Spring Willow Society

The Spring Willow Society (Chinese: 春柳社; pinyin: Chūnliǔ Shè), later known as the Spring Willow Theatre (traditional Chinese: 春柳劇場; simplified Chinese: 春柳剧场; pinyin: Chūnliǔ Jùchǎng), was a Chinese drama troupe active from 1906 to 1915. Established in Tokyo by a group of Chinese students, the troupe drew from Western dramatic styles through the Japanese shinpa in its efforts to modernize Chinese theatre. Its first show, performed in 1907, was an act from Alexandre Dumas fils' The Lady of the Camellias; it subsequently adapted Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in five acts under the title Black Slave's Cry to Heaven. Despite dwindling numbers, the troupe remained active in Tokyo through 1909, when it performed an adaptation of Victorien Sardou's La Tosca. Alumni from the Spring Willow Society returned to China in the 1910s, seeking to continue their work in Shanghai. Under the leadership of Lu Jingruo, they developed a repertoire of more than eighty stories. Spring Willow disbanded after Lu's 1915 death. Black Slave's Cry to Heaven has been canonized as the first Western-style Chinese drama (huaju), and the troupe's adaptation of Othello may have been the first full-length performance of a Shakespearean play in the country.