Hu Xingliang 胡星亮: Zhongguo xiandai xiju sichao – Xiju xiandaihua yu shehui xiandaihua 中国现代戏剧思潮 —— 戏剧现代化与社会现代化 (Trends of Thought in Modern Chinese Theater – The Modernization of Theater and the Modernization of Society), Beijing shifan daxue chubanshe 北京师范大学出版社, 2022. ISBN 978-7-303-27803-9; 344 pages; 79 RMB.
Reviewed by Stefan Christ (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
I am interested in the relationship between theater and society, and so I was excited to read the new book by Hu Xingliang, Trends of Thought in Modern Chinese Theater – The Modernization of Theater and the Modernization of Society (hereafter Trends of Thought). However, I soon realized that it is not a new book at all, but a slightly revised version of Ershi shiji Zhongguo xiju sichao 二十世纪中国戏剧思潮 (Trends of Thought in Chinese Theater in the Twentieth Century), published in 1995 by Jiangsu wenyi chubanshe. Nevertheless, Hu Xingliang is such an important figure in modern Chinese theater studies that his book still deserves a critical review. As a matter of fact, Trends of Thought has been republished along with three other books by Hu to celebrate his scholarly accomplishments and the results of various large research projects conducted over the last several decades.[1]
Yan Fu (1854–1921) has long been seen as a pivotal figure in the transitional period of late Qing and early Republican China. His translations of important Western works like Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics or John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, among others, have received considerable attention from scholars inside and outside of China. There are comprehensive monographs on all his major translations and many books and articles representing a wide range of perspectives on Yan Fu’s thoughts and ideas. More often than not, questions concerning intellectual history are discussed in connection with Yan Fu’s translation practice.