Crossing the Margins: Performance of Social Class in Traditional Chinese Drama A Case Study of Yuan Zaju Drama

Abstract

This paper focuses on the performance of two marginal voices in 14^th-century zaju drama to investigate the potential that the performance texts hold in the renegotiation of social marginality.
By means of theatrical performances in commercial urban stages, characters such as sing-song girls and maids that are tied to social marginality are given agency and a voice to express their feelings. Precisely because of its malleability, marginality serves as a locus for discussing the imagery of conventional social class dynamics. The two plays that I will analyze feature protagonists from the lowest social echelons: a maid, Swallow, and a sing-song girl, Orchid. Swallow and Orchid’s employment of romance as a means for social class advancement allows for a reassessment of mainstream discourses over the clash between the marginal and the peripheral. Moreover, their performance as female leads in the play further questions traditional views on marginality and exclusion.