinese theatres. Moreover, this aestheticization obscures the fact that the essence of woman is defined in a male
perspective-which could end up as a man's (socially and culturally
conditioned) reconstruction, or precisely, imagination or fantasy of
womanness-and its antirealistic argument tends to deny actresses the
possibility of acting stylistically or artistically because, supposedly, they
are inclined to exploit their natural endowments.
Challenge, Crisis, and Decline

But this is by no means the whole story. While the aestheticization of female impersonation gained currency with the rise and dominance of the antirealist avant-garde movement, there has been growing challenge against this aestheticization and female impersonation
itself. In the West, with the flourishing of feminist criticism and its
influence, more and more research and criticism have been devoted
to exploring the historical, cultural, and political implications of
female impersonation in traditional theatres, particularly the theatre
of the English Renaissance. At the turn of the twentieth centuryunder the impact of Western political and cultural ideas and, in particular, the impact of Western theatrical realism-artists and critics in
China cried for the reform of their traditional theatre. Hong Shen,bb
who studied theatre art in America, attending George Pierce Baker's
"English 47" at Harvard University, returned in 1922 to China as one
of the pioneers of modern Chinese theatre only to find the convention
of female impersonation in traditional Chinese theatre "extremely disgusting." Unable to find an actress who dared to tread the boards, he
wrote an all-male cast play, Zhao Yanwangbc (Yama Zhao), which drew
on Eugene O'Neill's EmperorJones. But when the play was first produced, the audiences, obsessed with the old convention, thought that
he was not in his right mind (Hong [1935] 1988, 533). Song Chun-
fang,bd who studied in France, maintained that in xinxibe (new theatre
in a realistic style) "the bad habit" of prohibiting women from performing together with men must be broken. According to him, nannii
heyanbf (men and women performing together) was critical to the transformation of Chinese huajubg (spoken drama) to realism; otherwise,
MALE DAN
91
Chinese theatre would be permanently as naive as the theatre of

Shakespeare, which features female impersonation (Song [1920] 1930,
283-284). Even conservative critic Zhao Taimoubh argued that "it is
beyond question that men and women should perform together and
that female impersonation must be overthrown" (Zhao 1927, 19).
As early as the late Qing dynasty and the early republic, the
dominance of female impersonation was challenged by the return of
actresses to the stage in Beijing. In 1916, Tian Jiyunbi (1864-1925),
himself a renowned female impersonator, established in Beijing the
first school-Chongyashebi-where
all-female apprentices were
trained. Yu Zhentingbk (1879-1939) hired actresses from Tianjin and
initiated the fashion of nannii heyanfor commercial purposes. His success affected the fortune of female impersonators such as Wang Yaoqing,bl one of the teachers of Mei Lanfang. Although Wang appealed
to the police authority and enforced the segregation of male and
female performers, women's companies became increasingly successful while the prosperity of men's companies declined. Under such circumstances, Liu Xikuibmcame to Beijing from Tianjin and within one
month stormed the stage with her performances-much to the dismay
of Tan Xingpei,bnthe acclaimed laosheng("old man") performer, whose
popularity was adversely affected (Luo [1934] 1965, [18] 1471). Soon
the success of actresses triggered debates on the legitimacy of nannii
heyan. In 1913 nannii heyanwas banned again in Beijing. But despite
conservative moralists' opposition to nannii heyan,actresses played an
increasingly important role on the traditional and new stages in the
1920s. Some of the best, such as Liu Xikui, Xin Yanqiu,boand Xue Yanqin,bPwere highly regarded for being more natural than male dan and
for their artistic merits. In 1927 Wang Yiaoqing became the first actor
to accept female apprentices. In 1930 a special training school (Zhonghua-Xiqu-Zhuanke-Xuexiaobq)began to recruit both male and female
students. In the same year the ban on nannii heyanwas repealed. From
then on, more and more actors, even some of the most renowned,
began to perform together with actresses-for example, Xin Yanqiu
performed with Yang Xiaolou,brknown as wushengzongshibs(great master of wusheng).
The success and popularity of actresses demonstrated their legitimacy on the jingjubt stage. But from its formation to the era of Mei
Lanfang, jingju remains the reserve of male performers and the performance of dan was dominated by a succession of male performers.
The achievement of Mei Lanfang and other noted performers was not
only considered the pinnacle of the art of dan but the apex of the performing art of jingju in general. Artistically, the performance of
actresses was perceived as inferior to that of female impersonators.
Tian
92
The subordination of actresses in a celibate theatrical tradition like

