Ming Yang

Ming Yang is Assistant Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a research fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden (2025–2026). Trained in Asian theatre at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, his research examines xiqu (indigenous Chinese theatre), especially Kunqu, a classical genre, at the intersections of performance analysis, cultural policy, and intangible cultural heritage. 

The project

Title: Kunqu: A Living Heritage Reimagined, Remodeled, and Re-enacted

"Kunqu, once a fading art form by the end of the twentieth century, was proclaimed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2001. It has since been repositioned as a "living heritage" through a sustained cycle of artistic and institutional reinvention. Focusing on the period 2001–2025, this project examines how contemporary productions and their cultural frameworks have reimagined Kunqu’s historical memory and heritage narratives for new publics, remodeled dramaturgy and institutional expectations under shifting cultural-policy agendas, and re-enacted inherited performing techniques to create legible stage bodies within contemporary aesthetics. Combining performance analysis with production histories, heritage discourse, and reception materials, the study maps these transformations across major productions, with particular attention to the renewed claims that theatre can serve social enlightenment and cultural education. By situating the post-2001 revival alongside earlier revival moments, the project clarifies what is distinctive about the current cycle and how embodied artistry and governance jointly shape what Kunqu can mean and do today. The planned outcomes include a book-length manuscript and related article-length case studies on aesthetics, heritage-making, and performance technique."

Hosting institution: Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme

Selective Bibliography

• "Kunqu: A Classical Opera of Twenty-First-Century China" Joseph S. C. Lam. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2022. 300 Pp. HK$700.00 (Hbk). ISBN 9789888754328. The China Quarterly 256 (2023): 1143–45.
• Return of the Soul: Inheritance and Innovation in the Process of Artistic Creation in Major Kunqu Productions in the People’s Republic of China, 2001–2015. Diss. University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2019.
• "The Modernization of Chinese Xiqu with a Case Study of Major Kunqu Productions in Mainland China, 2001—2013". In Modernization of Asian Theatres: Process and Tradition, eds. Yasushi Nagata and Ravi Chaturvedi, 165-185. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2019.
• "Living Heritage: Kunqu in the Post-Proclamation Era". In Sharing Cultures 2011, eds. S. Lira, R. Amoêda & C. Pinheiro, 275-282. Barcelos: Green Lines Institute, 2011.
• (Translation from Chinese into English) English Translation Series of A Hundred Peking Opera Classics, Volumes 1-4. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2013, 2018 (Volume 5 upcoming).