UDC

94(47).084.8:792

Authors

Yu Zhuang
Saint Petersburg State University; ul. Mendeleevskaya liniya 5, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation;
e-mail: zy.tanya@yandex.ru

Abstract

Chinese theatre was introduced to the Soviet Union in the 1950s and became an important part of cultural exchange between China and the USSR when state relations between the two countries were actively developing. It should be noted that, during this period, the propaganda of Chinese theatre was mainly based on a certain political strategy and was rather successful on the cultural level. Soviet people formed their idea of China not only through the media and academic papers on Chinese theatre: Chinese opera houses gave regular performances across the Soviet Union. Moreover, Soviet theatres staged Chinese plays, thereby increasing the popularity of Chinese theatre. For instance, two Chinese historical plays, The Story of the Western Wing and Qu Yuan were staged in Moscow. All these facts indicate that Chinese theatre was highly popular among the Soviet people in the 1950s. This article, based on archive documents and Soviet periodicals, attempts to trace the progress of Chinese theatrical performances in the Soviet Union. Analysing Chinese plays and traditional opera which appeared in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, the author comes to the conclusion that the propaganda of Chinese theatre in the Soviet Union was a means of strengthening the ideology of the socialist camp and served its political interests.

Keywords

Chinese plays, Chinese theatrical performances, Chinese theatre in the USSR

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