Soviet Dramatic Theory and Dramas on Stage in 1930s Shanghai*#

Mei Li Inouye

Abstract：This paper examines left-wing dramatists’engagement with Soviet dramas and theories in their experiments to mobilize the Chinese people and modernize the Chinese nation during the 1930s in Shanghai.It asks how the incorporation of Soviet dramatic theories and the performance of Soviet works advanced left-wing dramatist agendas and laid the ground for later modern spoken drama and film reforms.It demonstrates that prior to the first translation of Stanislavski into Chinese in 1943，Shang hai ye yu ju ren xie hui上海业余剧人协会（the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association）under the direction of Zhang Min章泯（1907-1975）engaged with Soviet dramatic theories in their rehearsals and productions in the mid-to-late 1930s in Shanghai. Actors in this troupe translated Richard Boleslawski（Boleslavsky）（1889-1937）—a Polish director，teacher and actor and a student of Konstantin Stanislavski（1863-1938）— into Chinese and wrote articles comparing themselves to characters such as Katerina from Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovksy’s（1823-1886）play The Storm and Dasha from Feodor Vasilyevich Gladkov’s（1883-1958）play Cement.This paper contributes to the history of modern drama in China by exploring the Soviet connection to Chinese modern drama as early as the 1930s.

Keywords：Modern spoken drama；Sino-Soviet theory；Stanislavski；Zheng Junli；Zhang Min

References to Stanislavski in China are commonplace in the historiography of Chinese socialist theater and cinema.Scholars have largely focused on the institutionalization of Stanislavski’s actor training methods in theater and cinema reforms in the 1950s before the banning of Stanislavski during the 1960s as well as misunderstandings of Stanislavski in contemporary theater.Theater scholar William Huizhu Sun notes that prior to 1949，the Stanislavsky system was spontaneously taught or studied in China，but nothing more.However，after 1950，and in Guomindang-controlled cities，the Stanislavsky system reached peak popularity alongside Sino-Soviet relations and a new political agenda.See William Huizhu Sun，“Mei Lanfang，Stanislavsky and Brecht on China’s Stage and Their Aesthetic Significance，”in，eds.C.Tung and C.Mackerras（Albany：State University of New York Press，1987），137-50.These conversations similarly credit director and actor Zheng Junli 郑君里（1911-1969）with the first translation of Stanislavski’spublished in 1943，a work acknowledged to be the major catalyst in studies of Stanislavski.Yet，Zheng Junli was not the only translator of.First introduced to Stanislavski by director and theater scholar Zhang Min at the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association during the 1930s，Zheng Junli worked with Zhang Min over the course of a decade，a relationship that culminated in their co-translation of.Stanislavski’s reception in China，particularly early modern Chinese dramatist experiments with Stanislavski in the 1930s，has yet to be explored in English language scholarship.Questions to be explored include how Stanislavski was first received in China by theater practitioners，what elements of Stanislavski’s theories received the most attention in practice，and how a study of these early experiments might complicate understandings of Stanislavski in China.

Contemporary Stanislavski

Recent scholarship by historian and theater practitioner Yulia Mylnikova has identified a number of peculiarities about understandings of Stanislavski over time in China.Mylnikova observes

Film scholar Jessica Ka Yee Chan，who explores Soviet contributions such as Soviet montage and Stanislavski’s realist acting system to Chinese socialist films corroborates this timeline.While Chan notes that Soviet Russia was seen by many Chinese left-wing film-makers as providing the answer to questions that confronted Chinese cinema beginning in the 1930s，she dates the emergence of the Chinese socialist ethics of acting to the publication of Zheng Junli’s translation of Constantin Stanislavski’s《演员自我修养》（An Actor Prepares）（1936）in 1943.She writes that it was“the early 1950s when Stanislavski’s system was adopted as an ethical basis for actors’training and political cultivation.”See Jessica Ka Yee Chan，-（London：I.B.Tauris，2019），5，17.Russian theater scholar Yu S.Mylnikova also identifies the peak of Stanislavski in China during the 1950s and notes Zheng Xuelai’s郑雪来（1925-2020）translation of five of eight volumes of Stanislavski’s complete works during the 1960s.See Mylnikova Yu.S.，“Russian Classical Literature on Chinese Stage：Problems of Adaptation and Perception，”10，no.1（2018）：6.that introduced to China as the“creator of realistic theatre”in the 1930s and 1950s，Stanislavski’s name has been employed as a blanket term to describe Soviet theater and socialist realist acting in China in general.Insufficiently understood by Chinese dramatists，it has been reduced to physical action，a series of stand-in and hyperbolic movements used to represent stereotypical emotions and characters.“They all think that if they really‘feel’something，that is if they cry，gasp for breath，shout，and so on，it means that they are acting well.”They believe that“to cry with real tears is Stanislavski.”Yu S.Mylnikova，“Russian Classical Literature on Chinese Stage：Problems of Adaptation and Perception，” 10，no.1（2018）：6-7.For Mylnikova，contemporary Chinese actors lack an understanding of what Stanislavski meant by the term experience，what she describes as the encompassing of all emotions or the experience of re-living or living again.Conceiving of experience as one single emotion（suffering），said actors fail to build the chain of physical actions and sensations that allow them to relive a certain experience，namely because they lack insight into the inner life of eachand because they are too individualist，acting“his or her own part”without ever immersing themselves in the reality of their partners.Without“completely delving into the inner world of the characters”they portray—including their internal life and external circumstances，and lacking“a sense of mutuality on stage，”these actors are unable to facilitate the“miracle of transformation”that theater could inspire.

Rather than dispute Mylnikova’s conclusions on contemporary applications of Stanislavski in China，this paper seeks to engage Mylnikova’s observation that“these days it is rather difficult to establish who the first teachers of the system were，how they taught it，who interpreted it.”This paper explores the experiments of modern spoken dramatists who began experimenting with the dramatic theories of Stanislavski as early as the 1930s in China.It posits that the systematic teaching of the Stanislavski system in the 1950s began decades before the widespread circulation of text-based translations of Stanislavski.Stanislavski’s system was a familiar system within acting and film circles prior to its translation and its practice and circulation within the elite circles of modern dramatist practitioners laid the ground for its widespread acceptance in the 1950s in the domains of both theater and cinema.This paper first engages with the history of Stanislavski in China；it then examines theater scholar，stage and screen director，and screenwriter Zhang Min’s experiments with Soviet theorists and writers.It concludes with considerations of the effects of those experiments on actors and actresses who acted in those productions.

