Queer Love in Chinese Opera

In a society governed by patriarchal norms, how did two women in early modern China manage to forge a marriage together?

Join us for a night of storytelling, where we reanimate a 17th queer Chinese opera: The Fragrant Companion 憐香伴. 

The event opens with a vivid oral retelling of the story, with its original arias reimagined in new poetic translations in English. From there, we turn to the visual world of the play, exploring woodblock prints and other historical materials while discussing the rich performance culture of early modern China that brought such stories to life. We will also reflect on the opera’s themes and legacy, tracing how this remarkable tale has been reinterpreted across time and media. The evening culminates in a live demonstration, featuring selected scenes and excerpts that bring the emotional and theatrical power of the opera into the present.

Synopsis:

The opera takes place between two witty and pretty women: a newly-wed wife named Cui Jianyun and a girl called Cao Yuhua. These two female protagonists exhibit incredible agency throughout the story: drawn to each other at first sight, the two women immediately express their admiration for each other through an exchange of poetry; by the end of their second encounter, they have already performed a secret wedding ceremony and pledged to be together forever––in this life and all future lives, as their vows say; then, in the rest of the play, the lovers successfully plot a marriage between Cui’s husband and Cao so that the two could accompany each other forever under

the façade of being wife and concubine.

About the lecturer:

Yiwen Wu is an artist-scholar, who’s currently a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, in the joint program between Theater & Performance Studies and East Asian Languages & Civilizations. Her research centers on early modern East Asian performance culture, with a special interest on translations and adaptations of classical works on modern stages. As a theater practitioner, her credits of original puppet plays include Sattva (Special Recognition Award at the 2024 Wuzhen Theater Festival), The Story of Lady Li (Recipient of Jim Henson Foundation’s Artist Grant), and Living Rock (Nasty, Brutish, & Short at the 2024 Chicago International Puppet Festival).