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Context
Gallimard just met Song for the first time, and is impressed with the diva’s performance. He tells his wife about this encounter, and how the singer disliked Western opera and invited him to see Beijing Opera. Helga is confused and exasperated at the politics and culture clash, still trying to understand Chinese culture.
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Start:
GALLIMARD: The Chinese are an incredibly arrogant people.
HELGA: They warned us about that in Paris, remember?
GALLIMARD: Even Parisians consider them arrogant. That’s a switch.
[... … …]
End:
HELGA: Politics again? Why can’t they just hear it as a piece of beautiful music? So, what’s in their opera?
GALLIMARD: I don’t know. But whatever it is, I’m sure it must be old.
For the full scene, see the script edition cited here: David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly, Penguin Books, 1988, pp 18-19.
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Howlround Theatre Commons: M. Butterfly from 1988 to 2017
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