Theatre as Memory Site: Cultural Activities, Imaginaries, and Theatrical Things of a Regional Xiqu Theatre in Contemporary China

Abstract: This paper explores how the theatre of a Chinese regional opera, as a memory site and an actor, enunciates stories, theatrical experiences, and imaginaries of xiqu (traditional Chinese theatre) communities. The material presences of theatres ensure the continuities of cultural activities of xiqu traditions in Chinese society today. The institutionalized opera activities that emerged in the 1950s national xiqu reform campaign have molded the Chinese xiqu theatres toward an “enduring site” for constantly revamping regional cultures into the rubrics of national culture coherently. However, to the regional xiqu communities, a particular theatrical form, such as lüju (Shandong opera), intertwines with stories and embodied meanings in their quotidian practices. Drawing on the ethnographic observations of the Lüju Baihua Theatre, this article illustrates that Chinese xiqu theatres traffic the shared past, multi-generational memories, and regional stories that are communicable to the community members who resonate with them. It problematizes the perception of Chinese opera theatres as “static or disembodied sites” by unfolding how theatre as cultural activity constantly facilitates embodied knowledge to carve the contours of the group identity and imaginaries of the xiqu communities in contemporary China .