The conflation of performance, entertainment and prostitution in traditional Chinese society: a case study on the structure and operation of actor’s 'private apartment', troupe, and the theatre culture in late nineteenth century Beijing

Abstract

The rise of Beijing Opera from middle to late Qing Beijing is closely connected with elite audience’s fascination with cross-dressed boy-actors on stage, as well as the erotic pursuit of boy-actor’s services in restaurants and their master-owned “private-apartments”. In Chinese sources this dual identity or role of the boy-actors has to do with a long held conceptualisation of the performing traditions, chang you bingti (“the conflation of prostitute and actor”). This paper will analyze how this concept formed and materialized in Chinese history, and I will particularly focus on the detail how such a system and concept operated in the late Qing capital, the duties of the boy-actors, and the relation between troupes, theatres and “private apartments”. I will also examine how this impacted on late Qing Beijing theatre culture, public space and literati’s socialisation.