The Metamorphosis of Tianxian Pei

This book is by far the best study of Huangmei Opera as social and cultural history of twentieth-century China. A regional opera of the countryside of the Anqing area, Huangmei Opera became popular all over China along with the great success of the play and the movie Married to a Heavenly Immortal in the 1950s.

Through the case of Married to a Heavenly Immortal, Idema illustrates the complicated process of rewriting and revising the play/movie in the context of a rapidly changing cultural and ideological climate during the Communist theater reform movement. As a result, the traditional theme of filial piety was turned into class struggle and the pursuit of free love. The book is enriched by a full translation of a traditional version of the play and a revised one in the 1950s, as well as selected articles by script-writers, directors, performers, and critics. These primary sources allow readers to access inside views of the contemporaries and their political and artistic concerns.

This book contributes substantially to the current scholarship on traditional Chinese opera, especially studies on Chinese theater and operatic movies in the early years of the People’s Republic of China.