Yeh, Catherine Vance, “A Public Love Affair or a Nasty Game? The Chinese Tabloid Newspaper and the Rise of the Opera Singer As Star” (2003)

Title : “A Public Love Affair or a Nasty Game? The Chinese Tabloid Newspaper and the Rise of the Opera Singer As Star”

Author(s) : Yeh, Catherine Vance

Year : 2003

Type : Journal article

Subject : History

Keywords : culture;press

Journal : European Journal of East Asian Studies

Volume : 2

Number : 1

Start page : 13

End page : 51

Language:Name : English

Support : Print

Abstract : Early-20th-century Chinese tabloid newspapers created the phenomenon of Peking Opera singers as pop stars. The tabloids, or xiaobao, flourished in Shanghai along with the entertainment industry. As a treaty port with foreign concessions, Shanghai avoided the legal restrictions and court influence of life in Beijing. Opera singers had long been social outcasts, classed lower than prostitutes, so turning them into media stars broke with tradition. Individual patrons had typically influenced the success or failure of an opera singer until the newspapers took over. Focusing first on the lives of famous courtesans, the tabloids turned to opera singers, especially dan, or female impersonators, by the 1910's, leading to the growth of theater criticism but becoming increasingly political as well.