Frontiers of Theatre Studies
FTS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.111-121.
Print ISSN: 3106-8073; Online ISSN: 3106-8081
Journal homepage: https://www.ftsjournal.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64058/fts260113iicto
中国戏曲美学的国际影响力：
以美国戏剧《黄马褂》（1912）为例
何淑敏 (He Shumin)
摘要：本文以美国戏剧《黄马褂》（The Yellow Jacket, 1912）为研究对象，探讨中国戏曲美学在西方剧场体系中的传播路径、接受方式与文化重构过程。《黄马褂》借鉴中式剧场技法，展示了中国戏曲“虚实结合”、“以意导形”的美学特征，并在西方引发巨大回响。其对西方现实主义剧场的突破，彰显了中国戏曲美学对西方现代剧场革新的推动作用。中国戏曲艺术得以从“边缘”的唐人街舞台走向纽约、华盛顿等“中心”剧场，得益于彼时欧美现实主义戏剧日渐衰落、亟需革新的需求和美国戏剧界“振兴民族戏剧”的文化愿景，也在某种程度上反向推动了我国“五四”之后的戏剧改良运动，为中国戏剧的现代化探索提供了新的启示。《黄马褂》的成功所引发的一系列“蝴蝶效应”展现了“五四”前后中美戏剧艺术交流的互渗互鉴路径。
关键词：中国戏曲美学；中西戏剧交流；《黄马褂》；国剧运动；“五四”
作者简介：何淑敏，广东外语外贸大学博士研究生，研究方向为美国戏剧，电子邮箱：heshumin1995@126.com。
Title: The International Influence of Chinese Traditional Operatic Aesthetics: A Case Study of The Yellow Jacket (1912)
Abstract: This paper takes The Yellow Jacket (1912) as a case study to investigate the dissemination pathways, modes of reception, and processes of cultural reconstruction of Chinese traditional operatic aesthetics in the Western theater system. Drawing on techniques from Chinese traditional theater, The Yellow Jacket demonstrates the aesthetic principles of “integrating the real and the fictional” and “guiding form by intention,” and it generated significant resonance in the West. Its breakthrough against Western realist theater underscores the role of Chinese traditional theatrical aesthetics in advancing the innovation of modern Western theater. The journey of Chinese traditional opera from the “marginal” stages of Chinatown to the “central” theaters of New York and Washington, D.C., was made possible by the decline of Euro-American realist drama which urgently required renewal at the time, and the American theater community’s cultural vision of “revitalizing national drama.” In turn, this phenomenon also inversely propelled the drama reform movement in China after the May Fourth Movement, offering new insights for the modernization of Chinese theater. The series of “butterfly effects” triggered by the success of The Yellow Jacket reveals the mutual influence and mutual fertilization in Sino-American theatrical exchanges around the time of the May Fourth Movement.
Keywords: Chinese traditional theatrical aesthetics; Chinese-Western theatrical exchange; The Yellow Jacket；National Theatre Movement; May Fourth Movement
Author Biography: He Shumin, Ph.D. candidate at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Research Area: American drama. E-mail: heshumin1995@126.com.
Received: 18 Apr 2026 / Revised: 13 May 2026 / Accepted: 05 Jun 2026 / Published online: 30 May 2026 / Print published: 30 Jun 2026.
