Environment and Social Psychology

A social psychological analysis of intercultural performance and identity negotiation in Secret Love of Peach Blossom Land

Xiaoyu Liu

Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia

Marlenny Bt Deenerwan

Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia

Shahnaz Binti Mohd Baldev Shah

Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v10i7.3841

Keywords: intercultural performance; identity negotiation; Chinese diaspora; postcolonial theatre; social psychology; cultural authenticity; Stan Lai

---

Abstract

This study investigates the psychological mechanisms through which intercultural performance facilitates identity negotiation, using Stan Lai's Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land as a case study to examine cultural identity construction in Chinese diaspora contexts. A mixed-methods design combined textual analysis with empirical investigation of audience responses across three participant groups: Chinese diaspora community members (n=108), non-Chinese audience members (n=108), and theatre studies scholars (n=108). Participants completed pre- and post-viewing assessments measuring cultural identity, intercultural sensitivity, and performance engagement, with 3-month follow-up data collected to assess sustained effects. Results confirmed all six-research hypotheses. Chinese diaspora participants demonstrated significantly higher identity flexibility scores (M=4.67) compared to non-Chinese participants (M=3.45) and theatre scholars (M=4.23), F(2,321)=47.32, p<.001, η²=.23. Viewing the performance produced significant increases in identity integration across all groups, with largest gains among Chinese diaspora participants (d=0.83). Cultural background emerged as the strongest predictor of cultural memory mediation effects (β=.42, p<.001), explaining 34.7% of variance. Strong positive correlations were found between identity flexibility and performance engagement (r=.67, p<.001). Thematic analysis revealed four distinct authenticity negotiation strategies, with Chinese diaspora participants employing hybrid and performative approaches at significantly higher rates . The findings demonstrate that intercultural performance functions as an "identity technology," providing structured opportunities for cultural identity exploration and integration. Findings indicate that theatre experience causes durable changes in psychology, which, in turn, justifies using it in multicultural learning and in therapeutic practice. The study becomes instrumental in adding empirical support to performance studies theories, and it provides novel models of insight into the process of negotiating the identity of the diaspora.

---

References

[1]. 1.I. H. Tuan, "History Intertwined with Memory: In-between Stan Lai's Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land and River/Cloud," in Beyond Shakespeare: Film Studies, Performance, Springer, 2023.

[2]. 2.C. M. Williams, "Diaspora literature: Unexpressed discourse and performativity in 'Dictee' and 'Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China'," Ph.D. dissertation, ProQuest Dissertations, 2009.

[3]. 3.F. Afzal and S. Javid, "Displacement and Belonging: Exilic Perspective on Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu," Harf-o-Sukhan, 2023.

[4]. 4.J. Y. H. Chen, "Questioning Homeland, Sensing Home: Performance and the Negotiation of Identity Construction in Cold War China and Taiwan," Ph.D. dissertation, ProQuest Dissertations, 2018.

[5]. 5.Y. F. Cho, "Rewriting Exile, Remapping Empire, Re-Membering Home: Hualing Nieh's 'Mulberry and Peach'," Meridians, 2004. Location(City, Country). Publisher; Year.

[6]. 6.A. Lo, "TINA LU: Persons, roles, and minds: identity in Peony pavilion and Peach blossom fan," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2003.

[7]. 7.V. Needa, "FACE: Renegotiating Identity through Performance," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kent, 2009.

[8]. 8.S. Huang, Mobile homes: spatial and cultural negotiation in Asian American literature. Taylor & Francis, 2020.

[9]. 9.S. Lai, Selected Plays of Stan Lai: Volume 1: Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land and Other Plays. University of Michigan Press, 2021.

[10]. 10.L. M. Greenberg, "Epistolary Women: Navigating Ethnicity and Authenticity in Ana Castillo's Mixquiahuala Letters and Hualing Nieh's Mulberry and Peach," Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture, 2016.

[11]. 11.B. Zhu et al., "Reassessing the Chinese diaspora from the South: history, culture and narrative," Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, 2023.

