How theatre is applied by the Chinese state for neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics? The role of Mass Entrepreneurship and Mass Innovation policies in a Jingju (Peking opera) Theatre Company

ABSTRACT Neoliberalism as it emerged from the West, has been localised when it entered China along with the global market. In the 2010s, a series of neoliberal policies under the mass entrepreneurship and mass innovation (MEMI) initiative were launched to support an entrepreneurial environment for Chinese theatres. To understand how the state applied neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics to Chinese (applied) theatre via the practice of MEMI policies, this paper acknowledges Althusser’s theories of ideological state apparatuses (ISAs) and interpellation to demonstrate the construction of the ideological relationship between Chinese theatre artists and China’s government.