120th anniversary of Lao She’s birth

Source: China Daily (3/7/19)
Influential writer’s work lives long in memory
By Chen Nan

Range of activities mark 120th anniversary of Lao She’s birth.

“I am a nobody in literary and art circles. For decades, I have been conscientiously writing at my table. I am proud of my diligence. … I hope that the day I am buried, someone will put up an engraved monument, saying, ‘The nobody of literary and art circles, who has fulfilled his duty, sleeps here.'”

These words, from the writer Lao She, hang on a gray wall outside the Lao She Memorial Hall, a tranquil courtyard in Beijing.

Lao She lived there with his wife, the artist Hu Jieqing, and their four children from 1950 to 1966. A black-and-white photo of the smiling author hangs next to his words.

With this year marking the 120th anniversary of Lao She’s birth, a number of activities are being held.

Born as Shu Qingchun to a Manchu family in Beijing in 1899, Lao She is best known for his vivid descriptions of grassroots lives that reflect social reality and for his precise depictions of local culture in Beijing, especially his unique humor and use of the city’s dialect.

His novels, including Rickshaw Boy and Four Generations Under One Roof, and his plays, such as Long Xu Gou (Dragon Beard Ditch) and Teahouse, have earned him a stellar reputation as a linguistic and literary master worldwide.

Lao She committed suicide at Taiping Lake in Beijing in 1966 during the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), leaving a wealth of works that have inspired many generations. For decades, his works have been adapted into plays, movies and TV dramas.

The courtyard, which Lao She bought in 1950, is well-preserved in the traditional Beijing style. It occupies 400 square meters, boasts 19 houses and lies tucked away in Fengfu hutong (alleyway) near bustling Wangfujing, a popular shopping street in downtown Beijing. It opened to the public in 1998 as the Lao She Memorial Hall.

To mark Lao She’s birth anniversary, the hall is staging an exhibition at the Capital Museum. It opened on Jan 13, runs to March 20 and includes some 50 paintings depicting Lao She and his works.

He Ting, from the memorial hall, said, “It has become a popular tourist site, as the writer is one of the symbols of the city”, adding that a large number of valuable books, manuscripts, Lao She’s possessions and photos are displayed at the venue, providing snapshots of his life.

Vivid portrayal

Liu Tonghui, 19, a freshman at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing majoring in law, has served as a volunteer at the hall since September. Liu, who was born and grew up in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, works at the venue as a guide, introducing the writer and his works to tourists.

To better understand Lao She, she has visited many places in Beijing that are linked to him, including Xiaoyangjuan hutong, where the writer was born.

“After reading his works, I was impressed by his vivid portrayal of all walks of life. He also showed his love for the city in his works, which really touched me,” Liu said.

The writer states in his prose piece Missing Beiping (one of the city’s former names), written 1936, “I truly love Beiping … this love doesn’t come from minor details, but from the history linked to my heart and soul.” The piece was written when Lao She lived in Qingdao, Shandong province, and taught at Shandong University.

In the courtyard, Lao She wrote 24 plays and two novels, including Teahouse, one of his best-known dramas, which premiered at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre in 1958. In 1980, the theater took Teahouse to several European countries, including France, Germany and Switzerland, making it the first Chinese play to tour overseas

The three-act production, set in the Yutai Teahouse, a typical, old Beijing establishment, follows the lives of the owner and his customers through three different periods in modern Chinese history, from around 1898 to 1948. It brings a cast of more than 50 to the teahouse to reflect the changes taking place in society during this chaotic time.

The Beijing People’s Art Theatre, founded in 1952, has staged the play more than 700 times. A recent run ended on Tuesday, and the performances were so popular that a long line formed early each day to buy tickets.

“It’s said that Hamlet is the role that every actor wants to play. Chinese actors, especially those with the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, are dying to play the role of Wang Lifa, owner of the Yutai Teahouse,” said Liang Guanhua, a veteran performer with the theater, who played Wang 20 years ago.

Fang Xu, a Beijing native, is a director, scriptwriter and actor known for adapting Lao She’s works into plays.