[12]. 12.S. Lim, "What's 'Chinese' in Chinese Diasporic Literature?" in The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Cambridge University Press, 2013.

[13]. 13.M. Lee, "Diasporic Literature: The Politics of Identity and Language," Academia.edu, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://www.academia.edu/16058150/Diasporic_Literature_The_Politics_of_Identity_and_Language

[14]. 14.L. Xiujuan et al., "Introduction: Chinese diasporic writing," J. Postcolonial Writing, vol. 59, no. 6, 2023.

[15]. 15.A. Amkpa, Theatre and Postcolonial Desires, London: Routledge, 2004.

[16]. 16.H. Gilbert, "Postcolonial theatres," Feminist Review, vol. 68, pp. 3-17, 2001

[17]. 17.J. Wong and P. Bundy, "Theatre-making and performance: The importance of authenticity in the process of 'being' and negotiating the 'becoming'," Applied Theatre Research, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 213-226, 2020, doi: 10.1386/atr_00039_1.

[18]. 18.M. Monfiletto, "How Post-Colonial Imagination Can Make Theatre into an Agent of Revolution," HowlRound Theatre Commons, Jan. 2021. [Online]. Available: https://howlround.com/how-post-colonial-imagination-can-make-theatre-agent-revolution

[19]. 19.G. Gilbert and H. Tompkins, Decolonizing the Stage: Theatrical Syncretism and Post-Colonial Drama, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

[20]. 20.W. Li, "From Peach Blossom Spring to Grotto-Heavens: Literati Writing on Daoist Sacred Geography in Song (960–1279) China," Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2022.

[21]. 21.M. Brabant, B. M. Watson, and C. Gallois, Psychological Perspectives: Social Psychology, Language, and Intercultural Communication. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter, 2007.

[22]. 22.O. E. Khukhlaev, “Integrative socio-psychological model for assessment and forecasting the effectiveness of intercultural interaction,” Social Psychology and Society, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://psyjournals.ru

[23]. 23.J. Sanchez-Burks, C. A. Bartel, and S. Blount, “Performance in intercultural interactions at work: Cross-cultural differences in response to behavioral mirroring,” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 94, no. 1, pp. 216–230, 2009.

[24]. 24.J. W. Berry, “Fundamental psychological processes in intercultural relations,” in Handbook of Intercultural Training, 3rd ed., D. Landis, J. M. Bennett, and M. J. Bennett, Eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004, pp. 166–184.

[25]. 25.C. Fusco, “The other history of intercultural performance,” TDR (1988–), vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 143–167, 1994.

[26]. 26.K. Leung and M. W. Morris, “Culture and creativity: A social psychological analysis,” in Social Psychology and Organizations, D. De Cremer, R. van Dick, and J. K. Murnighan, Eds. New York, NY: Routledge, 2011, pp. 189–210.

[27]. 27.R. Chi and D. Suthers, “Assessing intercultural communication competence as a relational construct using social network analysis,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 48, pp. 21–33, 2015.

[28]. 28.M. F. Tucker, R. Bonial, and K. Lahti, “The definition, measurement and prediction of intercultural adjustment and job performance among corporate expatriates,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 28, no. 3-4, pp. 221–251, 2004.

[29]. 29.J. Stier, “Game, name and fame—Afterwards, will I still be the same? A social psychological study of career, role exit and identity,” International Review for the Sociology of Sport, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 99–111, 2007.

[30]. 30.A. Shafaei and N. A. Razak, “What matters most: Importance-performance matrix analysis of the factors influencing international postgraduate students' psychological and sociocultural adaptations,” Quality & Quantity, vol. 52, pp. 37–56, 2018.

[31]. 31.T. Merten and B. Dandachi-FitzGerald, “Aspects of symptom and performance validity assessment,” in Handbook of Psychological Injury Assessment, Springer, 2025.

[32]. 32.R. M. Nob, A. B. I. Bernardo, G. C. Manguiat, et al., “The relationship between intercultural attitudes and global citizenship competence in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand: A cross-cultural study of PISA 2018,” Social Psychology of Education, Springer, 2025.

