Nineteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

This study explores the remaking of two Chinese cultural heritages, kun opera and Suzhou garden, through the very first commercial immersive kun opera performance in contemporary China. The garden version of “Six Records of a Floating Life” (fusheng liuji), which is based on the autobiographical prose by a literati Shen Fu from Suzhou in Qing Dynasty, is performed in Canglang Pavilion, one of the oldest gardens in Suzhou since 2018, where the story of the play takes place. The two world cultural heritages were integrated through the live-action immersion experiences. With great commercial success in China, “Six Records” has also done excellent work in cultivating its “international style” in terms of storytelling, translation, and promotion. While the romantic love between the couple in the original story is highlighted in the performance, a poetic, artistic, and elegant “Suzhou-style life” as “an underpinning and essence of Chinese culture” is promoted by the producers. Through field trips, content analysis, and interviews with producers and audiences, this study aims to elucidate the strategies, achievements, and deficiencies in the redefinition and reconstruction of the two cultural heritages. It asks the following research questions: what kind of “Chinese culture” and relevant Chinese theatrical aesthetics are produced and propagated and why? What agendas of regional, national, and international identity-making are addressed? How have they been received domestically and internationally? How are boundaries between “tradition” and “modernity” reconfigured in the modernized kun opera performance?