This chapter, “Owning Chinese Shakespeares,” pursues the critical concept of localization and critiques the fidelity-derived discourse about cultural ownership. How were Chinese Shakespeares used as a kind of staged utopia of modernity?

Underlying this study are three related lines of inquiry united by what might be called locality criticism, that is, analyses that focus on shifting localities that cluster around the artists, their works, and their audiences. The case studies in the present volume examine the interplay between the locality where authenticity and intentionality is derived and the locality where differences emerge, as evidenced by the works of intellectuals, theater artists, filmmakers, and writers, such as Lin Shu (Lin Qinnan, 1852–1924), Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren, 1881–1936), Liang Qichao (1873–1929), Lao She (Shu Qingchun, 1899–1966), Huang Zuolin (1906–94), Li Jianwu (1906–1986), Ruan Lingyu (1910–35), Jiao Juyin (1905–75), Yevgeniya K. Lipkovskaya (1902–90), Stan Lai (Lai Shengchuan, b. 1954), and Wu Hsing-kuo (b. 1953). Given the complexity of this cultural history, it is important not to lose sight of the temporally and geographically expansive patterns of cross-cultural engagement.