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Journal Articles by Jasmine Yu-Hsing Chen

Taiwan Insight, 2023

In Taiwan, outdoor Taiwanese opera performances next to temples have been essential to Taiwanese ... more In Taiwan, outdoor Taiwanese opera performances next to temples have been essential to Taiwanese religious traditions for decades. Most troupes adhere to the etiquette of performing “classical plays for matinees and opeilas for evening performances.” Unlike performances in the afternoon, which are mostly classical repertoires based on books and legends, evening performances are always energetic. With an electronic piano and jazz drums accompaniment, the actors on stage sing pop songs and dress in shining sequin robes, fancy suits, or colourful Japanese costumes. This hybrid performance style has been called “opeila” (oo-phiat-a), which is phonetically adapted from the Japanese pronunciation of “opera” (o-pe-ra オペラ) in Taiwanese. This unique subgenre of Taiwanese opera has livened memories in numerous Taiwanese people and is one of the most concrete testimonies of vital Taiwanese culture.

Taiwan Insight, 2023

In 2022, ​Taiwanese Opera performer Chen Ya-Lan (陳亞蘭) astonished audience members on the red carp... more In 2022, ​Taiwanese Opera performer Chen Ya-Lan (陳亞蘭) astonished audience members on the red carpet for the ​57th Golden Bell Awards (GBA). This annual award honours excellence in television and radio programs created in Taiwan. As a female performer, Chen broke records with her Best Leading Actor Award nomination. Her ability to freely switch genders in acting and appearance demonstrated the androgynous charm that is unique in Taiwanese opera performances. Chen’s nomination for the award attracts the younger generation’s attention to how Taiwanese opera, as a traditional performing art, is also advancing with the times and able to arouse discussions on gender themes.

Journal of Chinese Overseas, 2022

This article analyzes how the photographs of overseas Chinese performing Peking opera projected t... more This article analyzes how the photographs of overseas Chinese performing Peking opera projected the Chinese nationalism of the Kuomintang (KMT) across Taiwan (the Republic of China, ROC) and the Philippines during the Cold War. The analysis focuses on images in the periodical Drama and Art (1964–1972), examining theater and photography as mediums that worked together to (re)shape a ROC-approved vision of “Chineseness.” In addition to studying the circulation of these photographs, the discussion further looks into those aspects of the performances rendered invisible by the periodical, explicating how the Chineseness of overseas Chinese was produced and performed based on the KMT’s needs. Peking opera performance also functioned as a form of “emotional compensation” for Chinese-Filipino performers to act out fantasies of power while facing anti-Chinese sentiment in the Philippines. This article therefore argues that Peking opera was intricately linked to the conceptual construction of overseas Chineseness and its embodied practice.

Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature , 2021

This article explores how gendered Chineseness is represented, circulated, and received in Huangm... more This article explores how gendered Chineseness is represented, circulated, and received in Huangmei musical films for audiences in martial-law Taiwan. Focusing on Love Eterne (1963), the analysis examines how theatrical impersonations in the film provided a “queer” social commentary on aspects of Chinese nationalism that conflicted with the Kuomintang's military masculinities. Love Eterne features dual layers of male impersonations: diegetically, the female character Zhu Yingtai masquerades as a man to attend school with other men; nondiegetically, the actress Ling Po performs the male character Liang Shanbo, Zhu's lover. In addition to the “queer” imagination generated by Ling's cross-dressing performance, the author considers how the feminine tone of Love Eterne allowed the Taiwanese audience to escape from masculine war preparations. Although the Kuomintang promoted Ling as a model patriotic actress, it was her background, similar to many Taiwanese adopted daughters, that attracted the most attention from female audiences. This female empathy and the queer subjectivity arguably disturbed the Kuomintang's political propaganda. Hence, this study adds to the breadth of queerness in studies on the cinematic performance of same-sex subjectivities and invites new understandings of queer performance in Love Eterne as a vehicle that can inspire alternative imaginings of gendered selfhoods and nations.

