Gender performativity of principal female impersonators of Cantonese opera (1950s--1960s)

Inspired by Judith Butler's "Gender Performativity", this dissertation will analyze one of the major types in the role system in Chinese Opera, Daan (female impersonation)1. We will discuss the relationship between gender performativity and subject formation and observe the gender performativity of Zing Jan Faa Daan (the principle female role). How does the discourse of Chinese Opera construct "proper" Daan? How does it affect the acting of performers? Zing Jan Faa Daan as the principle female role of the troupe and on-stage performance? What kind of standard and fantasy from the audience they need to face and re-act? Any possibilities of performers "perform" their agency on-stage? If so, how?; For explicit discussion and explanation, we will put the focus on three important female role performers of Hong Kong Cantonese Opera in 1950s-60s, including Fong Jim Fan, Baak Syut Sin and Fung Wong Neoi. Based on critics in journals and in-depth textual analysis of their performance, we will discuss their performance in the inter-relationship of spectatorship and representation. How did they perform the image of Zing Jan Faa Daan? At the same time, how did they re-present their own style and create different characters under the norms? How did they satisfy and suppress the norm spontaneously, so as to have the recognition from audience successfully and re-constitute the image and style of Faa Daan at the same time. The performance of three performers is abundant. For having a more systematic discussion and inducing dialogue with the theory of Gender Performativity, we will set a theme for each of them, which included: "Fong Jim Fan: King of Faa Daan", "Baak Suet Sin: Reshape the Beauty", "Fong Wong Neoi: Queering the Proper". Under these themes, we will discuss the specificity of their performance and observe their (re)construction of Zing Jan Faa Daan.; This research tries to articulate the discussion between gender studies and Hong Kong Cantonese Opera, so as to re-think the power relation and agency in gender identity constitution. Through the discussion of gender performativity of Daan and the performance of three performers, we will examine the power of gender performativity and discuss the agency and creativity of subjects in their performances.; 1I have followed the transliteration system in Hong Kong due to the context of this research project. The Cantonese Syllables (LSHK) is based on A Chinese Character Database: With Word formations phonologically disambiguated according to the Cantonese Dialect http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/...