ABSTRACT
English classics occupy a uniquely prominent place in modern Chinese culture thanks to the uniquely potent way the English impacted modern Chinese history. Among all the English classics, Shakespeare remains in a league of his own, many of his plays having seen Chinese adaptations. George Bernard Shaw is still enthusiastically studied, but his plays have rarely shone on the Chinese stage. Oscar Wilde, whose fortunes in China rise and fall precipitously with the times, glitters brilliantly again in the “gilded age” of China today, with his plays being adapted/appropriated earnestly for much-needed comic relief as well as serious social satire.