Comparative Media Arts Journal, 2021

This article focuses on Pili, a popular Taiwanese transmedia puppetry that features martial arts-... more This article focuses on Pili, a popular Taiwanese transmedia puppetry that features martial arts-based narratives and fight sequences through CGI (computer-generated image) animation, and examines relations mediated between puppetry, camera, and animation. Pili productions use the traditional performing art of puppetry and add novel elements-combining craft techniques with filming technologies-to create a new transmedia genre. This new genre is not easily classified based on traditional puppetry forms, such as the conventional ideas of a puppet show, "puppet animation," or digital puppetry, as it is something in-between. Through exploring unfolding relations between puppeteering and filming, puppetry and animation, and old and new media forms, this study explicates how the transformation of traditional puppetry responds to the affordances of new media. Animation, camera movements, and digital editing collectively expand the possibilities of traditional puppetry craft and performance. The new form of puppetry rearranges disciplines, genres, and aesthetics. This analysis sheds light on Pili puppetry through animation and transmedia thinking to contextualize how animation's life-giving potential transgresses screen and genre categories.

M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture, 2020

The Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 2019

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, Oct 2016

Books by Jasmine Yu-Hsing Chen

Gender and Action Films: Road Warriors, Bombshells and Atomic Blondes, 2023

This article examines how the breakthrough of Zhang Ziyi’s depiction of a female kung fu master i... more This article examines how the breakthrough of Zhang Ziyi’s depiction of a female kung fu master in The Grandmaster (2013) transforms the figure of the heroine in Chinese action films. Zhang is well-known for her acting in action films conducted by renowned directors, such as Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and Wong Kar-Wai. After winning 12 different Best Actress awards for her portrayal of Gong Ruomei in The Grandmaster, Zhang announced that she would no longer perform in any action films to show her highest respect for the superlative character Gong. Tracing Zhang’s transforming portraits of a heroine in The Grandmaster and her other action films, this analysis demonstrates how her performance projects the directors’ distinctive gender viewpoints. I argue that Zhang’s characterization of Gong remodels heroine-hood in Chinese action films. Inheriting the typical plot of a daughter’s use of martial arts for revenge for her father’s death, Gong breaks from conventional Chinese action films that highlight romantic love during a woman’s adventure and the decisive final battle scene. Beyond the propensity for sensory stimulation, Gong’s characterisation enables Zhang to determine that women can really act— demonstrating their inner power and ability to create multi-layered characters—, not merely physical action. This essay offers a relational perspective of how women transform the action film genre not merely as gender spectacles but as embodied figures that link to emerging female subjectivity.

How to Actively Engage Our Students in the Language Classes, 2022

This article introduces a method for enhancing students’ motivation to learn Chinese as a second ... more This article introduces a method for enhancing students’ motivation to learn Chinese as a second language (CSL) by using Chinese glove puppets. Through guiding students to create a Chinese puppet show, the instructor effectively combines language learning with drama, folklore, and culture. Previous studies argue that learning culture can help to learn a language or highlight the importance of introducing cultural meaning in a language class, while little empirical evidence shows how to innovatively integrate language teaching with culture. This article therefore contributes to the literature on ways to use puppetry to promote “real language” learning of CSL in higher education. Hands-on performances make the language learning process more meaningful and memorable, because they not only occupy the learners cognitively but also engage them physically and emotionally. The curriculum instruction shows the effectiveness of adopting puppetry performance to enrich students’ CSL learning in an interactional and communicative approach.

A Century of Development in Taiwan: From Colony to Modern State, 2022

This article examines the origin and development of opeila (the hybrid and creative performance) ... more This article examines the origin and development of opeila (the hybrid and creative performance) in Taiwanese opera (kua-a-hi). Taiwanese opera’s conventional performance encountered transformation when the Japanese government launched the kominka Movement (Japanization Movement) and banned Chinese-style theatres in the late 1930s. Due to this censorship, Taiwanese opera troupes adopted the Japanese “period drama” (jidaigeki) and modern “new drama” (shingeki) to cope with Japanese policy’s inspections. The hybrid form of performance gradually composed a unique subgenre in Taiwanese opera: opeila, which continued to develop in post-war Taiwan. While it has been an essential subgenre of Taiwanese opera, opeila has received little attention from English scholarship regarding its historical background and transformation. Blending news archives with interviews of actors, this chapter articulates how opeila not only mixed Japanese and Chinese culture but integrated local creativity.

