Charlotte La Nasa, Dramaturg for our workshop of American Yu by Terence Patrick Hughes, prepared some background materials on the Chinese history as well as definitions of key ideas and major terms in the play to serve as a refresher for the cast and creative team.
While not "required reading" we wanted to share them with you if you have the time and inclination to familiarize yourself with the same materials.
While not "required reading" we wanted to share them with you if you have the time and inclination to familiarize yourself with the same materials.
Twentieth Century Chinese History Timeline
1925 Chiang Kai-Shek takes over the Kuomintang
1926 in an attempt to reunify China and to purge the country of communists, Chiang spearheaded the Northern Expedition
1934 Mao leads his followers on the “Long March,” a 6000 mile journey to establish a new base in northern China.
1937 Start of second Sino-Japanese war
1938-1943 Japanese Imperial Air Service conducts bombing over Sichuan province, targeting residential neighborhoods and schools.
1949 Communists victorious against civil war with KMT. Mao named founder of the People’s Republic of China, and Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan.
1966 writers of the play Hui Rui Dismissed From Office harshly penalized for criticizing the government in their play about a Ming dynasty official who disclosed the dark truth about the mayor of Peking.
1967 Radical officials and Red Guards topple party leaders- many are paraded and beaten. Clashes over the direction of the Cultural Revolution deepen. Mao tries to rein in the most radical Red Guards.
1968 The authorities start sending millions of urban youths to the countryside. A campaign to “cleanse class ranks” claims many lives
1971 Niao Yu born
1972 End of U.S. Passport ban. President Richard Nixon visits China. Premier Zhou Enlai oversees efforts to restore the economy. In ensuing years, purged leaders are able to return to office. But Mao remains protective of his leftist allies.
September, 1976 Mao Zedong dies and his “Gang of Four” are arrested.
Late 1970’s- early 80’s moderates in power (most importantly General Secretary Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping) call Mao’s cultural revolution an “appalling catastrophe” and introduce reforms to bring China into the modern era. Dismantling Mao’s legacy, Deng Xiaoping aims to create a “Perfected socialist state with Chinese traits.”
1981 Hu Yaobang is secretary general of the communist party Gang of Four on trial
1988 economic reforms start to slow down
1925 Chiang Kai-Shek takes over the Kuomintang
1926 in an attempt to reunify China and to purge the country of communists, Chiang spearheaded the Northern Expedition
1934 Mao leads his followers on the “Long March,” a 6000 mile journey to establish a new base in northern China.
1937 Start of second Sino-Japanese war
1938-1943 Japanese Imperial Air Service conducts bombing over Sichuan province, targeting residential neighborhoods and schools.
- Communist party and KMT temporarily allied in the fight against Japan.
1949 Communists victorious against civil war with KMT. Mao named founder of the People’s Republic of China, and Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan.
- Set out to reshape Chinese society
- State took ownership of industry
- China's farmers organized into collectives
- All opposition was ruthlessly suppressed
- Soviet Union provided significant help.
- Massive failure that weakens his position.
1966 writers of the play Hui Rui Dismissed From Office harshly penalized for criticizing the government in their play about a Ming dynasty official who disclosed the dark truth about the mayor of Peking.
1967 Radical officials and Red Guards topple party leaders- many are paraded and beaten. Clashes over the direction of the Cultural Revolution deepen. Mao tries to rein in the most radical Red Guards.
1968 The authorities start sending millions of urban youths to the countryside. A campaign to “cleanse class ranks” claims many lives
1971 Niao Yu born
1972 End of U.S. Passport ban. President Richard Nixon visits China. Premier Zhou Enlai oversees efforts to restore the economy. In ensuing years, purged leaders are able to return to office. But Mao remains protective of his leftist allies.
September, 1976 Mao Zedong dies and his “Gang of Four” are arrested.
