Abstract

Opera functions not merely as a performative art but as a critical site where gender is constructed, contested, and reimagined through embodied practice. Among China’s diverse operatic traditions, Yue Opera (Shaoxing Opera), as represented in Xie Jin’s Two Stage Sisters (1964), distinguishes itself through its radical reconfiguration of theatrical femininity. Unlike Peking Opera, in which male ‘dan’ actors historically dictated the artistic ideal of womanhood, Yue Opera positioned female performers at the centre of artistic production, enabling them to redefine gendered performance on their own terms. Despite extensive scholarship on Yue Opera’s aesthetic innovations, its ideological function in subverting entrenched gender hierarchies and reshaping performative agency remains underexplored. This study examines how Two Stage Sisters foregrounds the transformative role of Yue Opera’s female performers, arguing that their artistic evolution was not merely an aesthetic shift but a reconstitution of the performative space itself, wherein women became both the subjects and architects of their representation. Employing a qualitative approach, this paper integrates Judith Butler’s Feminist Performance Theory, which asserts that gender is a performative construct shaped by repeated cultural enactments, to analyze how early Yue Opera performers redefined femininity on stage. Through a close reading of Two Stage Sisters, the study interrogates the interplay between gendered performance and socio-political change, contextualizing the protagonists Zhu Chunhua and Yuehong within the ideological landscape of the ‘New China’ era. The findings reveal that the film captures not only the artistic reinvention of Yue Opera’s pioneering female performers but also the broader socio-political struggles that accompanied their ascent. By positioning these performers as active agents in redefining the ideological and aesthetic parameters of their craft, this study highlights their enduring legacy in shaping operatic femininity and contributes to broader discourse on gender, performance, and cultural agency in Chinese theater.