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Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science

ISSN Online: 2576-0548 ISSN Print: 2576-0556 CODEN: JHASAY
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ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.06.013

Curtained Theater Viewing and the Spatial Regulation of Female Spectators in Qing China

Yudie Liu

SOAS, University of London, London, WC1H 0XG, UK.

*Corresponding author: Yudie Liu

Published: June 30, 2026

Abstract

This article examines curtained theater viewing as a spatial practice through which Qing society regulated female spectatorship. Under Confucian gender norms, women’s participation in theatrical culture was neither simply forbidden nor freely permitted. Instead, it was negotiated through women’s pavilions, side balconies, raised boxes, domestic screens, and curtains. Focusing on court theaters and domestic stages, the article argues that curtains functioned as flexible boundaries: they enabled women to watch while keeping their bodies concealed and morally regulated. This arrangement produced a condition of visible invisibility, in which women entered cultural life through concealment. The article also analyzes the late Qing phenomenon of curtain removal, showing that this change was shaped by commercial interests, new ideas of female public visibility, and continued moral surveillance. Curtain removal expanded women’s access to theaters but did not end gendered discipline. Overall, the article shows how theatrical space materialized gender norms and structured women’s spectatorship through concealment, compromise, and limited agency.

Keyword

Qing China; curtained theater viewing; theatrical space

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Copyright

© 2026 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

How to cite this paper

Curtained Theater Viewing and the Spatial Regulation of Female Spectators in Qing China

How to cite this paper: Yudie Liu. (2026) Curtained Theater Viewing and the Spatial Regulation of Female Spectators in Qing China. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science10(6), 700-705.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.06.013