Before Zheng Junli

Chinese and English language scholarly treatment of Stanislavski both acknowledge that interest in Stanislavski in China began in the 1930s，but that it was not until the 1950s that interest in Stanislavski’s system peaked.According to Mylnikova，Huang Zuolin 黄佐临（1906-1994）encountered the system of Stanislavski and the theater of Brecht in England，and he and his spouse，actress Dan Ni丹妮（金韵之，1912-1995），were the first to implement Stanislavski’s system in actor training in 1939.She writes that Zheng Junli translated the first part of Stanislavski’sin 1937 with the complete translation emerging in Chinese a few years later.Ibid.，2.Mylnikova misidentifies Zheng Junli’s 1937 English-to-Chinese translation of Boleslavski’s《演技六讲》（Acting：Six Talks on Performance）（1933）for the first part of Stanislavski’s .Boleslavski，however，was a student of Stanislavski.This text along with others’translations of Russian directors such as Vladmir Nemirovich-Danchenko’sand Boris Zakhava’s，enabled Chinese theater practitioners to study concepts from Russian theatrical traditions.The teaching of Stanislavski took root in the 1950s when Vice-Minister of Culture，Zhou Yang 周扬（1908-1989），gave a speech at the Second Assembly of Representatives of Active Writers and Artists in 1953.Zhou emphasized the importance of socialist realism and urged writers and artists to learn from the U.S.S.R.，and in 1954，disciples of Stanislavski were invited from the U.S.S.R.to China to teach acting.The construction of national，provincial，and municipal theaters and performances of a wide range of foreign plays throughout the country institutionalized Stanislavski’s method in China.Drama theorists，practitioners，and directors referred to Stanislavski as the creator of realistic theater and Stanislavski’s system became the basis of socialist actors’training.In the seventeen years of Chinese film history after 1949，Stanislavski’s method acting was also a critical influence in the film world.Building off of the Stanislavski methods of research and physical and psychological training to understand characters and their social worlds，actor training in the 1950s required actors to“act well，act good and be good”in the service of workers，peasants and soldiers.In order to accomplish these aims，actors were to get their inspiration and raw materials from the masses，to learn from life（演员要向生活讨教），and to cultivate themselves politically and ethically.”Jessica Ka Yee Chan，-（London：I.B.Tauris，2019），126，128，134.However，commitment to studies of Stanislavski in China，which peaked during the 1950s，began to wane in the 1960s.

In 1960，Soviet instructors returned back to the U.S.S.R as a result of the growing ideological conflict between China and the U.S.S.R.Even though some scholars continued to work on Stanislavski as evidenced by Zheng Xuelai’s translation of five of eight volumes of the complete works of Stanislavski into Chinese in the 1960s，Stanislavski was increasingly politicized.Scholar Jun Uchiyama notes that high ranking officials，such as President Liu Shaoqi 刘少奇（1898-1969）and Vice-Minister of Culture Zhou Yang who had previously championed the Stanislavski system，were criticized for leading people to the bourgeois ideology of revisionist Marxism and for preventing the modernization of traditional Peking opera.Uchiyama Jun and Tomoko Kusuhara，“Theatre after 1949，” 15，no.2（1971）：254-56.Jun and Kusuhara note that in 1956，Zhou Yang promoted a policy called“Walking on Two Feet，”which proposed that traditional classic drama be maintained and unchanged and that special state funds would be given to develop and expand spoken drama following the model of Soviet socialist realism.Jun writes that the Stanislavski system was rejected then because it“was informed by an ideology of bourgeois democracy incompatible with proletarian drama”that was“part of the general rebellion of young people against the authorities controlling the Establishment theater.”However，it is difficult to address the absence and legacies of Stanislavski during the 1960s-1970s without addressing some historical inaccuracies that are rooted in the dramatic encounters that motivated Zheng Junli and others to commit themselves to the translation and performance of Stanislavski.It should be noted that Mylnikova’s succinct history of realist theater and Stanislavski in China from the 1930s through the 1950s includes important details that are not encountered in other accounts of Stanislavski in China.However，she misidentifies Zheng Junli’s 1937 English-to-Chinese translation of Boleslavski’s（）（1933）for the first part of Stanislavski’s .

The dramatic encounters that motivated Zheng Junli to commit himself to the translation of first Boleslavski and then Stanislavski over protracted periods have yet to be examined.English language scholarship on Stanislavski in China omits the fact that Zheng Junli co-translatedwith the director and theater scholar Zhang Min who，according to Chinese biographer Wang Suping，was the first to apply Stanislavski to a theater troupe’s acting.Between the years 1934-1937 when Zheng Junli began translating works related to Stanislavski，he also began performing in modern spoken dramas performed by the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association under the directorship of Zhang Min.A Chinese language retrospective on Zheng Junli by his friend Zhang Ying recounts that in the early 1930s，Zheng Junli，like many of the performers around him，had been obsessed with“aesthetics of form and shape”—thereby neglecting the inner nature of the role.But from 1934 onward，he realized the importance of training the performer and began paying attention to the more“scientific performance theories”of Stanislavski.张颖：《我国话剧艺术的开拓者——郑君里》，《中国戏剧》1989年第5期，第39页。［ZHANGYing，“Wo guo huaju yishu de kaituozhe—Zheng Junli”（Our Country’s Spoken Drama Trailblazer—Zheng Junli，”（）5（1989）：39.］The question of how Zheng Junli became interested in the performance theories of Stanislavski can be addressed by redirecting attention to the dramatist and director Zhang Min，an overlooked but primary player in the history of Stanislavski.An exploration of the theoretical experiments of Zhang Min can help scholars re-think the reception of Stanislavski by multiple generations of dramatists and filmmakers in China.

Zhang Min and the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association

Zhang Min（1906-1975）was a distinguished playwright and translator who later became the first president of the Beijing Film Academy when it was established in 1956.Scholars Zheng Bihui and Liu Shesu’s history of Zhang Min郑必辉、刘杜谷：《革命戏剧艺术家——章泯》，《文史杂志》1987年第3期，第2-4页。［ZHENG Bihui and LIU Dugu，“Geming xiju yishuyishujia—Zhang Min”（Revolutionary Theater Practitioner—Zhang Min），（）3（1987）：2-4.］establish that Zhang Min，born in Sichuan province，eventually studied at the number one high school in the province（in Chengdu）during the May Fourth Era.There he engaged with new thoughts and trends and read works of social science and world literature.He developed a great love of theater while encountering Western and Japanese theater adapted to the Chinese stage performed by actors who had performed with春柳剧社（the Spring Willow Society）in Japan.For more on the Spring Willow Society，see Qi Shouhua’s（New York：Routledge，2019）.Their productions and literature such as Shakespeare’s

exposed Zhang to social problems，realism，and anti-imperial and anti-feudal theatrical works.In 1923，he graduated and was accepted into Peking University’s Theater Department where he studied theater theory，theater creation，and performance art from 1924 to 1929.Zhang read widely about world theater development，paying particular interest to recent theater productions of the time as well as theater with dialogue.He also read progressive theory and was heavily influenced by Li Dazhao’s 李大钊（1889-1927）thought.He became acquainted with the writer Xiao San萧三（1896-1983）.As the acting regional secretary of the northern district of the Community Party，Xiao San introduced Zhang to the Chinese Communist Party in 1926 and Zhang became one of the earliest modern dramatists to join the Party.With Xiao San’s guidance，Zhang researched the new theater produced after the Soviet’s October Revolution and wrote a graduation thesis on Meyerhold’s theater theories and perspectives.In his thesis，he“passionately lauded the October revolution for bringing a new society to Russia”and encouraged others to study the theater produced after the October revolution.According to Zheng Bihui，he was one of the first among his generation’s new theater activists to research Soviet theater theory.In the summer of 1929，Zhang Min graduated from Peking University and lost contact with the Party.After Xia Yan夏衍（1900-1995）established a new theater troupe in Shanghai in October 1929 and after the Left-Wing League of Writers and the Left-Wing League of Dramatists were established in Shanghai in March and August 1930，respectively，Zhang Min went to Shanghai to join the Left-wing League of Dramatists.In 1932，the Party inspected his history and he joined the Party again with an introduction from Zhao Mingyi 赵明义.According to Zheng Bihui，from that point on，Zhang Min jumped back into revolutionary theater and research on theater theory.He went on to become a famous art theorist and translator，theater and film director，and educator in China.He would make enormous contributions to the development of China’s left-wing theater and film movements.

