"Ground-breaking ... This book is a major contribution to Cultural Revolution studies, Chinese theater and drama studies, gender studies, and Chinese literary and cultural history studies." --Journal of Asian Studies, May 2003

"Intricately thought, deeply felt, and richly textured. It is hard to imagine that any subsequent account of modern Chinese drama could proceed without regard to its influence." --Asian Theatre Journal, Spring 2003

"Chen provides superb textual detail and analysis, accompanied by discussions of the larger social contexts of theater activity in the highly politicized public realm of contemporary mainland China." --China Review International 9 (2002)

"Chen, through both scholarship and personal passion, succeeds in bringing to life decades of theater unfamiliar to many and too easily dismissed by her predecessors." --Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 24 (2002)

"Xiaomei Chen is very much present throughout the book and I found her writing technique refreshing in its directness. The author takes full advantage of her 'multiple subjectivities' to develop the analysis of modern Chinese drama in a broader geographical, historical and theoretical context, enabling readers to gain a profound knowledge of the subject." --Ruru Li, MCLC Resource Center, July 2004 (Read full review)

"Acting the Right Part is a book that must not only be welcomed by Sinologists, but is also much needed by people in the English-speaking world who are interested in Chinese threatre or Theatre Studies in general." --Theatre Journal International, Summer 2004

"Substantial and thoughtful ... It is a pleasure to recommend this book to scholars interested in the study of Chinese drama, politics, gender roles, and the evolution of modern Chinese nationalism." --History of Education Quarterly 44 (2004)

"This is the first comprehensive English-language study of Chinese drama from the sixties to the early nineties. Xiaomei Chen has mapped out a complex of trajectories in which Chinese drama re-modernized itself during historical turmoils, political struggles, and intellectual debates. Her inquiry into issues ranging from gender representation to the 'theatrics' of politics is illuminating. Historically engaged and theoretically provocative, Xiaomei Chen's book will become a required reader for those interested in Chinese performing arts, cultural politics, and gender studies." --David Der-wei Wang, Columbia University

"A remarkable book, which is both theoretically sophisticated and deeply felt." --Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Indiana University

Acting the Right Part is a cultural history of huaju (modern Chinese drama) from 1966 to 1996. Xiaomei Chen situates her study both in the context of Chinese literary and cultural history and in the context of comparative drama and theater, cultural studies, and critical issues relevant to national theater worldwide. Following a discussion of the marginality of modern Chinese drama in relation to other genres, periods, and cultures, early chapters focus on the dynamic relationship between theater and revolution. Chosen during the Cultural Revolution as the exclusive artistic vehicle to promote proletariat art, "model theater" raises important questions about the complex relationships between women, memory, nation/state, revolution, and visual culture. Throughout this study, Chen argues that dramatic norms inform both theatrical performance and everyday political behavior in contemporary China.

Xiaomei Chen is associate professor of Chinese and comparative literature at Ohio State University and author of the companion volume Reading the Right Text: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama (UH Press, 2003).

Read the table of contents and/or the introduction (PDF).