Nationality and Universality: The Rewrite of Madam White Snake under Globalization in Tian Qinxin's Spoken Drama Green Snake

The acceleration of globalization has expanded the experience of drama performance and spectatorship from a national terrain to an international sphere. With translation or adaptation, drama is endowed with the probability to transcend the boundary of one nation to reach audiences of various countries. In this condition, the share-ability of drama among cosmopolitan audience emerge as an essential issue especially in view of audience’s cultural discrepancies. Apart from language, this dissertation argues that the tension between nationality and universality in drama also plays a crucial part in whether one drama could be appreciated worldwide and could be further incorporated as part of world drama. Instead of addressing this issue from theoretical construction, this article attempts to shed light on it through a case study, grounding itself in Tian Qinxin’s spoken drama Green Snake. This drama, despite its engagement with distinct Chinese culture, moves beyond its national border to be admired by audience of America and Britain. Deriving its uniqueness and enchantment from a traditional Chinese folk saga that involves three worlds - human, Buddha and demon, this play in the meantime demonstrates its universality not only by the examination of individuals’ emotional predicament in modern society, but also by the deployment of modern stage arts.