Taiwan Insight, 2023

In Taiwan, outdoor Taiwanese opera performances next to temples have been essential to Taiwanese ... more In Taiwan, outdoor Taiwanese opera performances next to temples have been essential to Taiwanese religious traditions for decades. Most troupes adhere to the etiquette of performing “classical plays for matinees and opeilas for evening performances.” Unlike performances in the afternoon, which are mostly classical repertoires based on books and legends, evening performances are always energetic. With an electronic piano and jazz drums accompaniment, the actors on stage sing pop songs and dress in shining sequin robes, fancy suits, or colourful Japanese costumes. This hybrid performance style has been called “opeila” (oo-phiat-a), which is phonetically adapted from the Japanese pronunciation of “opera” (o-pe-ra オペラ) in Taiwanese. This unique subgenre of Taiwanese opera has livened memories in numerous Taiwanese people and is one of the most concrete testimonies of vital Taiwanese culture.

Taiwan Insight, 2023

In 2022, ​Taiwanese Opera performer Chen Ya-Lan (陳亞蘭) astonished audience members on the red carp... more In 2022, ​Taiwanese Opera performer Chen Ya-Lan (陳亞蘭) astonished audience members on the red carpet for the ​57th Golden Bell Awards (GBA). This annual award honours excellence in television and radio programs created in Taiwan. As a female performer, Chen broke records with her Best Leading Actor Award nomination. Her ability to freely switch genders in acting and appearance demonstrated the androgynous charm that is unique in Taiwanese opera performances. Chen’s nomination for the award attracts the younger generation’s attention to how Taiwanese opera, as a traditional performing art, is also advancing with the times and able to arouse discussions on gender themes.

Journal of Chinese Overseas, 2022

This article analyzes how the photographs of overseas Chinese performing Peking opera projected t... more This article analyzes how the photographs of overseas Chinese performing Peking opera projected the Chinese nationalism of the Kuomintang (KMT) across Taiwan (the Republic of China, ROC) and the Philippines during the Cold War. The analysis focuses on images in the periodical Drama and Art (1964–1972), examining theater and photography as mediums that worked together to (re)shape a ROC-approved vision of “Chineseness.” In addition to studying the circulation of these photographs, the discussion further looks into those aspects of the performances rendered invisible by the periodical, explicating how the Chineseness of overseas Chinese was produced and performed based on the KMT’s needs. Peking opera performance also functioned as a form of “emotional compensation” for Chinese-Filipino performers to act out fantasies of power while facing anti-Chinese sentiment in the Philippines. This article therefore argues that Peking opera was intricately linked to the conceptual construction of overseas Chineseness and its embodied practice.

Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature , 2021

This article explores how gendered Chineseness is represented, circulated, and received in Huangm... more This article explores how gendered Chineseness is represented, circulated, and received in Huangmei musical films for audiences in martial-law Taiwan. Focusing on Love Eterne (1963), the analysis examines how theatrical impersonations in the film provided a “queer” social commentary on aspects of Chinese nationalism that conflicted with the Kuomintang's military masculinities. Love Eterne features dual layers of male impersonations: diegetically, the female character Zhu Yingtai masquerades as a man to attend school with other men; nondiegetically, the actress Ling Po performs the male character Liang Shanbo, Zhu's lover. In addition to the “queer” imagination generated by Ling's cross-dressing performance, the author considers how the feminine tone of Love Eterne allowed the Taiwanese audience to escape from masculine war preparations. Although the Kuomintang promoted Ling as a model patriotic actress, it was her background, similar to many Taiwanese adopted daughters, that attracted the most attention from female audiences. This female empathy and the queer subjectivity arguably disturbed the Kuomintang's political propaganda. Hence, this study adds to the breadth of queerness in studies on the cinematic performance of same-sex subjectivities and invites new understandings of queer performance in Love Eterne as a vehicle that can inspire alternative imaginings of gendered selfhoods and nations.

