City Stage: Hong Kong Playwriting in English

The Naked Earth

The Naked Eart h Evans Chan (Based on Eileen Chang's 195 4 novel) Evans Chan creates a cross-cultural 'guide ' in the character of Herb, an American army office r and counter-intelligence corps intenogator, to negotiate a path through his dramatic adaptation of Eileen Chang's own English version of the novel, which is based on her original Chinese text. Chang, like Evans Chan, was a former Hon g Kong resident and studied English at the University o f Hong Kong. The drama is framed b y Herb's Korean War experience, durin g which he develops an intense relationship with Chinese POW Liu Chuen, whose story is the core of Chang's novel; later, Herb finds himself branded in America for this connection during the McCarthy era, thus transforming hi s own life. This 'pla y within a play' stmcture allows Chan t o commen t o n wa r an d tyrann y i n bot h Chin a an d America, whil e providin g a 'translation' o f the Chinese context for an English-language audience. The Naked Earth had its New York debut in May/June 2000 in a Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America production directed by Joanna Chan, and was featured in a fall 2000 PBS documentary. Liu Chue n an d S u Nan , tw o junior Communis t Part y cadres , mee t a s idealisti c revolutionaries an d sexual virgins in mral China. These Beijing universit y graduate s hav e volunteered fo r th e Land Reform Campaign . Exposure to harsh rural life an d the cmeltie s inflicted by the Party in the name of reform soon temper their idealism. Their love is the one hopeful constant . When the Korean War starts, Liu is transfened t o Shanghai, and the lovers pledge fidelity until they can fulfil th e 28-7-regiment-l Party criteria for marriage: a man must be twenty-eight years old with a seven-year Party history to marry a woman with at least oneyear history. In Shanghai, Liu's innocence is tested by senior cadre Ko Shan who seduces Liu. His inflamed passions are emblematic of cadres' abuses of power. When Su is transfened t o Shanghai, there is an uneasy reunion. Su is still innocent, having never sunendere d t o the advances o f mal e superiors . When Li u i s arreste d fo r hi s tenuous connectio n t o a man condemned as a traitor, Su asks Ko for help, not realizing that Liu used to be her lover. The older woman introduces her to an influential senior official; Su's veil of innocence finally fall s away when she accepts that she must give herself to him to prevent Liu's execution. Liu is spared as a result but is shipped off to the Resist America Movement, and ends up a prisoner of war in Korea. The lovers are separated forever . Liu's story is told through an 'intenogation' by Herb who reflects on it as an elderly man. Herb becomes a kind of nanative spac e and time traveller, providing a layered perspectiv e generally associate d wit h a novelistic nanator . The drama is a stinging indictmen t o f th e corruption of tyranny and the insanities of war. In his final monologue, Herb says, 'Once upon a time, an old civilization and a young empire fought to a standstill on the 38th parallel. Two of us met across the enemy camps, connected, and shared so briefly our dreams for the passing of wars, the end of tyranny and the triumph of equality.' This drama is a triumph of intercultural and intertextual creativity . Our excerpt is from th e opening of the play which provides a n exposition to Liu and Su's situation and generates the subsequent developments. 216 Chines e Identity "The Communist party of China is the organized vanguard of the Chinese working class and the highest form o f its class organization. The Party represents the interests of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people. While at the present stage it works to create a system of new democracy in China, its ultimate aim is the realization of a system of communism in China" - Constitution of the Communist Party of China, 1945 "Be faithful i n this world to three virtues — charity, hope and a belief in justice . . ." - Spanish folksong Characters (in order of appearance): Herb, American...