ABSTRACT
The post-Mao market reform can be separated into two eras: the veteran yueju market reform between the mid-1980s until the mid-90s, and SYCs middle-aged performers' marketization from the mid-90s to this day. This chapter examines that how performers of each era responded to reform with initial enthusiasm and the continued internal managerial struggle. Then it suggests that the reason lies in changing value and belief, from collective to individual meritocracy, during the transitional era. In the second phase of marketization, the fate of the artists had grown ever more intertwined with the institution. The legitimacy of the SYC lies in both its political control over the artists, as well as economic profit through the artists and is becoming an impossible task. The internal struggle of the SYC, an ideological organ of the party-state, is not merely a managerial struggle but rather a reflection of the party-states own ideological turmoil.
