China and the West

William Shakespeare und Marxismus / Leninismus / Maoismus in China
Yanna Sun : The Soviet model of Shakespearean criticism exerted a great influence on Chinese scholars of Shakespearean Studies. In the Soviet Union, Shakespeare was regarded as an important Western writer for the Soviet critic and Soviet theatre ; accordingly, more and more Chinese academics were encouraged to study his works through translating Russian critical essays on him. As a result, these Chinese renditions developed into compulsory reference books for teaching foreign literature and Shakespearean plays at the Department of Foreign Languages and Chinese language. Basing their works on the theory of Soviet criticism, many Chinese scholars analysed Shakespeare’s plays from such aspects as the historical and social backgrounds for creating these plays, the class struggle and social conflicts in them, always leading to the conclusion that Shakespeare plays balonged to realism rather than romanticism.
Theatre companies, both hua ju and local genres, were organized under the leadership of the party and the government in each region at different administrative levels. State-run theatres quickly replaced most of the private companies.
Three plays were chosen by the Soviet experts : Much ado about nothing, Twelfth night and Romeo and Juliet. Following the Soviet experts' models, the majority of hua ju Shakespeare performances werde dominated by an intricately realistic but cumbersome scenography : grand scenery set in the Renaissance style with high pillars and broad arches, artificial make-up with prosthetic noses and wigs, and luxurious costumes. Stage presentation was guided by commentaries of Marx and Engels, and interpretation had to follow the same track.

Zhang Xiao Yang : As China's dominating ideology since 1949, Marxism has greatly influenced the social and cultural practices of the Chinese. The socialist revolution took place under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism because Chinese culture has elements in common with the principles of Marxism such as advocating active participation in state and local government and sharing similar moral and social values. While Marx himself tended to approach Shakespeare from a literary and artistic standpoint, his successors, especially in Russia, often interpret the playwright historically and politically to illustrate the Marxist theory of dialectical and historical materialism. The Chinese appreciation was mainly influenced by Russian Shakespearean studies, as can be easily discovered by persuing Shakespeare criticism in China from this period.
There had been a tendency in Chinese Shakespeare studies to link the plays with their Elizabethan and Jacobean historical contexts. Marxist theory states that people are the real motivating force of history. Influenced by Marxism, Chinese critics believed that all writers wrote for a particular social class, most likely their own.
Using the Marxist method of class analysis, some Chinese critics believed that in hist works Shakespeare described the conflict between the declining feudal system and the ascendant bourgeois force.
The studies of Shakespeare's philosophical ideas in China, ranging from his concept of nature to his views of history, are greatly affected by Marxist philosophy, especially its materialism and dialectics.
Engel's theory of literary typification has often been used by Chinese Shakespeare scholars to analyze Shakespeare's characters. Following this theory they tried to find how Shakespeare reproduced 'typical characters under typical circumstances', which was actually an endeavor to relate the qualities of Shakespeare's characters to the relevant social contexts shaping such qualities.
The universal appeal of Shakespeare helped him to easily adapt to the taste of the proletarian revolutionaries, even if he wrote mainly for the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Marxism has contributed to the positive reception of Shakespeare by the Chinese. Marx's historically and socially analytical method was commonly employed. This continued Marxist influence on Shakespeare studies in China is partly due to the fact that the impact of Marxism on the Chinese is so deep that some of his principles, particularly dialectic and historic materialism, habe become ingrained in the thinking of the people.

Murray J. Levith : The Chinese have mostly appropriated and adapted the playwright for their own purposes. They have dressed the Bard in various Chinese opera styles, forced him to be an apologist for Marxism-Leninism, celebrated his clunkers, neglected several of his masterpieces, excised sex, religion and contrary politics from his texts, added to them, and at times simplified, corrupted, or misunderstood his characters and themes. Perhaps more than any other nation, China has used a great artist to forward its own ideology rather than meet him on his ground.

Shen Fan : The study and criticism of Shakespeare was based on a few simple Marxist-Maoist theories of art and culture : 1. All societies – feudal, capitalist, and socialist – are divided into classes save for the primitive communist society and the final communist society of the future. 2. Each writer writes from the point of view of his class, consciously or unconsciously using his writing to serve his class's goals while reflecting society from its point of view. 3. All literature and art should be analyzed from a class perspective as a product of class struggle.
The merchant of Venice, which has been produced more frequently in China than almost any other Shakespearen play, deals with merchants, trade, banking, and love – all major concerns of Marxist Chinese interpretation – and presents spectacle qhich requires peculiar adaptations to fit the concentions of traditional Chinese theatre.