[33]. 33.C. Lundqvist, J. Camps, T. Vertommen, et al., “Toxic leadership in high-performance sports and its consequences for mental health and performance: A scoping review,” International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Taylor & Francis, 2025.

[34]. 34.M. A. Islam and B. Xin, “Emerging trends in mental health and work performance research: A bibliometric analysis and future research agenda,” Mental Health and Social Inclusion, Emerald, 2025.

[35]. 35.A. Turemuratova, M. Masharipova, et al., “Research on improving students’ collaborative skills based on multi-vector psychological training approaches,” Modern Science and Research, Inlibrary.uz, 2025.

[36]. 36.A. L. Hetrick and R. P. Jacobson, “Receiving help at work mitigates the negative consequences of performance pressure: Implications for depletion and citizenship behavior,” The Journal of Social Psychology, Taylor & Francis, 2025.

[37]. 37.W. Xue and M. K. M. Singh, “Unveiling the academic, sociocultural, and psychological adaptation challenges of Chinese international students in Malaysia: A systematic review,” Journal of International Students, OJED, 2025.

[38]. 38.Y. You, “Measuring social and emotional development with a ‘Western ruler’: Problematising the ‘cross-cultural comparability’ of the Study on Social and Emotional Skills,” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, Taylor & Francis, 2025.

[39]. 39.A. Zeb, M. Bin Othayman, G. G. G. Goh, et al., “Exploring the mediating role of psychological factors in the relationship between supervisor support and job performance,” Journal of Modelling in Management, Emerald, 2025.

[40]. 40.F. Zhang and S. Huang, “Associations among social mobility beliefs, academic coping strategies and academic persistence in adolescents with lower family socioeconomic status,” Social Psychology of Education, Springer, 2025.

[41]. 41.G. R. Slemp, J. G. Field, R. M. Ryan, V. W. Forner, et al., “Interpersonal supports for basic psychological needs and their relations with motivation, well-being, and performance: A meta-analysis,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, APA, 2024.

[42]. 42.Y. He, Y. Sun, Z. Zhao, M. Chen, E. O. D. Waygood, and Y. Shu, “Impact of social-psychological factors on low-carbon travel intention: Merging theory of planned behavior and value-belief-norm theory,” Heliyon, Cell Press, 2024.

[43]. 43.J. R. Lechien, M. R. Naunheim, A. Maniaci, et al., “Performance and consistency of ChatGPT‐4 versus otolaryngologists: A clinical case series,” Clinical Otolaryngology, Wiley Online Library, 2024.

[44]. 44.S. Zhang, X. Zhao, T. Zhou, and J. H. Kim, “Do you have AI dependency? The roles of academic self-efficacy, academic stress, and performance expectations on problematic AI usage behavior,” International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, Springer, 2024.

[45]. 45.M. Mohzana, “The impact of the new student orientation program on the adaptation process and academic performance,” International Journal of Educational Narratives, 2024.

[46]. 46.X. Zhang, J. Abbas, M. F. Shahzad, A. Shankar, et al., “Association between social media use and students' academic performance through family bonding and collective learning: The moderating role of mental well-being,” Education and Information Technologies, Springer, 2024.

[47]. 47.M. Barth, A. Güllich, B. N. Macnamara, and D. Z. Hambrick, “Quantifying the extent to which junior performance predicts senior performance in Olympic sports: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Sports Medicine, Springer, 2024.

[48]. 48.Y. Wang, A. Derakhshan, F. Ghiasvand, and M. Esfandyari, “Exploring Chinese and Iranian EAP students' oral communication apprehension in English: A cross-cultural mixed-methods study,” System, Elsevier, 2024.

[49]. 49.B. Nichol, R. Wilson, A. Rodrigues, et al., “Exploring the effects of volunteering on the social, mental, and physical health and well-being of volunteers: An umbrella review,” Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, Springer, 2024.