Comparative Media Arts Journal, 2021

This article focuses on Pili, a popular Taiwanese transmedia puppetry that features martial arts-... more This article focuses on Pili, a popular Taiwanese transmedia puppetry that features martial arts-based narratives and fight sequences through CGI (computer-generated image) animation, and examines relations mediated between puppetry, camera, and animation. Pili productions use the traditional performing art of puppetry and add novel elements-combining craft techniques with filming technologies-to create a new transmedia genre. This new genre is not easily classified based on traditional puppetry forms, such as the conventional ideas of a puppet show, "puppet animation," or digital puppetry, as it is something in-between. Through exploring unfolding relations between puppeteering and filming, puppetry and animation, and old and new media forms, this study explicates how the transformation of traditional puppetry responds to the affordances of new media. Animation, camera movements, and digital editing collectively expand the possibilities of traditional puppetry craft and performance. The new form of puppetry rearranges disciplines, genres, and aesthetics. This analysis sheds light on Pili puppetry through animation and transmedia thinking to contextualize how animation's life-giving potential transgresses screen and genre categories.

M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture, 2020

The Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 2019

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, Oct 2016

Gender and Action Films: Road Warriors, Bombshells and Atomic Blondes, 2023

This article examines how the breakthrough of Zhang Ziyi’s depiction of a female kung fu master i... more This article examines how the breakthrough of Zhang Ziyi’s depiction of a female kung fu master in The Grandmaster (2013) transforms the figure of the heroine in Chinese action films. Zhang is well-known for her acting in action films conducted by renowned directors, such as Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and Wong Kar-Wai. After winning 12 different Best Actress awards for her portrayal of Gong Ruomei in The Grandmaster, Zhang announced that she would no longer perform in any action films to show her highest respect for the superlative character Gong. Tracing Zhang’s transforming portraits of a heroine in The Grandmaster and her other action films, this analysis demonstrates how her performance projects the directors’ distinctive gender viewpoints. I argue that Zhang’s characterization of Gong remodels heroine-hood in Chinese action films. Inheriting the typical plot of a daughter’s use of martial arts for revenge for her father’s death, Gong breaks from conventional Chinese action films that highlight romantic love during a woman’s adventure and the decisive final battle scene. Beyond the propensity for sensory stimulation, Gong’s characterisation enables Zhang to determine that women can really act— demonstrating their inner power and ability to create multi-layered characters—, not merely physical action. This essay offers a relational perspective of how women transform the action film genre not merely as gender spectacles but as embodied figures that link to emerging female subjectivity.

How to Actively Engage Our Students in the Language Classes, 2022

This article introduces a method for enhancing students’ motivation to learn Chinese as a second ... more This article introduces a method for enhancing students’ motivation to learn Chinese as a second language (CSL) by using Chinese glove puppets. Through guiding students to create a Chinese puppet show, the instructor effectively combines language learning with drama, folklore, and culture. Previous studies argue that learning culture can help to learn a language or highlight the importance of introducing cultural meaning in a language class, while little empirical evidence shows how to innovatively integrate language teaching with culture. This article therefore contributes to the literature on ways to use puppetry to promote “real language” learning of CSL in higher education. Hands-on performances make the language learning process more meaningful and memorable, because they not only occupy the learners cognitively but also engage them physically and emotionally. The curriculum instruction shows the effectiveness of adopting puppetry performance to enrich students’ CSL learning in an interactional and communicative approach.

A Century of Development in Taiwan: From Colony to Modern State, 2022

This article examines the origin and development of opeila (the hybrid and creative performance) ... more This article examines the origin and development of opeila (the hybrid and creative performance) in Taiwanese opera (kua-a-hi). Taiwanese opera’s conventional performance encountered transformation when the Japanese government launched the kominka Movement (Japanization Movement) and banned Chinese-style theatres in the late 1930s. Due to this censorship, Taiwanese opera troupes adopted the Japanese “period drama” (jidaigeki) and modern “new drama” (shingeki) to cope with Japanese policy’s inspections. The hybrid form of performance gradually composed a unique subgenre in Taiwanese opera: opeila, which continued to develop in post-war Taiwan. While it has been an essential subgenre of Taiwanese opera, opeila has received little attention from English scholarship regarding its historical background and transformation. Blending news archives with interviews of actors, this chapter articulates how opeila not only mixed Japanese and Chinese culture but integrated local creativity.