Standing in the courtyard at the memorial hall and looking at the two persimmon trees planted by the writer and his wife in the spring of 1953, Fang said: “Lao She was a great writer because he was sensitive and observational. He was a great man because he loved life.”

Fang, 53, who graduated from the directing department at the Central Academy of Drama, started adapting Lao She’s works in 2011. His first attempt, a one-man show based on the writer’s novel The Life of Mine, tells the sad story of a lowly-ranked policeman in Beijing in the early 20th century. It was a big success when it premiered at the academy.

“I still clearly remember that after the first performance, a cleaner at the theater came up to me and said that she had enjoyed watching the play. She told me that she saw herself in the production,” Fang said. “That really touched me. It made me realize the magic of Lao She’s language, which transcends time and space.”

Since then, Fang has adapted Lao She’s novels Divorce and Cat Country into plays.

In 2012, he also performed in one of acclaimed director Lin Zhaohua’s plays, Five Acts of Life, a combination of five short stories by Lao She depicting the tragedy and comedy in ordinary people’s lives in Beijing in the early 1900s.

Like Lao She, Fang grew up in a courtyard in a populated hutong in Beijing, which makes him feel connected to the writer’s work.

“The characters in his works remind me of my neighbors in the hutong when I was a child. They are so ordinary, vivid and real, which is fascinating to me,” he said.

In 2016, Fang directed another stage production, Mr Ma and Son, based on the novel of the same title, which draws largely on Lao She’s experience when he taught Mandarin at the University of London from 1924 to 1929. The novel gives a unique view of what life was like for Chinese in 1920s London by telling the story of Ma Zeren and his son Ma Wei, who run an antiques shop near St Paul’s Cathedral.

Mr Ma and Son was adapted as a TV drama in 1999, starring actors Chen Daoming and Liang Guanhua. It was published in English by Penguin Classics in 2013.

Fang’s latest production is the play Lao She’s Six Stories, based on six short stories. Written in 1934 and 1935, they look at the lives and struggles of ordinary people, such as a young couple who live a hand-to-mouth existence. The stories also examine the relationships between neighbors.

Little-known story

Shu Ji, 86, Lao She’s eldest daughter, said her father wrote more than 50 short stories, and those being adapted for Fang’s play were authored while he was teaching at Cheeloo and Shandong universities in Jinan, capital of Shandong province.

“His language is simple but sharp. The characters he wrote decades ago are still relevant in contemporary society,” Shu said.

She is supportive of Fang’s adaptations of her father’s works, and under her recommendation he is working on a version of Lao She’s novel The Story of Niu Tianci, which was published in 1934.

“Compared with Lao She’s other works, The Story of Niu Tianci is little-known. But Shu Ji likes it very much and it’s a pity to ignore such a great novel,” Fang said. “The story is about a young man’s struggle against his social environment. I am sure that audiences will find the story interesting and connect to it. I am very excited about the play.”

To mark the anniversary of Lao She’s birth, Fang will tour his plays nationwide, including Mr Ma and Son and Lao She’s Six Stories, starting in Tianjin on April 24.

Lao She’s genius is not limited to his plays and novels. He also made a significant contribution to Quju Opera, a traditional art form believed to be the only local opera in Beijing. In 1952, Lao She wrote the play The Willow Well, and later called it Quju.

Since the founding of the Beijing Quju Opera Troupe in 1959, nearly 10 of Lao She’s works have been adapted for the art form, including Rickshaw Boy, Teahouse and Four Generations Under One Roof.

Beneath the Red Banner, written in 1961 and 1962, is the author’s unfinished autobiographical novel. In it, he tells of his childhood and family, including portrayals of his father, a soldier who served as a guard with a poor salary, who was killed during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and his mother, who supported the entire family.

For the anniversary celebrations, the Beijing Quju Opera Troupe will present performances adapted from Lao She’s works in August, according to Sun Dongxing, its director.

“The greatness of Lao She lies in his deep understanding and portrayal of human nature as well as traditional Beijing culture. There is always something connected to our lives through his works,” he said.