Abstract

This talk is about one of the most popular plays from the Yuan dynasty, Pipa ji. The speaker investigates the dynamic relationship between stage performance and literary genre.

Biography

Yihui Sheng is an assistant professor in classical Chinese literature. She received her doctoral degree in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan in April 2023. Her research focuses on drama and theater in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century China. She is also interested in the fields of book culture, media studies, performance studies, and gender studies. She is working on a monograph titled tentatively Performing the Page: The Intermediality of Chuanqi Song-Drama in Late-Ming China (1550s–1644).

In addition to her research interest in classical Chinese theater, Yihui Sheng has been a long-time amateur singer of Kunqu (Kun Opera) in the role type of dan. Her pedagogical methodology integrates literary analysis of dramatic texts with hands-on experiences of Kunqu performance, helping students acquire a multimedia understanding of the classical theater.