Late 1970’s- early 80’s moderates in power (most importantly General Secretary Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping) call Mao’s cultural revolution an “appalling catastrophe” and introduce reforms to bring China into the modern era. Dismantling Mao’s legacy, Deng Xiaoping aims to create a “Perfected socialist state with Chinese traits.”
- Four modernizations, previously introduced in the early 60’s, are the modernization of agriculture, industry, science and technology, as well as the military.
- Deng’s market-economy reforms: Deng slowly introduced elements of capitalism into the Chinese economy.
- Peasants incentivized: those who exceed their quota may keep or sell their grain, or give to the government for a bonus.
- Small private businesses allowed.
- Focus on foreign exports and assistance.
- Special economic zones where capitalist business practices were encouraged, with a fixed economy elsewhere.
- Deng’s market-economy reforms: Deng slowly introduced elements of capitalism into the Chinese economy.
1981 Hu Yaobang is secretary general of the communist party Gang of Four on trial
1988 economic reforms start to slow down
- In light of economic change, citizens begin to expect political change, and feel dissatisfied
- Students and young people become disgruntled. College graduates can’t get jobs because jobs are assigned based on party membership and relationships.
- May 4 anniversary protests grow
- May 13 hundreds of students start hunger strike
- May 15 Russian leader Mikhael Gorbachev visits china- 1st soviet leader in 30 years to visit the country. The party plans a huge welcome in Tiananmen square, then cancels and holds the event at the airport. Major embarrassment for the nation
- May 18 Li Peng meets with student leaders but nothing comes of it
- May 20 Li Peng imposes use of material law
- May 30 students bring “goddess of democracy” to the square
- June 1, 1989 all reporting out of China to the U.S. is banned
- June 2, 1989 - A reported 100,000 people attend a concert in Tiananmen Square by singer Hou Dejian, in support of the demonstrators.
- June 4, 1989 After weeks of protests, the Communist Chinese government sends in its military to fire on demonstrators calling for democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The bloody violence ends in hundreds to thousands of deaths (no official death toll was ever released).
- June 5, 1989 - An unidentified man stands alone in the street, blocking a column of Chinese tanks. He remains there for several minutes before being pulled away by onlookers.
- NIAO YU GOES TO PRISON FOR THE FIRST TIME FOLLOWING MASSACRE
Key Ideas and Major terms defined
Shu Shu: Mandarin for “uncle”
Chengdu: Capital of Sichuan province in China
Mao Zedong: Chinese Communist Party leader and Founder of the People’s Republic of China. The lasting opinion of Mao in Chinese cultural memory is that he was a great revolutionary, and revered as the founder of the People’s Republic of China, but he was not a great economic
leader.
Kuomintang: Chinese political party that most literally translates to “China’s National People’s Party.” They ruled China from 1927-48 under the leadership of Sun Yat Sen then Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang succeeded in unifying the country after the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and China’s last emperor, and suppressing communism in China. With the success of the communist revolution in China in the 1940’s, Chiang was exiled to Taiwan where he continued to run the KMT until his death.
Edgar Allen Poe nineteenth century writer of poetry, short fiction, and literary criticism. Credited as the father of science fiction and detective mystery genres, and known for his evocation of terror and horror.
Nathaniel Hawthorne a mid-nineteenth century writer born, raised, and educated in New England. He wrote tales, sketches and romances, usually drawing on his ancestors’ history in New England to depict dark elements of the human experience. Future great American writers learned from his use of symbolism and psychological realism.
Albert Camus renowned french writer. He reflected his philosophy of the absurd in his novels and writings. He also deeply valued individual freedom of thought which influenced his strong political beliefs. Camus staunchly opposed all forms of totalitarianism, saw the free exchange of ideas in Europe as more valuable than strong national boundaries, and derided nihilism.
Franz Kafka a german speaking Bohemian novelist whose writing uses magical realism to explore existential questions and absurdity. His best known works include “The Metamorphosis” and “The Trial.”
