Hu Shi and Western Dramas (1910-1917)

In the last years of Qing Dynasty, Hu Shi appeared as another forerunner besides Wang Guo-wei and Qi Ru-shan in the trend of introducing foreign dramas into China. He attached importance to the interpretation of the famous works in western dramas and the observation of the stagecraft, so as to find the model for China's new dramas. However, this precursor was excluded from China's Shakespeare studies up till the end of last century though he was the first to persue and comment on the original works of Shakespeare in China. His studies of the western social dramas and acceptance of the idea of modernist dramas just after the founding of the Republic of China have neither been given due attention to for a long time or any positive historical appraisal deserved. This essay aims at looking into the fact that Hu Shi chose among and learnt from western classical and modern dramas when he studied in US and into his historical status and his contributions to the changes from classical period to modern period in Chinese theoretical criticism of dramas.