An active participant in the progressive leftist drama and film movement of the 1930s，Zhang Min was a key member of（the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association），a theater company supported by the League of Left-wing Educators.There is little English and Chinese language scholarship on this association.But Wang Suping，a biographer of one of the actors of this troupe，writes that this association was created by notable dramatists in the Shanghai theater community who were dedicated to increasing the impact of theater in society.The board of directors included Zhang Min，Wan Laitian 万籁天（1899-1977），Zheng Junli，Chen Liting 陈鲤庭（1910-2013），Shi Dongshan 史东山（1902-1955），Ying Yunwei应云卫（1904-1967），and Zhang Geng 张庚（1911-2003）.Their mission was to improve the quality of modern spoken drama as an artistic and social practice.My research of this society—to be detailed in the latter part of this article—reveals that they performed world-renowned scripts in Chinese translation and used progressive performance theories to transition amateur actors into professional actors.The actors in this company were well-known and would become leading figures in drama and cinema worlds over the next fewdecades.

Zhang Min’s death in 1975 spurred commemorative essays by leading cultural figures that recognized his role in introducing young actors to progressive theorists—Soviet theorists，in particular.Xia Yan and Yang Hansheng 阳翰笙（1902-1993）praised Zhang Min for his tireless research on theater theory.章泯：《章泯戏剧选》，北京：中国戏剧出版社，1987年，第1-6页。［ZHANG Min，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），Beijing：China Theater Publishing House，1987，1-6.］This anthology contains Xia Yan and Yang Hansheng’s speeches.Xia Yan’s speech is cited in the chronology prepared by Jiang Yunhui 江韵辉（1925-）（622）.They both emphasized his progressive orientation，citing his early participation and lifelong commitment to the Chinese Communist Party；his early contributions to the League of Left-wing Dramatists；and his establishment of drama troupes and drama schools throughout China before and after the Japanese invasion of Shanghai.夏衍：《纪念章泯同志—在章泯同志诞生八十周年纪念会上的发言》，《电影艺术》1985年第11期，第57-58页。［XIAYan，“Jinian Zhang Min tongzhi—zai Zhang Min tongzhi dansheng bashi zhounian jinianhui shang de fayan”（Commemorating Comrade Zhang Min—Speech at the Commemorative Meeting of the 80th Anniversary of Comrade Zhang Min’s Birth），（）11（1985）：57-58.］Xia Yan writes that Zhang Min was one of the earliest members of the Communist Youth League.Chen Yi 陈毅（1901-1972），who was leading youth league activities at 中国大学（China University）in Beijing，confirmed that Zhang Min was an active member of the group.（1）Zhang Min was also a central figure in 左翼剧联（the League of Left-wing Dramatists）.Not long after its establishment，there was a central and Jiangsu province area crackdown.In 1931 at the height of white terror by the KMT，Zhao Mingyi 赵铭彝（1907-1999）was imprisoned and Zhang Min，Yu Ling 于伶（1907-1997）and Zhang Geng supported the work of the League of Left-Wing Dramatists together up until the war of resistance.（2）Xia Yan remarks that even though China had established theater schools，most of the theater theory taught was from Western capitalist countries.Zhang，however，was one of the first to introduce the Soviet Stanislavski method to China in the 1920s.Zhang was both an advocate of progressive theories from foreign countries and at the same time a serious student of China’s own theater traditions；he applied both foreign and Chinese theories to Chinese spoken drama.His entire life was dedicated to theoretical work and to bridging the gap between theory and practice.Yang Hansheng notes that Zhang established his reputation in the theater world with his use of realism and direction of world-famous dramas such as，，，and.Print media in the 1930s celebrated Zhang’s painstaking“archeological”research of 19th-century props，sets，and costumes in the performance of Nora，which involved the expenditure of over 200 yuan for costumes alone.《［娜拉］低演员》，《时事新报》，1935年6月21日，第4卷第1期。［“Nala de yanyuan（The Cast of Nora），”（），June 21，1935：4.1.］Zhao Dan 赵丹（1915-1980），who performed the male lead of Torvald inand the male lead in at least three additional plays directed by Zhang Min（，，and），described Zhang as one of his performance technique“enlightenment teachers.”Not only did Zhang teach him acting technique，but Zhao learned about Stanislavski（1863-1938），Danchenko（1858-1943），Vakhtankov（1883-1922），Meyerhold（1874-1940），Tairov（1885-1950），Reinhardt（1873-1943）and others from Zhang Min.Zhao notes that he had never realized that there were so many different派别（“factions”）and体系（“systems”）in the theater domain.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），622.The author of Zhang Min’s chronology，Jiang Yunhui，writes that Zhao Dan recollected being introduced to these theorists while working with Zhang Min on as per the article《怀念严师诤友章泯》.See《怀念严师诤友章泯》，《战地》1980年第3期，第8-79页。［（In Memory of Master Yan’s Critical Friend Zhang Min），（）3（1980）：8-79］.The theorists 丹钦柯， 瓦格坦柯夫， 梅伊荷特， 泰伊洛夫， 雷音哈特that Zhao Dan mentions were all alternatives to Stanislavski.For instance，Vsevolod Yemilyevich Meyerhold’s avantgarde theory of biomechanics featuring anti-realistic，puppet-like，mechanistic actions reacted against Stanislavski’s methods of stylized naturalism and everyday realism.Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov became known for his creation of a public theater and for fantastical realism as opposed to Stanislavski’s natural realism.Aleksandr Yakovlevich Tairov was the founder and director of the Kamerny（Chamber）Theater in Moscow which was the rival of the Moscow Art Theater.The Kamerny Theater promoted a theater of heroics as well as the use of music，dance，gesture，and mime and the inclusion of chanted or intoned speech.See https：//www.britannica.com/biography/Vsevolod-Yemilyevich-Meyerhold，https：//www. britannica. com/biography/Yevgeny-Bagrationovich-Vakhtangov，and https：//www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Yakovlevich-Tairov，［December 8，2021］.

Under the directorship of Zhang Min，Zhao Dan and other young dramatists were introduced to distinctly different dramatic experiments located in Soviet dramatic theories.They also became acquainted with the works of Soviet writers and dramatists such as Tolstoy（1828-1910），Stanislavski，Ostrovsky（1823-1886），Boleslavski（1889-1937），and Gladkov（1883-1958）.These dramatists would later drive modern drama and cinema reforms over half a century.Their choice to apply Stanislavski’s psychological methods in actor training in the 1930s and 1950s was intentional；as there were multiple alternatives.

Zhang Min’s Theories：Democracy，Unity，and Transformation

Zhang Min’s core ideas about theater can be found in Zhang’s writings on theater between 1931 and 1936.Six of Zhang Min’s theoretical works written between 1931 and 1961 can be found in the first edition of（1987）.The topics of these six works range from the history of theatrical arts to tragedy，comedy，theater as a weapon，directors and performers，and performance art.This 1987 collection also contains two commemorative talks by the illustrious directors Xia Yan and Yang Hansheng published ten years after Zhang Min’s death.It additionally features 12 of Zhang Min’s plays with the majority of the plays and essays written between 1931 and 1940.In recent years，a five-volume collection of Zhang Min’s dramatic works，essays，theories，notes，teaching lectures from 1929 to 1963 has also been published.See《章泯文集》，北京：中国电影出版社，2011年。［ZHANG Min，（Collection of Zhang Min’s Writings），ed. Xiao Xiaojing（Beijing：China Film Publishing House，2011）.］I have yet to access this collection.In these works that informed the productions and experiments of the Shanghai Amateur Dramatist Association，Zhang Min returns repeatedly to the ideas of theater as a form and process that could be used to democratize，unify，and transformdiverse audiences.

Zhang saw theater as the most democratic art form because it utilized movement that could be universally understood and it produced a public experience that eschewed individualism and functioned as the organ of the masses.In one of Zhang’s earliest essays on theater，“Xi ju yishu de xianzai ji jianglai”《戏剧艺术的现在及将来》（The Present and Future of Theatrical Arts）published in November 1931，Zhang describes theater as one of the most democratic（德谟克拉西的）art forms due to its use of pantomime and its“eloquent and universal non-individualist movement that anyone could understand.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），474.Unless otherwise noted，all translations are my own.

