In the history of Japanese society spread of the Three Kingdoms story, mainly the integration of China's " Records of Three Kingdoms" and " Romance of the Three Kingdoms" the two different meanings of the text.Prior to the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the "Records of Three Kingdoms" is the record of the past history of China Ministry of history books, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the "Three Kingdoms" and popular version, to explain the "Three Kingdoms" in content.Both in terms of Chinese society may be different meaning of the text, but Japanese society is concerned, the difference may be only a difference in narrative to convey the message and meaning are the same, is the story of the history of recorded foreign text.The purpose of this study is to explore Japanese society in a different era, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", after the translation or interpretation, they demonstrate the significance of changes in China's image. Edo period of Japanese society has entered the peace, the general public began to have the ability to make contact with the consumer culture of the goods, "Three Kingdoms" in the space environment, such as the Japanese study Chinese history and culture of reference. When the Meiji Restoration, Japan was the impact of Western culture, a change in the past the Chinese learning attitude. "Three Kingdoms" has become the object of Japanese society, one study of Chinese. After World War I's high economic growth in Japan, the Japanese appear to read popular, and the commercialization of culture phenomenon. Mr Eiichi Yoshikawa Lynch's "Three Kingdoms" that reflects Japanese society, the rise of popular culture and Japanese society as a whole into the era of mass consumption. At this time the "Three Kingdoms" is regarded as China's history textbooks from the thinking, culture change has become a popular consumer goods. Japanese popular culture after World War II, the content, although generally extend the pre-war American popular culture with this combination of traditional Japanese social and moral of the model, and then updated by the development of the media, while for a number of performance, that is, Japanese comics one of them. 1970s, Yokoyama "Three Kingdoms" a Japanese comic book which, on behalf of a Chinese theme of the works. Further developed with China's image and culture related creation.

Beside the innumerable male characters in the Chinese classic, The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, there is one female general: Lady Zhurong (祝融夫人). This thesis addresses the research gap in studying the unique case of Lady Zhurong, the only woman in the novel that leads an army in battle. By using a qualitative method, the thesis investigates how Lady Zhurong’s portrayal is influenced by her gender. An intersectional theory is used to contextualize how her ethnicity as Nanman (南蛮) and her social status intersects with her gender. Furthermore, it compares her to how other minor male generals are portrayed. The analysis finds that Lady Zhurong’s character should be understood from the context of her ethnic background and the overall negative portrayal of the Nanman. Nevertheless, as suggested in the story through the description of the Nanman, some gender norms differ between them and the Chinese society of the time. This enables her to have more autonomy than other women which in turn enables her to fight on the battlefield and lead an army. Despite the general negative depiction of the Nanman, Lady Zhurong’s portrayal, performance, and the expectations of her as a general is equivalent to that of the male generals in the story. Compared to other Nanman generals she even outperforms them. However, her character should not be understood as merely an emasculation of the other Nanman-generals. Lady Zhurong has agency, and the findings can contribute to our wider understanding of women’s multifaceted roles in traditional Chinese society. / 经典名著《三国演义》虽然刻画了无数的男性角色，但它却只塑造了唯一一位女性将 领——南蛮女将“祝融夫人”。本论文以这个少见的角色为研究主题，采用质性研究 的方法，以祝融夫人这一独特的女将形象为例，分析研究小说人物形象的塑造如何受 到角色性别的影响。并利用交叉性理论的分析视角，结合祝融夫人的“南蛮”身份， 探究民族背景与社会阶层如何与性别交互影响。此外，本文也分析比较祝融夫人和其 他男性将领角色。所以本文发现因为小说对南蛮的评价负面,因此必须在这个背景当中 理解祝融夫人的角色。尽管南蛮和当时的汉人社会都有性别角色的差异，但祝融夫人， 比较三国演义上的其他女性角色有更多的自主权，甚而统率部队上阵。在对南蛮的普 遍负面描述中，祝融的军功和野心都是比肩男将军，甚至比其他南蛮将军更出色。然 而，这个角色的功能并不仅仅是削弱其他南蛮将领，而具有个体能动性。这些发现有 助于我们更广泛地理解传统中国社会中女性的多元面貌。

Aristotle stated in his Poetics that theatre’s dual purpose was to educate and entertain. Centuries later the Roman Horace and Indian Bharata echoed his same sentiments. I intend to realize all three theorist’s ideas on the theatre by creating an original educational and entertaining work and bringing it to performance. The audience will retain information without being aware of learning if it is presented in a pleasurable way. The most important geopolitical relationship of this century will be between China and America. In order to educate the American public about the culture of The Middle Kingdom, I propose to write and direct my own play, condensing all three thousand years of Chinese literature into a one hundred and ten minute performance. I will benefit from the personal nature of this thesis by experiencing every stage of a play’s production: from idea to page to performance. My thesis will be made of three major parts: conceiving and writing the play, a journal of directing the debut production, and a third section made of choices, influences, and reflection on the entire experience. In this manner, the ideas swirling in my head may be made clear to others reading this thesis. The play itself will be a comical distillation of ten selected works of Chinese literature. Four non-gender specific American actors will seem to make up the show as it performs in a tongue-in-cheek way. Taking my stated goal of entertaining and educating the audience to heart, the overarching plot of the play will center on the four actors teaching the audience about the literature and culture of China by acting out scenes and telling stories. The information in the scenes will be targeted to a normal American citizen’s educational level with liberal doses of humor added. The four actors will be playing fictionalized versions of themselves and at times iv breaking character by explaining and setting up the theatricality of the piece to the audience. Part of the fun of the show will be seeing how these actors explain a subject as obtuse as Chinese literature to Americans. Perhaps a cooking metaphor is the best way to think of the play: I will chop up raw Chinese literature, the actors will boil it onstage, the theatregoer will consume the mix, and exit the theatre full of entertaining intellectual nourishment. My experiences directing and producing the finished play will be recorded in a journal as a resource for future directors. I imagine directing the play will be the most challenging aspect of this thesis. How is the play changed when other people interact with it? How will the audience receive it? In addition, Committee Chair Mark Routhier and my thesis Committee Members, Mark Brotherton and Tan Huaixiang, will also give written responses to the play’s performances. The play will be performed October 10-13, 2013 in the University of Central Florida’s Performing Arts Complex Studio 2 classroom. In the final section I will write a reflection on the entire process. This will serve the dual purpose of giving me a place to collect my thoughts and giving others a special insight to the growth they might experience when producing this play. Foremost among my influences in writing a play with this subject matter are the style and tone of The Reduced Shakespeare Company