East Meets West: Gender Performance in Cantonese Opera Performers and Drag Queens

Abstract Cantonese opera performers and drag queens share noticeable similarities, both engaging in acts of gender-bending. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of both forms of performance, examining how each performance respectively negotiates on-stage and off-stage gender identities and how both have challenged gender labels and engaged with queer discourses. Taking on both a gender studies approach and a historical one, this study draws from existing queer literature and gender theories as well as examines historical accounts and background context. Findings show that Cantonese opera performances view gender as a label insofar as a mentality that one can embody completely on-stage and remove off-stage. Meanwhile, drag queens tend to disregard the importance of labels as imitating a gender is less important, continuing their queer identities off-stage. Drag queens have been more concerned with queer discourse while Cantonese opera performances are less explicitly labelled as queer, and historical contexts suggest the reason being the different ways in which queer communities face oppression in Chinese and Western societies, one favouring silent denial and the other more outward persecution. This study aims to provoke interest in the juxtaposition of both art forms and reveal different forms of challenging gender binaries across cultures, challenging Eurocentric assumptions of gender performing traditions and queer resistance. Keywords: Cantonese Opera Performers; Drag Queens; Gender-bending Performance; Gender Embodiment; Queer Advocacy