In“Xiju shi zenyang yizhong wuqi”《戏剧是怎样一种武器》（How Does Theater Become a Weapon），Zhang opines that what sets theater apart from other art forms is its“special characteristic”of“using living beings as its medium”and their“live movements”as expression.He asserts that the liveness of theater’s medium makes it the“most common and easiest art form for the majority of the masses to understand and accept”and the“the most direct art form with widespread and deep impact.”Ibid.，548-49.This article was published in 《戏剧与音乐》（ ）in 1931 as per this anthology.Without requiring pre-requisite skills of reading words，lines，and color in order to understand literature or painting，viewers only needed to have eyes and ears to listen to and watch live bodies.Ibid.，549-50.Zhang adds that even a foreign language play would be comprehensible to most people with their use of“”国际性（international）motions.Using the common language of 民族（the people）with such actions would heighten its effectiveness，but live action is what gives force to the play.Unlike 19th century salon style theater that turned theater into“a branch of literature”inaccessible to the masses，Zhang writes that文学（literature）has since loosened its hold on theater，allowing it to occupy now a more equal status with the other arts that make up theater.Theater was no longer a“pastime for the few members of the privileged class”but“an organ that organizes the intentions and emotions of the masses.”Ibid.，480. 组织大众的意向和情感的机关。Individualism had failed to return the stage to the masses but theater had returned to its original function by being accessible to and representing the masses.As Zhang concludes in his essay“The Present and Future of Theatrical Arts，”the collective strength of the masses are combatting individualist salons in theater and are building a“great architecture”where everyone can live.

Zhang saw theater as a uniquely synthetic and unifying form.The idea of theater as a unity of form and purpose were not unique to Zhang Min.In the 1920s and 1930s in China，the problem of making China modern while preserving the national essence was taken up in multiple realms.The theater realm experimented with blending modern，foreign and Chinese traditional theater.Theater scholar Siyuan Liu identifies文明戏（civilization plays）—a combination of modern spoken Western drama，indigenous Chinese theater and Japanese shinpa or kabuki influenced plays—as the beginning of Chinese spoken theater’s hybridity cycle in the first two decades of the 20th century in Shanghai.LIU Siyuan，（New York：Palgrave Macmillan，2013）.Liu identifies（civilization plays）as the beginning of Chinese spoken theater’s hybridity cycle.Liu’s scholarship challenges the traditional/modern binary model of debate that scholars have used to explain the development of 话剧（modern spoken drama）.My scholarship continues along this vein but instead of，modern spoken dramatists experimented with Soviet scholarship and Stanislavski inspired movements.Xiaomei Chen’s history of modern drama in China captures the debate between modern spoken drama imported from the West at the turn of the century and traditional Chinese operatic theater. Modern drama was seen as a powerful and convenient means for presenting modern（Western）ideas，but its critics dismissed it as not being Chinese in origin and for being too modern and therefore not legible to Chinese audiences.CHEN Xiaomei，（Honolulu：University of Hawai’I Press，2002），21.Traditional operatic theater，by comparison，was understood by elites and the uneducated throughout China，but it featured a feudal cast of characters such as emperors and courtesans，thereby lacking models for the Chinese people to emulate.Leading figures of the theater world such as Wang Bosheng，the first educational director of山东省立实验剧院（the Shandong Province Experimental Theater Academy），advocated for modern drama reformthe preservation of traditional operatic philosophies and techniques because these reforms could bring together content and form.Wang broke down the hierarchy between forms by directing modern plays with traditional techniques and by producing operas with modern themes.His teaching of modern drama was framed by the idea that“”戏剧（theater）could change the structure of the heart-mind or the site where“China’s greatest illness”of spiritual failure—the root cause of failures in all other industries and undertakings—must first be treated.王泊生：《山东省立剧院创创办缘起》，见《山东省立剧院一览》，山东：山东省立剧院编译出版，1934年，第1-22页。［WANG Bosheng.“Shandong shengli juyuan chuangban yuanqi”（The Origins of Shangdong Provincial Theater），in（Shangdong Provincial Theater at a Glance），Shandong：Compilation Office of Shandong Provincial Theater 1934：1-22.］Theater（traditional and modern）was thus treated by Chinese dramatists of the 1920s and 1930s as an accumulation of ideas，forms and aesthetic choices with the potential to move and mobilize the audience to act in newways.

Like other dramatists of his time，Zhang Min believed that the synthetic form of theater could induce a process of transformation in its performers and audiences，thereby creating new subjectivities and realities that could help China modernize and be acknowledged by other nations.In“The Present and Future of Theatrical Arts，”Zhang Min commented on the synthetic and democratic form of theater.“Theater is not designed by just one art form；rather it is the joint creation of various arts”such as art，architecture，music，movement，and dance.These arts can work together“to tell a story，”“give the audience impressions of world phenomenon，”and entice the audience through its rhythms and sounds.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），475.In this regard，Zhang’s ideas on the composite nature of theater resonated with the Russian director Aleksandr Tairov’s（1885-1950）experiments with synthetic theater that brought together ballet，opera，mime，and drama.In“Performance as a Weapon”written in 1940，Zhang writes that theater could synthesize all artistic forms of expression into an“independent，unified，creative art form”with a specific purpose.Ibid.，546-47.This idea of synthesis—what theater scholar Siyuan Liu describes as hybridity in，had been a driving force in the development of Chinese theater.Dramatists returning from their studies in Japan experimented with Western spoken drama，indigenous Chinese theater，and Japanese.For Zhang，the unification of form and content could lead to a transformative experience for actors and audiences.

Turning performers and a complex group of people into a united body or collective force，however，was contingent upon the play’s ability to establish“a new relationship with the audience.”Zhang writes that theater is made complete through the collaborations of artists，scientists，and audiences，but without the audience，theater would cease to exist.The performer audience relationship was to be achieved by creating a performance that could create a revelation or“vivid”discovery in its viewers.Aperformance that offered“correct”（正确）and“robust”（健全）content as well as“well-versed”（纯熟）techniques could instill a common sentiment or emotion among people from different age groups，genders，and backgrounds.By uniting all components of the performance under a greater（moral-ethical）purpose，the performance could have far-reaching and deep effects on a complex group of people.

In addition，Zhang believed that that there was no separation between the audience and the stage.Audiences attended the play not as guests but as the ones who would give cast members inspiration by conveying the“meaning of the masses in society.”This was to say that the world produced on stage was the world in which the audience lived and the world that they demanded.By uniting in thought and feeling，the once disparate crowd of audience members，scriptwriters，technicians，and performers could become an energized，collective power that could change society.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），551.Complicating Mylnikova’s descriptions of contemporary Chinese actors wrapped up in their own egos，Zhang Min’s essay observes the decline of individualism in society and the development of集体主义（collectivism）.Good theater that could unify and transform all participants in theater，audiences and players alike could then transform the nation.

Socialist Realism

Zhang Min was interested in theater as an art form with social and political purposes.Just as Soviet influences shaped his thoughts and writings，some Soviet productions，which were performed by the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association for the first time，shaped his practice.Zhang’s ideas about theater’s capacity to unify and transform its participants using shared feelings and emotions are prefaced by two quotes from Tolstoy in“The Present and Future of Theatrical Arts.”The first quote is as follows.

