Professor Theater Management/ Theater Researcher at University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt/Main
International Theater Systems: Theater in China M.A. Theater and Music Management HfMDK Frankfurt The composer Qi Chu, gave us an excellent introduction into the history, present and structure of the Chinese theater system. Starting with the history of theater in the various historical dynasties up to the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong and from there to the present, we dealt with the various phases of development of the Chinese culture. Later, the students discussed the significance of the play Nora for the Chinese theater landscape and and its effects: the at least partial emancipation of women in the more academic and intellectual circles. Mao's wife, who later as his widow would take the Cultural Revolution to its extremes and lead it into a bloody phase of denunciation, persecution and imprisonment in camps, was once an actress herself and shone in the role of Nora. China is a theater country in the broadest sense of the word. On the one hand, the country draws on traditional forms of theater, comedy, acrobatics, dance and singing, which are shown at every opportunity in order to maintain cultural competitiveness with the West. But there is also a modern Chinese theater, with new authors and directors who also deal with political subtexts, which, similar to the Prague Spring of 1968, or the theater in the former GDR until 1989, are based on charging canonical texts with current political content. The training in the theater academies in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in many other cities in China, is also first-class. In 2024, over 9,000 applicants applied for acting at the Beijing Academy of Performing Arts, of which only 28 were accepted. The high demand testifies to the importance of theater in the country. This is just my opinion and does not take into account the opinion of our students: China's present is characterized by great diversity. On the one hand, there is political and bureaucratic Beijing, and on the other, cities such as Shanghai and others at the southern coast line where capitalism and forms of liberalism have taken root. And yet the Chinese Communist Party rules the country with a firm hand. Alongside huge leaps in development, we also find cultural conformity and violations of human rights, which do not change the fact that Western companies are happy to trade with Chinese companies or to invest in the huge country in East Asia. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is also currently in China. The thirst for Western culture, which coexists peacefully alongside Chinese culture, seems insatiable. Culture has great power and can bring people together, not only through artistic exchange, but also through exchange about values, and about ethical and democratic aspects of social life.