Not All There
by Robert Frost
I turned to speak to God,
About the world’s despair;
But to make bad matters worse,
I found God wasn’t there.
God turned to speak to me
(Don’t anybody laugh)
God found I wasn’t there—
At least not over half.
“The National Guard is a unique element of the U.S. military that serves both community and country. The Guard responds to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, counterdrug efforts, reconstruction missions and more. Any state governor or the President of the United States can call on the Guard in a moment’s notice. Guard Soldiers hold civilian jobs or attend college while maintaining their military training part time. Guard Soldiers’ primary area of operation is their home state.”- https://www.nationalguard.com/guard-faqs
Further Reading
- NYtimes article “China’s Cultural Revolution, Explained”
china’s_cultural_revolution_explained_-_the_new_york_times.pdf
- “How the Kent State Massacre Started”
https://coffeeordie.com/kent-state-shooting/
- “Crime Crackdown in China”
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP04T00367R000201190001-0.pdf
- “Letters to a German Friend” by Albert Camus
https://www.pdfdrive.com/albert-camus-a957894.html
- “Wakefield” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/Wakefield.pdf
Shu Shu: Mandarin for “uncle”
Chengdu: Capital of Sichuan province in China
Mao Zedong: Chinese Communist Party leader and Founder of the People’s Republic of China. The lasting opinion of Mao in Chinese cultural memory is that he was a great revolutionary, and revered as the founder of the People’s Republic of China, but he was not a great economic
leader.
Kuomintang: Chinese political party that most literally translates to “China’s National People’s Party.” They ruled China from 1927-48 under the leadership of Sun Yat Sen then Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang succeeded in unifying the country after the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and China’s last emperor, and suppressing communism in China. With the success of the communist revolution in China in the 1940’s, Chiang was exiled to Taiwan where he continued to run the KMT until his death.
Edgar Allen Poe nineteenth century writer of poetry, short fiction, and literary criticism. Credited as the father of science fiction and detective mystery genres, and known for his evocation of terror and horror.
Nathaniel Hawthorne a mid-nineteenth century writer born, raised, and educated in New England. He wrote tales, sketches and romances, usually drawing on his ancestors’ history in New England to depict dark elements of the human experience. Future great American writers learned from his use of symbolism and psychological realism.
Albert Camus renowned french writer. He reflected his philosophy of the absurd in his novels and writings. He also deeply valued individual freedom of thought which influenced his strong political beliefs. Camus staunchly opposed all forms of totalitarianism, saw the free exchange of ideas in Europe as more valuable than strong national boundaries, and derided nihilism.
Franz Kafka a german speaking Bohemian novelist whose writing uses magical realism to explore existential questions and absurdity. His best known works include “The Metamorphosis” and “The Trial.”
Not All There
by Robert Frost
I turned to speak to God,
About the world’s despair;
But to make bad matters worse,
I found God wasn’t there.
God turned to speak to me
(Don’t anybody laugh)
God found I wasn’t there—
At least not over half.
“The National Guard is a unique element of the U.S. military that serves both community and country. The Guard responds to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, counterdrug efforts, reconstruction missions and more. Any state governor or the President of the United States can call on the Guard in a moment’s notice. Guard Soldiers hold civilian jobs or attend college while maintaining their military training part time. Guard Soldiers’ primary area of operation is their home state.”- https://www.nationalguard.com/guard-faqs
Further Reading
- NYtimes article “China’s Cultural Revolution, Explained”
china’s_cultural_revolution_explained_-_the_new_york_times.pdf
- “How the Kent State Massacre Started”
https://coffeeordie.com/kent-state-shooting/
- “Crime Crackdown in China”
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP04T00367R000201190001-0.pdf
- “Letters to a German Friend” by Albert Camus
https://www.pdfdrive.com/albert-camus-a957894.html
- “Wakefield” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/Wakefield.pdf
