She brings Western theater culture to Chinese prisons
Ji Yuqiao Published: Dec 30, 2020 04:08 PM
Prisoners from the Tibet Autonomous Region Prison attend an art performance in 2018. Photo: Courtesy of the Tibet Autonomous Region Prison
A Chinese academic stepped into prisons, mysterious places to ordinary people, with her recent applied theater project, trying to get closer to prisoners and bring something different to them.
Zhang Xiaoye, a criminologist at East China University of Political Science and Law, has carried out her applied theater project twice in two seperate Chinese prisons. She addressed and shared her experience on Yixi.tv.
Zhang Xiaoye Photo: Courtesy of Zhang XiaoyeAlthough neither has lasted successfully, she still acquired deeper understandings of the system of Chinese prisons and those who committed crimes, and her project did have an impact on some prisoners.