On the transcultural rewriting of the Chinese play Wang Baochuan

The first English version of the Peking Opera Wang Baochuan, rendered as Lady Precious Stream, was translated by Chinese playwright S.I. Hsiung in 1934, when Chinese culture was little known to the Western world. This paper takes a descriptive approach to examine Hsiung’s translation and production of Lady Precious Stream in the historical context in which it was read, performed, and received in the target culture and to explore the reasons for the success of its wide reception in the Anglophone world during the 1930s and 1940s. Textual and paratextual analysis of the translated text reveals that Hsiung’s success depended not only on his skilful rewriting techniques and his deliberate use of paratexts but also on the influence of the patronage and the favourable political and social contexts of the receiving countries.