Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0009-8709-1753
Abstract
Traditional Chinese theatre distinguishes itself by weaving human figures, natural landscapes, and supernatural forces into powerful expressions of emotion, often embodied in the interplay between female characters and the environment. Its philosophical foundation lies in the concept of yin—a principle in traditional Chinese cosmology that represents the generative, transformative, and enigmatic dimensions of femininity. Within this worldview, the environment is not a passive backdrop but an active agent that participates in and even shapes the life trajectories of female protagonists. Drawing on this framework and the lens of material ecocriticism, this article explores the ecological, material, and spiritual dimensions of feminine presence and agency. This article examines feminine supernaturalism in The Butterfly Lovers, a traditional Chinese folktale, The Injustice to Dou E by Guan Hanqing, and The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu. In these plays, the female protagonists’ supernatural transformations destabilize the limits of the human body, presenting subjectivity as a material entanglement of human and nonhuman forces. By foregrounding the entanglement of materiality, gender, and spirit, this article approaches traditional Chinese theatre from a new perspective and reconfigures the connections among body, environment, and cosmology.
Recommended Citation
Li, Yixuan
(2026)
"Feminine Supernaturalism: Matter, Gender, and Spirit in Traditional Chinese Theatre,"
Kritika Kultura:
No.
49, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13185/1656-152X.2244
Available at:
https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss49/5
