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Racial essences and historical invisibility: Chinese opera in New York, 1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2001

NANCY YUNHWA RAO
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Abstract

Describing the performances of two Chinese opera groups – the visiting famous opera singer Mai Lan-fang and his troupe on Broadway and the local San Sai Gai troupe in Chinatown – and their reception by non-Chinese Americans, this essay tracks various formations and effects of Chinese images in 1930s New York that were deeply imprinted in popular imagination. The regrettable invisibility of Chinese opera in American music history is a result of such a pre-constructed concept of Chineseness.

Information

Type
Regular Article
Information
Cambridge Opera Journal , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , July 2000 , pp. 135 - 162
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I am grateful to the late Irene Alm for her enthusiasm and steadfast encouragement on the project.