ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Chinese performing arts in Aotearoa New Zealand from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 until the early 1980s. Using selected and significant tours and individuals, it highlights distinct political spheres of artistic activism and cultural diplomacy within a period of changing governmental relations and broader global influences. As a way of studying the power of cultural diplomacy, the discussion looks at two main examples with different national foci: (1) the visit of the Peking Opera Company to New Zealand in 1956 and (2) the activities of the New Zealand professor of music, Frederick Page (1905–1983). This chapter considers performing arts as a cultural spectacle that can allow these arts to exhibit political meaning within and across national borders. When this phenomenon is found in cross-cultural contexts, it becomes a signifier with powerful connotations that can be interpreted and critiqued from multifarious perspectives. Separated by subject and era, each case study examines the contribution of performance to cultural or soft diplomacy, whether as a result of direct governmental or government-supported activity, by an organisation, or by an individual or community.