In the future，the only subject matter of art will be the emotions that lead people to unite，or that has united their emotions；the form of art will be understood by everyone.Therefore，the highest ideal will not be monopolized by the emotions of a few people，but，on the contrary，will be universal.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），473.Zhang quotes Tolstoy（Tuoersitai 托尔斯泰）in Chinese without citing the text of origin：“Jianglai de yishu zhi weiyi ticai hui shi naxie yindao renmen lianhe qilai de qinggan，huo na ye yi lianhe qile tamen de qinggan；yishu de xingshi hui shi raen ren dou mingbai de.Yinci jiang zuigao de lixiang bu hui shi qinggan de duzhan zhi jiejin yu shaoshu ren，er shi zheng xiangfan ta de pubian xing.将来的艺术之唯一题材会是哪些引导人们联合起来的情感，或那也已联合起了她们的情感；艺术的形式会是那人人都明白的。因此将最高的理想不会是情感的独占只接近于少数人，而是正相反它的普遍性。”

Zhang Min never cites the source of this quote but it bears similarities to passages from a 1904 English translation of Tolstoy’s iconoclastic work，（1896），in which Tolstoy explores the idea of“good”art as infectious and as that which enables a person to experience the feelings of another person.Leo Tolstoy，，trans.Aylmer Maude（New York：Funk&Wagnalls Company，1904）.Project Gutenberg ebook，［Accessed September 14，2021］.In chapter five，Tolstoy writes that“the activity of art is based on the fact that a man，receiving through his sense of hearing or sight another man’s expression of feeling，is capable of experiencing the emotion which moved the man who expressed it.［...］and it is on this capacity of man to receive another man’s expression of feeling，and experience those feelings himself，that the very activity of art is based.”As mentioned previously，Zhang Min believed that theater could bring together content，forms，players and audiences.Zhang then quotes Tolstoy again：“Art knows the true ideals of our time and pounces upon them.”Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），473.“Yishu zhidao women de shidai zhi zhenshi de lixiang，bing puxiang ta…艺术知道我们的时代之真实的理想，并扑向他。”This second quote captures Zhang’s belief that theater as an art form has the power to reflect social reality and change social reality in the same moment.In this regard，Zhang Min opted for realism and acting methods similar to Stanislavski’s promotion of realismand experience as opposed to Tairov’s theater of heroics that went beyond quotidian life.

Realism was the tool by which Zhang Min and other theater practitioners in the 1930s sought to capture the ills of feudal societies.Zhang Min’s repeated use of the phrase，“an accurate and thorough understanding of social reality，”signals his commitment to exposing reality and imbuing viewers with a sense of hope and urgency for change—what I will differentiate asand.Zhang，like many intellectuals and artists in his day，was a proponent of realism.Realism as a dramatic stylecould be used to represent reality.Zhang Min’s discussion of the importance of correct and robust content relates to what literary scholar Marston Anderson describes as an aspect of realism that appealed to Chinese intellectuals.Realism had the ability to direct attention to别人（the“others”）of Chinese society that had historically been overlooked.According to Anderson，“to draw these neglected groups into the compass of serious literature was in some sense to fundamentally redefine social relations in China.”Marston Anderson，（Berkeley and Los Angeles，CA：University of California Press，1990），74.In this sense，realism in the Chinese case served a public function of transmitting realities，expressing“communal and universally available human emotions，”and changing the social order of China.Anderson，，20.This was different from realism in the Western case，which led“only to a private experience of reconciliation with inalterable realities.”According to Rousseau，this had the effect of“intensifying and not changing the established morale”（19）.Yet，as Anderson documents，realism in Chinese fiction failed to produce an ethical group commitment and energy for change.It served its purpose of questioning“principles underlying traditional Chinese culture，”but it failed to unify and organize the Chinese people.Realism produced an“aesthetic withdrawal”rather than an“activist engagement in social issues—a task that Chinese thinkers had imbued it with.”Anderson，，25.I posit that modern spoken theater，however，had more success with realism because it treated realism as a style but more importantly as a historical and aspirational mode.Realism as a historical mode pointed to the progressive，revolutionary spirit of the times and included the aspiration of changing society.In the broad context of modern nation building，resistance against Japanese invasion，and the May Fourth and New Culture movements，realism as an aspirational mode conveyed a logic of historical unfolding in which oppressed peoples would overcome their oppressors.Unlike bourgeois literature that was read in a solitary fashion，progressive theater could be performed to a group live，thereby generating a social energy that could create a more democratic society.Unlike Western critical realism that ends at the common experience of despair and disillusionment，Chinese literary realism contained what Marston Anderson identifies，in reference to literature，as the“burden of hope.”Anderson，，18.Chinese scholars attributed naturalism with ending in despair and disillusionment.But according to Anderson，Chinese writers adopted realism in order to“induce disillusionment”but to also“capture，contain，or domesticate and banish”the real using language.Realism in modern Chinese drama truly went beyond simply representing what Ban Wang refers to as the“nitty gritty”details of reality and the disenfranchised parts of society.The mode of realism（hope for social change）was as important as the style of realism.

In“Performance as a Weapon，”Zhang describes performance as a tool of influence and power that could organize society’s reality，thoughts，and feelings into a form that could be used to spread awareness and instill in others the spirit of struggle.The new norms that theater aspired to represent were created within the reality of a performance—simultaneously explaining and changing reality.In the moment that a performance achieved its goal of understanding and changing reality，it became a complete and powerful tool.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），546.Zhang Min strove to raise modern spoken drama to a higher plane by placing equal emphasis on aesthetics and social function.The correlation between the two was clear：by increasing the quality of art，one could increase theater’s social value and impact.

I believe that the term idealism accurately expresses the political and aesthetic aspirational ideals contained in realism as a mode that are sometimes overshadowed by critiques of realism as a failed project that ended in cathartic emotion but not action.Idealism，as I use it，is similar to romanticism which was also used to usher in transformational energy（political passion）and to direct people’s gazes toward the future.Even though romanticism was more commonly used in that time period，I prefer to use the term idealism over the term romanticism.In the 1930s，romanticism was associated with emotion，particularly a woman’s emotion and energy and the passion between a man and woman.When taken out of the Western context of pointing to the divine，idealism points to the reconciliation of an idea and a reality that I believe was crucial to the Chinese case of revolution.The liberation of all peoples was the ideal of the period that needed to be reconciled with reality or the oppressed state of people.Romanticism was entrenched in romantic discourse leading up to and even during the Cultural Revolution.I am grateful to Ban Wang for helping me clarify these thoughts on idealism and romanticism.Art，politics，and individual and collective transformation were inseparable issues for Zhang Min.Zhang Min’s work offers us a rethinking of the idealist component of realism as a mode.The aspirational mode of realism（what I equate with idealism）was a precursor to the socialist styles of revolutionary romanticismand revolutionary realism.

Flattened Theater Hierarchy：Stanislavski and Round Tables

Zhang Min experimented with theater as a democratic form and practice.In her essay，Mylnikova emphasizes the face-to-face research meetings that were an integral component of the Stanislavski method；she does not mention contemporary Chinese applications of this practice.Yet as early as 1931 and continuing through the 1930s，Zhang was exploring the idea of a flattened and democratic theater hierarchy.Over one and half decades after comparing a director to a conductor directing a symphony in“The Present and Future of Theatrical Arts”（1931），Zhang compared directors in“Directors and Actors”to the captain of a ship responsible for selecting the route，getting the crew to work together，and bringing the ship and its passengers safely and smoothly to port.Ibid.，562.Jiang Yunhui’s chronology in Zhang’s anthology notes that“Daoyan yu yanyuan”《导演与演员》（Directors and Performers）was written in 1948 and published in May 1949 by SDX Joint Publishing as well as the journals《生活》（）and《读书》（）（632）.Even more so than the work of a symphony director uniting different performers and instruments，Zhang believed that the composite nature of theater with its aspirational goal of transformation and unification of audiences required active collaboration between directors，playwrights，and performers.Theater was a modern commitment.For the production to be successful，a director would need to have correct and incisive knowledge of social realities，a rich knowledge or experience of theater arts，and the ability to get everyone to work together.The director’s three responsibilities（selecting the route，directing the crew，and bringing the ship to port）should be conducted without coercion and allow stage workers spaces for self-expression.Developing his idea of collectivity still further，Zhang Min writes that“a director should adopt an attitude of民主集体（‘democratic collectivity’）—on the one hand encouraging self-expression and development and on the other keeping performers and stage workers focused on a higher overall goal or result.”If the hierarchies of the traditional theater world were impermeable，modern dramatists like Zhang experimented with newforms of collaboration among previously unequal players.