jingju obviously could not be accounted for from a purely aesthetic
perspective; it was first and foremost the result of a nexus of historical,
cultural, and political determinants. In the Yuan dynasty, the golden
age of Chinese drama, actresses enjoyed their predominance on the
stage primarily because the absolute dominance of Confucian doctrine, including its moral restraints on women, had been shaken by an
alien culture and actresses were no longer banned from the stage on
moral grounds (although they were relegated to the lowest rung of the
social ladder and many were tied to prostitution). In the Ming and
Qing dynasties, when Confucian moral and cultural authority regained
its control over all aspects of social life, actresses were repeatedly prohibited from appearing on the stage, playing their own roles, and
developing their own artistic styles. At the turn of the century and during the republic era, actresses were allowed to perform-but once they
excelled in their art and won popular acclaim, they became prey to
warlords, local tyrants, despotic gentry, and bullies. Many were even
victims of the prejudice of their male competitors. As a result, most
were forced to quit their profession too early, either falling into the
trap of concubinage or left to lead a vagrant life incognito. Finally, subject to a received tradition, actresses as apprentices had to learn the art
of female impersonation from their male masters, who defined and
represented women predominantly from a male perspective, and they
were never supposed to be the equals of their male masters. This established tradition perpetuated the dominance of actors over actresses
and hindered actresses from developing their own style of presenting
female roles from a truly female perspective.
In the post-Mei era, especially after the turmoil of the Cultural
Revolution, the male dan has been involved in a deep crisis. With the
general cleansing of traditional Chinese culture, and with the monopoly of so-called yangbanxibu (revolutionary model plays), the male dan
was driven from the stage and has virtually disappeared. At the turn of
the 1970s, although the tradition reemerged on the stage with actors
such as Zhang Junqiubv and Mei Baojiubw (Mei Lanfang's son), its
decline seems irreversible. Today fewer and fewer actors are picking
up the profession and fewer masters and training schools are accepting male dan students. It is beyond question that the politics and ideology of the new Chinese regime have hastened the male dan's extinction. Yet the male dan faced the same plight in Taiwan, as well, where
great efforts were made to preserve traditional theatre as the quintessence of Chinese national culture. A small number of male dan were
left no choice but to abandon their profession. Today schools and
companies no longer train male dan apprentices (Liu 1986, 197).
93
MALE DAN
This crisis has led to cries from specialists who wish to preserve
the time-honored tradition. The imperative becomes even more compelling since Mei, who has been restored to his prestige as the foremost representative of traditional Chinese theatre, was the most
renowned artist of female impersonation of all time. Mei's artistic
achievements enabled traditionalists to argue their case from a purely
aesthetic perspective, ignoring its political and ideological repercussions from both the official and feminist sides. In doing so, however,
they unwillingly subscribed to the age-old assumptions that men understand women better than women themselves and their representation
of women is more artistic.
These cries, however, have not been effective. The tradition of
female impersonation in jingju appears doomed to disappear with the
death and retirement of a number of Mei's last male dan proteges. But
this eventuality may open up new vistas for the survivaland renewal of
traditional Chinese theatre. In the wake of the first actresses' appearance on the Restoration stage, the Elizabethan and Jacobean celibate
stage became a dead tradition in spite of subsequent attempts to revive
it. Instead, a host of brilliant actresses established their own tradition.
In China, since the beginning of the twentieth century, actresses have
gradually reasserted their presence on the traditional stage. After the
passing of generations, they will create their own style-not necessarily toward a naturalism based on their biological endowments but certainly toward a rejection of a rigid and cliche-laden conventionalism
(artistic as well as social and cultural). In due course, traditional Chinese theatre will have its own Siddonses and Duses.
GLOSSARY
a. d
b. ,)
p. 4,-t
q. ~,~k,
c.
d.
4-k
S;
e.
Tt
f.
g
r.
4te4
s. 1.
t.
'
*tj
u.
v.
U.
h.
ab.
w.
i.
MS
j.
x.~X.
y.
iXt-
k.
1.
m.
~--i4
&]J
n.
o.
aIi
X IEl
z.
aa.
ab.
't
^4t
zJt'
~ac. 4
ad._LV
Tian
94
ae.
af.
ag.
ah. ff)ff
ai.
aj.
ak.
al.
am. 4t_fcit
an.
ao.
ap.
aq.
M-_-
ar.
as. 3IT
t
^
at.
j .
au. 224e4t
av.
aw.
ax. 'X
ay.
az. i@
bb.
bc.
bd.
be.
bf.
K A~
bg.
bh.
bi.
bj. fIr
bk.
bl.
bm.
bn. 411
#r-A
bo.
bp.
bq.
br.
bs.
bt.
bu.
bv.
bw.
ba.
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Male Dan - The Paradox

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Male Dan - The Paradox

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Male Dan: the Paradox of Sex, Acting, and Perception of Female Impersonation in Traditional

Male Dan: the Paradox of Sex,

The art of male dan-specialists in female roles-is one of the mostimportantissues

Female impersonation has a time-honored tradition that

ing, and perception, from a combined gender-sociocultural-historical

The miscellaneous plays (zajum) of the Song (960-1276) and

Zhang Xie Zhuangyuanu(Scholar Zhang Xie), a metatheatrical remark

You are a fake woman.

Sex and Subversion

torical Sources on the Theatre in the Capital of the Qing Dynasty). In

looks. Pinhua Baojianau(A Treasured Mirror for the Appreciation of

The Paradox of Identification

impersonation in no and kabuki, which is characterized by the same

Barba's view of the art of female impersonation clearly partakes

Challenge, Crisis, and Decline

fang,bd who studied in France, maintained that in xinxibe (new theatre

Chinese theatre would be permanently as naive as the theatre of

The subordination of actresses in a celibate theatrical tradition like

Boas, Guy. 1955.

Liu Si. 1986.

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