The Reception of German Expressionist Drama in China

Abstract

Expressionist Drama has been an important phenomenon of Modernist Theatre. In China, however, not enough attention has been paid to it in the academic field. In the present article different trends in the reception of German expressionist drama in China from the Chinese May Fourth period to the 1940s will be discussed. Broadly, there have been two basic tendencies in the reception of German expressionist drama in Chinese drama. A part of Chinese authors mainly focused on the class struggle for political and revolutionary purposes, but did not absorb deeper features of the genre. Other Chinese playwrights interested in (German) Expressionist Drama discussed in their work problems of social reality touching on spiritual aspects of people’s individual lives. At the same time the Chinese reception of expressionist drama can also serve as an introduction to Chinese contemporary drama as a whole.