Chinese Shakespeares : an intercultural study of adaptations across performance genres

My dissertation uses the proliferation of contemporary adaptations and performances of Shakespeare in Mainland China from the 1980s to the present as an example to demonstrate the complicated language, historical, cultural, and socio- political interactions between the Chinese and the Anglophone world during the last three decades. It is an inquiry of the (re)presentation, (re)construction, and perception of Shakespeare in contemporary China, in a period of dramatic local, social and economic changes, vis-à-vis the increasingly powerful impact of the global consumption of literary, cultural artefacts. Focusing on the interactions that take place among Shakespearean text and performance and Chinese culture, the dissertation addresses the following issues: Why should Shakespeare be associated with China? To what extent can Chinese interpretations of Shakespeare tell us about social changes in China? How has Shakespeare affected Chinese theatre and Chinese culture? How can Chinese Shakespeares contribute to the general interpretive possibilities of Shakespeare and to the global awareness of foreign Shakespeares?Theorizations of theatrical interculturalism began in the 1970s, but until now, there has not emerged a unanimously agreed theory to explain intercultural theatre. My dissertation deploys cross-disciplinary approaches of translation studies, performance theories, cultural studies, comparative literature and the sociological theory of locality criticism to examine the mechanisms of adapting Shakespeare into Chinese theatrical forms and offers a thick account of the producing, promoting and perceiving of Shakespeare in today’s China. My analysis focuses on shifting localities that cluster around the artists, their works, and their audiences. The first chapter reviews the complexity of encounter between Shakespeare and China, laying the ground for my premise that Chinese performances of Shakespeare are invariably informed by ideological, political or cultural norms and constraints of Chinese society. Three genres of performances—huaju (spoken drama), xiqu (Chinese opera) and dianying (films)—are singled out in this study to discover key cultural and aesthetic moments of their encounter, influence and reception. Nine stage and screen productions are examined as products of the interculturalism of Chinese Shakespeares. My contention is that these intercultural productions have consciously interweaved Shakespeare and Chinese theatrical forms to resonate with the issues of Chinese society and construct the image of China in the globalised world

East Meets West: Identity and Intercultural Discourse in Chinese huaju Shakespeares

This article examines two huaju performances of Shakespeare—The Tragedy of Coriolanus (2007) and King Lear (2006), which are good examples of cultural exchanges between East and West, integrating Shakespeare into contemporary Chinese culture and politics. The two works provide distinctive approaches to the issues of identity in intercultural discourse. At the core of both productions lies the fundamental question: “Who am I?” At stake are the artists’ personal and cultural identities as processes of globalisation intensify. These performances not only exemplify the intercultural productivity of Shakespearean texts, but more critically, illustrate how Shakespeare and intercultural discourses are internalized and reconfigured by the nation and culture that consume and re-produce them. Chinese adaptations of Coriolanus and King Lear demonstrate how (intercultural) identity is constructed through the subjectivity and iconicity of Shakespeare’s characters and the performativity of Shakespeare’s texts

Thalidomide for Recurrence of Symptoms following HIV-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis

Abstract Introduction Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is a serious and fatal fungal infection that affects individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Despite treatment, recurrence of symptoms is common and could lead to poor outcomes. Corticosteroids are not always useful in treating symptom recurrence following HIV/CM; thus, alternative therapy is needed. Thalidomide has been reported to be effective in treating symptom recurrence in several patients with HIV/CM. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of thalidomide in the treatment of symptom recurrence following HIV/CM. Methods Patients who were treated with thalidomide for symptom recurrence following HIV/CM were retrospectively included. Clinical outcomes and adverse events were recorded and analyzed. Results Sixteen patients admitted between July 2018 and September 2020 were included in the analysis. During a median follow-up period of 295 (166, 419) days, all patients achieved clinical improvement in a median of 7 (4, 20) days. Among them, nine (56%) achieved complete resolution of symptoms at a median of 187 (131, 253) days, including 40% (2/5) of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), 50% (3/6) of patients with elevated ICP only, and 80% (4/5) of patients with symptoms only. Seven (43%) patients experienced nine episodes of adverse events, but no severe adverse event attributable to thalidomide was observed. None of the patients withdrew from thalidomide due to adverse events. Conclusion Thalidomide appears to be effective and safe in treating different types of symptom recurrence in HIV/CM. This study provides preliminary evidence supporting future randomized clinical trials to further investigate the efficacy and safety of thalidomide in treating symptom recurrence in this population

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Clinical and prognostic analysis of 78 patients with human immuno-deficiency virus associated non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Chinese population

Regimens of chemotherapy. Table S2. Univariate analysis of the factors affecting CR in DLBCL and BL patients. (DOCX 14 kb