Rewriting History on China's Stage in an Intercultural Context

Rewriting History on. China's Stage in an Intercultural Context WILLIAM H. SUN AND FAYE C. FEI Mao Zedong, a proclaimed Marxist historical materialist, stated in the 1940s: "History is created by the people. But on the stage of traditional theatre the people became dregs, whereas the dominating forces were noblemen and their ladies. This reversion·of history [should bel re-reversed, so that the truth of history [could bel restored.'" Although Mao on this occasion was commenting on the reform of traditional Chinese theatre, such as Beijing opera whose repertory is based on ancient stories, he was never enthusiastic about the western-styled modem drama - his instruction to "re-reverse the reversion of history" has been widely applied to both. While noblemen, the almost inevitable choice for protagonists in historical drama, did not vanish from the theatre as Mao seems to have hoped, their traditional images were often altered. It was only in the 1980s that some artists, daring to question Mao's official interpretations of Chinese history, began to write history plays only for their relevance to contemporary life regardless of historical authenticity. Fascinated by the western artists' free adaptations of classics and writings about history recently introduced into China, a few went even further, incorporating ancient images freely in their experimental works. While almost all modem Chinese playwrights deal with ancient subjects, reflecting China's extraordinarily long and uninterrupted history, one can see three distinct developmental phases. In the ftrst and longest phase there is an attempt to present history with an "authentic" look with the primary aim of illustrating orthodox teaching. In the second phase the approach is to present a not necessarily authentic ancient story carrying some politically deftant message. In the thir~. there is a deconstructive approach, often mixing texts from both ancient and modem times, even from western cultures, and historical authenticity becomes completely irrelevant. The ftrst, the pseudo-authentic approach, is represented by some of China's most prestigious writers including Guo Moruo, President of the Chinese Modem Drama, 35 (1992) 65 66 WILLIAM H. SUN & FAYE C. FEI Academy of Science from 1949 till his death in 1978, and Cao Yu, the present Chairman of the Chinese Association of Arts and Literature, and China's best known playwright. Even after Mao died and the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, the deeply-rooted loyal-subject mentality fostered by his personality cult continued to produce historical dramas eulogizing the senior communist leaders, Cao Yu's Wallg Zlzao}llll (1979) being a highly publicized example. The title-character of this play, originally portrayed in a Yuan Dynasty play Han GOllg Qill (Autumll ill Ilze Han Palace), was well-known. In all ancient versions, the royal concubine Wang is forced by the emperor to leave her country and marry the ruler of Xiongnu, a strong rival of the Chinese "Middle Kingdom" at that time. In grief she drowns herself in a river on the border. In Cao Yu 's play, however, she becomes a joyful ambassador of friendship and good will to a neighboring minority nation, freely accepting her role on a glorious mission. Thus the tragedy of a victimized palriot turns into a comedy celebrating the triumph of diplomacy. Cao Yu cited historical documents to support his rewriting, and also criticized the ancient versions of his heroine as "not corresponding to historical authenticity at aiL" However, he also disclosed the political background to his rewriting of the history: Respected and beloved Premier Zhou Eniai, before he passed away, gave me this task to write a history play about Wang Zhaojun. I perceived that his message was to use this subject mattcr to extol the solidarity of the nations [ethnic groups] in our country and the cultural exchange between these nalions.1 The political task not only outweighed historical authenticity, but created a problem of credibility. A Chinese audience would find it hard to believe that anyone would want to marry a "barbarian" ruler in the never-to-retum-land; and Cao Yu added a new character to the familiar story as Wang's foil: Sun, a white-haired, elderly concubine who has wasted her entire life waiting to share the Emperor's bed, and never...