For Zhang Min，group collectivity could be modeled and rehearsed at a圆桌会议（“round table meeting”）.In“Directors and Actors，”Zhang states that the purpose of the round table meeting is to facilitate an accurate understanding of the text，its meanings，and the director’s changes；the meeting should unify all participants with a higher purpose.The meeting should proceed with the director bringing together actors and stagehands for a discussion of different suggestions and interpretations of the text.If an understanding is incorrect，the director should explain and persuade the person of a differing opinion.If someone is correct，the director should acknowledge why their perspective is correct，accept the opinion，and implement it.

The nature of collaboration between a director and an actor involved a co-understanding of society and a co-creating relationship.A director should not hand over a script to actors and stagehands and let actors do whatever they wanted（a script did not contain a complete guide to social reality）；however，actors were not puppets or dolls for a director to order around.Actors were agents equally responsible for the success of a production and as such needed to have an accurate and deep understanding of the social realities relating to the roles they performed prior to learning their own lines.Preparation included knowing the motivation behind a character’s speech，behaviors，and actions；how a character relates to other characters；and the larger problem of the play.As for lines，actors should not memorize and recite them；rather they should convey the meaning and feelings behind them.Actors were essential in their ability to bring together multiple social realities into a“real”experience for themselves and for viewers.Ibid.，582.“Z 真实。”Directors and actors were to work out their differences in understanding during round table sessions.If handled properly，these differences would allow performers to explore the inner thoughts，personalities，and motivations of a character and release or convey them with“concrete”movements critical to the success of a production.The combined interactions of directors andactorscouldproduce anattitudeandspirit of“democratic groupexpression.”

Actor Training with Zhang Min

Zhang’s 1935 production ofwas supposedly the first production to use the Stanislavski（斯塔尼）system.The cast ofincluded celebrated stars such as Wei Heling 魏鹤龄（1907-1979），Zhao Dan（who played Helmer），and Jin Shan 金山（1911-1982）（who played Krogstad）—actors that Shanghai media described as the“theater and film world’s most well-received stars.”《［娜拉］低演员》，《时事新报》，1935年6月21日，第4张第1版。［“The Cast of Nora，” ，June 21，1935：4.1.］The cast also included actresses who acted in cinema，such as Wu Ling 吴玲and Wu Mei 吴湄.Nora was played by a young，relatively unknown actress named Lan Ping 蓝苹，who would later nationalize，modernize，and popularize Peking opera during the 1960s and 1970s in China.In a 1937 article about her performance as Nora，Lan wrote that this role was her“formal entrance into the world of theater”and her first exposure to the“creation of theater as art.”蓝苹：《从（娜拉）到（大雷雨）》，《新学识》1937年第1卷第5期，第250页。［Lan Ping，“Cong Nala dao Daleiyu”（From Nora to ［Katerina］），（）1，no.5（1937）：250.］The formal and artistic training she received at the Shanghai Amateur Dramatist Association was led by the famed director and progressive theater theorist Zhang Min.

The actress Lan Ping’s understanding of Stanislavski’s method of acting via Zhang Min began with her trying to understand the inner and outer worlds of the characters she played.In her article，“From Nora to，”she notes that Zhang Min provided the Nora cast with many suggestions and especially encouraged her to spend more time beyond rehearsal time to understand her role.She would pore over the script in bed every night.As a result，her performance of Nora achieved a quality of spontaneity and a freedom of feeling and emotion—what Stanislavski called the creative state.She writes，“I was very much at ease on stage；it was as though Nora and I had no distance between us.I could make Nora’s words my own and I could make my emotions Nora’s.I didn’t worry about anything.It was as though the performance flowed from me like water.”Lan Ping，“Cong Nala dao Daleiyu”（From Nora to ［Katerina］），251.Although Lan doesn’t mention Stanislavski by name，she identifies a quality of movement emerging from a psychological understanding unique to Stanislavski’s system.This description resonates with Zhang Min’s address to the cast ofin which he emphasized that on stage，the character’s living environment should have exactly the same logic and sequence as the character’s thoughts，hopes，expectations，and actions.

In the next section of her article，Lan explains how her failure to understand the outer world or the contextual complexity of the character Katerina in Aleksandr Ostrovsky’s playor（，1859）resulted in an unnatural performance.Aleksandr Ostrovsky（not to be mistaken for Nikolai Ostrovsky［1904-1936］，who authored the socialist realist novel—one of the best-selling books of all time）.Lan writes that she failed to understand why her character behaved as she did.The reasons for this were that she didn’t have the life experience to identify with the character；she didn’t rehearse Katerina enough；and her overall understanding of the play was insufficient.Lan concludes in the essay that her performance of Katerina was a failure because she was representing a character as opposed to truly experiencing it.Rose Whyman，（New York，NY：Routledge，2013），19.On the one hand，Lan’s comments reference Stanislavski’s teaching that in order to avoid scared and mechanical acting，actors need to recreate what Rose Whyman describes as the“emotional inner content of the role in each performance.”To create that experience，actors need to rely on action，emotion，and the subconscious—what Whyman identifies as the three bases of the Stanislavksi system.On the other hand，Lan’s description of the play as too sophisticated gestures toward her failure to understand the outer world of the character and what Stanislavski might describe as“supertext”—the author’s intentions behind the play as a whole.Lan Ping was unable to understand the social and political circumstances that informed the inner content of the role she played.To have understood the complicated role of a woman caught between her mother-in-law’s traditional values and the enticements of a modern world in a small town along the Volga in 19th-century Russia，Lan would have needed to understand what theater scholar R.A.Peace has described as the lyrical，ominous，and ambiguous themes of will，freedom，fear，love and anger.R.A.Peace，“A.N.Ostrovsky’s‘The Thunderstorm’：The Dramatization of Conceptual Ambivalence，”（Modern Humanities Research Association）84，no.1（1989）：99-107.In failing to understand the complex social realities of Katerina，Lan was unable to move or emote naturally.Thus her remarks on the pitfalls of her inexperience as an actor align with Zhang Min’s description in“Performance as Art”of the problem of acting，of stage fright and tension that can be overcome by using his method of getting the performer to truly understand and experience the role they perform—ideas that Stanislavski also espoused.

Zhang Min may have had more to say about Lan’s struggle to perform the role of Katerina.In“Performance as Art，”Zhang writes that movement is“an actor’s most special characteristic”—because“everything is expressed through movement，everything starts with movement.”Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），603.Zhang Min’s writings all emphasize movement.His 1931 essay identifies it as a key characteristic of pantomime；in the same essay，he also places it alongside other components of a modern performance.He writes that dramatic art not only uses sound，but also often uses Movement（this word appears in English）. The gestures and movements of actors are often necessary for dramatic acts.Like various types of voices，it is not an appendage of dramatic action.It can become a pure design of beauty.It can also，like paintings，architecture，and music，express all the intentions and emotions that they are capable of expressing.（478）Performing the right movements is not simply an issue of experience.Inexperienced actors tend to be anxious and hurried because they lack control over their body but experienced actors’movements are often exaggerated because their intentions or lack of intentions stray from the meaning of the content.For Zhang Min，inexperienced and experienced actors struggled to make their movements clear and effective for somatic and psychological reasons.

