Performing the borders: Gender and intercultural conflicts in premodern Chinese drama (Wang Zhaojun, Cai Yan, Su Wu)

“Border-crossing drama” designates a set of dozens of Chinese plays on border-crossing issues written from the Yuan (1277–1367) through the Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. Dealing with ethnic and intercultural conflicts, this genre features characters whose decisions about border-crossing are significant as enactments of nationalist and patriarchal beliefs. Set in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), when China faced continual threats from its northern neighbors, the Xiongnu, plays in this genre feature three historical characters, Wang Zhaojun (fl. 33 B.C.), Cai Yan (fl. 194–206?) and Su Wu (?–60 B.C.), whose border-crossing actions reflect aspects of intercultural conflict. Wang married a Xiongnu chieftain in a peace-alliance marriage; Cai was abducted by Xiongnu marauders and married to a Xiongnu lord; Su Wu, held prisoner among the Xiongnu after a failed peace mission, married a Xiongnu wife.; Chapter One introduces the theoretical and historical background of the genre. The focus is on feminist, nationalist, and postcolonial discourse. Border-crossing drama was especially popular when China was under foreign rule, as during the Yuan and Qing dynasties, since nationalist views encouraged the depiction of foreign invaders as the equivalent of Xiongnu barbarians. But gender problems complicated ethnic and nationalist issues, and this process of marginalization could not be completed without a female sacrifice in the borderland.; Chapters Two and Three cover the development of the three dramatic characters and the evolution of border-crossing plays from the thirteenth century through the middle of the nineteenth century. In Ma Zhiyuan's Autumn in the Han Palace, Wang Zhaojun, instead of crossing the border to complete the peace-alliance marriage, commits suicide and preserves her chastity. Her death enlightens the Xiongnu chieftain and secures his surrender. Feminine pathos and the marginalization of contemporary barbarians in a “gendered nationalism” contributed to the perennial popularity of the genre. While Su Wu could cross the border freely, Cai Yan's crossings aroused blame.; In Chapter Four I analyze a cluster of local border-crossing plays from the turn of the twentieth century, when Western imperial power forced a new definition of barbarians in China. After a brief Conclusion, I give an Appendix containing synopses of the main plays under discussion.