Huju: Traditional Opera in Modern Shanghai. By Jonathan P. J. Stock. [Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 279 pp. £45.00. ISBN 0-19-726273-2.]

Extract

This book is a welcome addition to the relatively small number of monograph-length studies dedicated to living Chinese opera traditions. Its focus on one of the hundreds of regional opera forms, Shanghai huju, as opposed to the better-known Peking opera (jingju), makes this book even more exceptional. Stock has designed his tome with the admirable goal of situating his study within the disciplinary frame of ethnomusicology. Broadly speaking, Chinese music has not achieved the same prominence in the general ethnomusicological discourse or the emerging “world music canon” as music of other regions, such as Bali or India. The reasons for this are many, and Stock should be commended for recognizing and aiming to tackle the problem. In his opening pages, Stock lays out the conundrum and questions where to position his study on a plane ranging from dry description to theoretical introspection. The book achieves a middle ground between these two extremes with most chapters organized around specific themes or theoretical concerns.