Lan Ping acknowledges the importance of physical，intellectual and spiritual training for actors in a second article，“Our Lives，”written on her way out of Shanghai to Yan’an，the wartime capital of the Communist Party from 1937 to 1948.蓝苹：《我们的生活》，《光明》（上海），1937年5月25日，第2卷第23期。［Lan Ping，“Women de shenghuo”（Our Lives），，May 25，1937：2.23.］The letter is dated as May 14，1937.I located this article in the Fairbank Center for Asian Research Library，Harvard University.In this essay she references Stanislavski indirectly through a detailed summary of her senior peer Zheng Junli’s translation of the first chapter of Richard Boleslavski’s：（1933）.Richard Boleslavsky，（New York：Theatre Arts Inc.，12th ed，1956），5.Boleslavski was a student of Stanislavski’s，an actor in the Moscow Art Theatre，the Director of Moscow Art Theatre Studio，and the Director of the Laboratory Theatre in the United States.He trained the first group of American actors to adopt the Stanislavski system.The first chapter of ，first published in 1933，is a chapter called“Concentration.”See also Jean Benedetti，，Revised Edition（1999）.Original edition published in 1988，London，Methuen.In the second half of the essay，Lan summarizes the text by describing a pretty，lively woman with bright eyes（the Creature）who asks Boleslavski what she needs to do to become an actress.Boleslavski responds that it is not enough to have bright eyes，a pretty face，and a vivacious spirit to be an actress；one must train the body，the intellect，and the spirit through hard work and experience.Lan also details her understanding of the physical，intellectual，and even spiritual trainings recommended by Boleslavski.Physical training requires daily exercise including calisthenics，rhythmic gymnastics，all kinds of dance，voice and breathing training in order to get the body to respond skillfully to situations.Intellectual training requires knowledge of literature，painting，sculpture，music，history and human anatomy in order to understand different people in different periods of time.Spiritual training requires hard work and the accumulation of experience over a long period of time.The cumulative effect of these trainings would include mastery of the five senses in all imaginable situations and mastery of the memory of feeling，of inspiration and impression，of imagination，and of visual memory.See also Jean Benedetti’s which includes original materials constituting the“last work”of Stanislavski and Benedetti’s own observations of Stanislavski’s acting and rehearsal methods（1998：441）.Lan emphasizes Boleslavski’s conclusion that the greatest danger to an actor is whether she can maintain the willpower and tenacity to continue the hard work of acquiring such skills within an environment that promotes apathy and decay.An actress must have faith in the development of imagination，naivete，observation，and willpower.She must have the capacity to express various moods，such as humor and tragedy.If an actor’s decision to give up is her greatest danger，then意志（willpower and毅力（tenacity）are the most important qualities for her to have.

In her conclusion，Lan discusses her personal and gendered struggle with willpower and tenacity.She confesses that she is pessimistic and discouraged by her own lack of talents as well as an environment that does not allow her to continue to cultivate herself（a nod to her recent treatment in Shanghai’s theater and film industries，which I detail in my larger project）.These sentiments gesture back to the first half of her essay，where she begins by stating that the life of a modern actress is not as easy，enjoyable，and debauched as critics of modern theater and vested imperialism like to believe.Elaborating on the social realities（this is Zhang Min’s term）that made acting difficult for an actress in that period，Lan identifies the widespread belief that actors were frivolous and debauched entertainers；the“evil influences”of imperialism that stuck like a“thorn in［modern drama’s］side”；the“young and weak”developmental stage of performance arts in China；and the fact that actors and actresses are not tempered steel that can withstand great pressure.Lan advocates for theater’s alliance with anti-feudalist and anti-imperialist forces in order to bring forth its social benefit and emphasizes the agency of actors.Theater，she says，is not merely entertainment and performers are not dolls.The function of modern drama is to bring forth social benefits for particular times.Dramatists（playwrights），directors，and actors（she uses the female pronoun）would have to collaborate as co-creators to make such productions successful.All three parties would need to develop accurate and deep understandings of society. For instance，unlike in capitalist times where an actress was“kept ignorant”and only expected to act and do the bidding of a director，an actress now must have her own deep understanding of society.She must not“passively”and“rigidly”accept directions from a director or playwright like a doll；rather，she must instead filter their suggestions through her own subjectivity and experience and offer up her own creation alongside their creations.Together，their creations would help them meet their common goal.Zhang Min’s theories in“Performance as Weapon”match these ideas.Zhang writes that live performers need to develop their own thoughts，behaviors，personalities and“animated，non-mechanistic actions.”Neither“puppets”nor“lifeless things，”live performers had their own thoughts，behaviors，personalities and“animated，non-mechanistic actions.”A performance’s capacity to effect transformation and change was dependent on the live performers that would help viewers experience the play in a vivid way.Zhang，（Zhang Min’s Selected Plays），559.Lan ends her article by articulating her resolve to challenge societal prejudices against actors.She recognizes that she needs to carefully consider whether to throw away something that she deems precious，and that she might need to simply make a change in order to hold onto what she deems precious.With the good will，exhortations and encouragement of her friends，she shares her decision to continue to develop her talent and remain loyal to China’s emerging theater movement.In her words：“I don’t hope for anything except to be an actress！I also hope that China will produce the kinds of actors described by Richard Boleslavski who can guide and inspire！”

These two 1930s articles by Lan capture her understanding of the social power of theater as well as her exposure to Stanislavski via his student Boleslavski.Her reflections correspond with Zhang Min’s beliefs that Stanislavski’s method was a scientific method that could change performers’relationships to the characters they played，with the crux of the method residing in getting performers to not just represent their roles but to experience themin a new way at every performance.Zhang Min’s ideas correspond to a Chinese translation of Gorchakov that describes how in China，Stanislavski’s method was described as a scientific method for getting an actor to synthesize body，action，and the subconscious.This method created a real experience or a true creative act on stage for each and every performance.See N.M.Gorchakov’s translation of，772.

The System’s Limitations

The acting training that actress Lan Ping received at the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association allowed her to develop a social-political and gendered subjectivity，with the latter granting her insight into the limitations of the dramatic productions the association performed.On January 24，1937—three months prior to Lan’s article on her experiences inand—《大公报》（）published quotes by actors from the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association.Lan’s quote read，“I hope to be a Dasha，not a Katerina！”This interview，published in January 1937 in Shanghai’s as“Yeyu juren de sanyan liangyu”《业余剧人的三言两语》（AFew Words from Amateur Dramatists），was accessed at Harvard Fairbank Library.Lan’s reference to Dasha illustrates her growing awareness of the limitations of critical realism in relation to the gendered social realities facing women such as Nora and Katerina.The options available for Nora after she walked out of the home were prostitution，death，or a return home.The only option for Katerina in Ostrovsky’swas suicide.But Dasha，the protagonist of arguably the first Soviet socialist novel，（1924），had circumstances，choices，and opportunities that were strikingly different from those of Nora and Katerina.Similar to Nora’s husband Helmer who cajoles Nora into dressing up and dancing，Dasha’s husband Gleb returns home from war remembering his wife as a woman against a backdrop of muslin curtains，shining samovars，painted floors，and flowers on the window-sill，who“sang，sighed，laughed，spoke of tomorrow and played with her living doll，their little daughter Nurka.”Gladkov，，26.He observes that their home is“abandoned and mildewed”and that Dasha returns home late from work，sunburnt，weathered，“vigorous，unsubduable，knowing her own mind.”With great“audacity”she has abandoned their child in the Children’s Home and consistently rejects his sexual advances.Gleb suspects her of having taken multiple lovers and concludes that hard work has turned her into a devil with a power“forged from the collective spirit of the workers，from years of deadly hardship，from the terrible heavy burden of the newly acquired freedom of women.”He concludes that Dasha has ceased being a woman.On the contrary，Dasha comes to see herself as a strong，attractive woman who prioritizes herself as a person and the work of the Communist Party over any relationship.Like Katerina，she takes multiple lovers，but unlike Katerina，who takes her life by drowning for lack of alternatives，Dasha finds work with the Party.Dasha is wary of familial and romantic attachments and their wake of obligations and jealousies.She loves her daughter but doesn’t believe her child should be valued above other children；unlike Nora who leaves her children behind for lack of infrastructural alternatives，Dasha makes arrangements for her daughter to receive education and care at the Party’s Children’s Home.Lastly，like Nora and Katerina，Dasha now sees her husband as a fool and a“brute man，needing a woman to be a slave to［him］，for［him］to bed.”She distinguishes between different qualities of heroism，noting that her husband may have been“a good soldier，but in ordinary life［he is］a bad Communist！”Dasha refuses to be“without a will of her own，always playing the second part”and throws herself into her roles as a Communist Party worker and leader—options that were unavailable to Nora and Katerina.

Lan’s quote can be used to rethink her experience as an actress.It reflects that she understood theater as having deeply social and political functions.It captures how her first-hand experience as an actor trained by Zhang Min helped her gain a deeper understanding of the social realities of women like Nora and Katerina that could be translated into movement and expression.It points to her belief that the relationship between playwrights，directors，stagehands，casts，and in fact between men and women，should be democratic and collaborative.Lastly，the quote indicates that she was familiar with Gladkov.Perhaps Lan had read a translation（titled《士敏土》）by Dong Qiusi 董秋斯（1899-1969）and Cai Yongshang 蔡咏裳（1901-1940）that appeared in Shanghai in 1929.See Paul Bevan，“Politics，Art，and the Pictorial Magazine，”in（2020）.Also see Nikolai Volland’s“Inventing a Proletarian Fiction for China：The Stalin Prize，Cultural Diplomacy，and the Creation of a Pan-Socialist Identity，”edited by Vu，Tuong，and Wasana Wongsurawat，（2009），93-111.Or perhaps she had seen linocuts by Carl Meffert（1903-1988）for，which were printed in a luxury volume with a preface and supervised by Lu Xun 鲁迅（1881-1936）in the 1930s.Bevan，，109.Regardless of how she encountered the character of Dasha，Lan Ping’s statement demonstrates an affinity for a woman whose life possibilities extended beyond Nora’s and Katerina’s.I have been unable to locate a stage production offrom the 1930s.However，Lan Ping’s reference to it in 1937 prior to her article on Nora and Katerina indicates that she was familiar with works of Soviet writers in addition to Stanislavski and Boleslavski.Lan Ping’s desire to be a Dasha over a Katerina（and a Nora）draws attention to her experience of gender and the limitations of the productions in which she performed.

The 1930s experiments with Soviet theories and dramatic works would be carried to Chongqing，Hong Kong，Guilin，and Yan’an in the late 1930s by the youth，artists，and intellectuals who flocked to the Chinese socialist cause.According to Zhang Ying，in Chongqing，Zheng Junli held a post for the KMT government’s film industry factory but mostly stayed idle at home where he and other professionals such as Lao She 老舍（1899-1966），Ye Yiqun 叶以群（1911-1966），Shi Dongshan，and Ge Yihong 葛一虹（1913-2005）lived together in a dormitory.Zhang Ying 张颖（章罂，1922-）who was editing a column called“Xiju Yanjiu”《戏剧研究》（Theatre Studies）in《新华日报》（）at the time，went there often to look for Junli and Ge Yihong.Zhang describes their conversation：

They were both very enthusiastic and recommended that the column“Xiju Yanjiu”publish the performance theories of Stanislavski.At that time Chongqing was still drawing the attention of many famous drama performers like［Shu］Xiu Wen，Jin Shan，and［Zhang］Ruifang. They were all experimenting with studying the Stanislavski system.These studies would be very meaningful to those famous artists，allowing them to be able to improve in their constant practice.

Zhang remarks that it took Junli nearly ten years to translate the entire theoretical text of，which was published in 1943 in Chongqing.“This made an important contribution to raising the performance art in our country.”Zhang notes that even though Zheng Junli returned to the film world before and after liberation，directing the era’s most representative works such as《一江春水向东流》（The Spring River Flows East）（1947）and《乌鸦与麻雀》（Crows and Sparrows）（1949），“he did not forget that the cultivation of modern spoken drama’s performers and films was very important.”He summarized his own personal experiences as well as those of the performers around him，linking theory with practice.He also authored《角色的诞生》（T he Birth of a Role），which Zhang Ying describes as a“must-read for contemporary actors through today.”

Zhang Min’s contemporaries such as Zhang Geng and Zhou Yang would become teachers and performers at the Lu Xun Institute of the Arts，a military school founded to train art cadres after Mao watched a successful and rousing modern play.Lu Yi 鲁艺，as it was called，militarized，collectivized and democratized the production of art in modern socialist China in its synthesis of artistic forms to promote its singular social purpose of revolution.It used round table discussions to discuss and resolve differences of interpretation and opinion between dramatists，directors，and actors.Run as a military organization，it tried to overcome what it viewed as unhealthy trends of individualism and romanticism by“politicizing thought，militarizing movement，and intensifying work.”伯滋：《鲁迅艺术学院》，《剧场艺术》1940年第2卷第6-7期，第166-168页。［BO Zi，“Lu Xun yishu xueyuan”（Lu Xun Art Institute），（）2，no.6-7（1940）：166-68.The school was a military brigade with each department treated as a platoon（ 区队）.Each platoon was divided into four or five squadrons with an overall squad leader and two others to supervise daily life and school work.Squad leaders were to be elected by the students，although students later requested that school administrators make the squad leader assignments as students were too busy.It promoted the ideas quoted above：Si-xiang zhengzhihua，xingdong junshihua，gongzuo jinzhanghua 思想政治化、行动军事化、工作紧张化”（167）.But the military organization of the school was also counterbalanced by a culture that promoted a“democratic，free，and lively life”很民主，很自由，很活泼（，，）culture.There was to be a“democratization of freedom of expression”in all levels of interactions and everyday life.These practices at Lu Yi stand in stark contrast to China’s historically hierarchical theater culture，in which masters passed down their styles and standards to their students.

The practice of democratic collectivism was used to promote a greater plurality of ideas and troubleshoot problems at a higher level；it would be adopted by the Party organizational structure at large.For instance，members of the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association such as Xia Yan and Zheng Junli would continue these experiments in the development of cinema from the 17 Years period after 1949.The former actress Lan Ping would contribute to the creation and propagation of the model works during cultural transformation.Despite the historical period’s rejection of Stanislavski，the actress-turned cultural leader would continue to experiment with theater as a synthetic plurality/unity，revolutionary realism as an aspirational mode rather than style，and with democratic methods of production in the decades to come.In the 1960s，leaders of the Ministry of Culture who supported the production of both Stanislavski and Western works were labeled bourgeois and Stanislavski as the stand-in for socialist realism and many of the Western works performed in the 1930s became inseparable from the bourgeois ideologies from which they emerged.As the theories and practices of Stanislavski became taboos，their origins and evolution as synthetic，unifying and democratic practices from the Republican era throughout the Mao era also faded fromview.