China and the West

Hatchett, William. The Chinese orphan [ID D19761].
Sekundärliteratur
Fan Cunzhong : Hattchett's adaptation was never produced, it was 'totally unfit for representation'. Probably it was never intended for the stage : it was essentially an opposition pamphlet. Hatchett seems to have made an attempt to introduce orientalism in The Chinese orphan. In the dedication he says : 'China has furnish'd us long with the Produce of her Earth ; with her Manufactures ; and I am willing to flatter myself, the Importation of her Poetry will serve to regale in its Turn'. But there is nothing oriental about 'the dull rhetoric of its blank verse' except the presence of some exotic terms. The dramatis personae indeed look like Chinese, yet what an odd jumble of historical characters ! There one finds Laotze, the famous sophis, an elderly contemporary of Confucius ; Kio Hamti, by which Hatchett probably meant Han Kaoti, the first emperor of the Han dynasty ; Siako, or Hsiao-ho, minister to the great Han emperor ; Camhy (K'ang-his), the second emperor of the Manchu dynasty ; and Ousanquee (Wu San-kwei), a rebellious general during the reign of Camhy. 'Camhy', which in Chinese means prosperity and happiness, is intended by Hatchett to signify 'bitterness and sorrow'.
The Chinese tragedy has for its theme murder and revenge. A monstrous minister of state murders his political rival and all his household except an orphan, who is of royal blood. A couple of faithful friends of the victim take the orphan under their protection, even at the risk of their own lives. The orphan grows up, and at the age of twenty he wreaks vengeance upon the murderer. The plot is crude and loose and shows flagrant violation of decorum and all the unities of the drama. Hatchett considered it 'very rude and imperfect' ; but he was struck by 'certain Strokes of Nature in it, Scarce to be equall'd by the most celebrated of the European Drama'. He discovered in it a political significance. His adaptation was dedicated to the second Duke of Argyle. By 1741 the impetuous Duke had won an unusual popularity : he had been deprived of all his offices after virulent attacks upon Walpole.
Hatchee addresses his Lordship thus : 'As the Chinese are a wise discerning People, and much fam'd for their Art in Government, it is not to be wonder'd at, that the Fable is political : Indeed, it exhibits an amazing Series of Male-administration, which the Chinese Author has wrought up to the highest Pitch of Abhorrence, as if he had been acquainted with the Inflexibility of your Grace's Character in that respect. It's certain, he has exaggerated Nature, and introduced rather a Monster than a Man ; but perhaps it is a Maxim with the Chinese Poets to represent Prime Ministers as so many Devils, to deter honest People from being deluded by then'.
The villain of the piece is Siako, Prime Minister to the Emperor Kio Hamti. Opposed to his is Olopoen, a meritorious general, whose descendant Camhy, 'conceived in bitterness and sorrow' is the Chinese orphan. Grouped about the orphan are a number of loyal friends ; Kifang, a physician ; Vanson, a great officer of the Court ; Susan, Captain of the Guards ; Ousanquee, friend to the physician ; and Laotze, a retired mandarin.
The device, though ingenious, is transparent. Under the thin veil of dramatic characters with exotic names one can easily recognize George II, Sir Robert Walpole, and His Majesty's opposition under the leadership of the Prince of Wales. The Duke of Argyle is there, so are perhaps Lord Chesterfield and Lord Bolingbroke. When The Chinese orphan was published in 1741, furious attacks upon Walpole had flared up again in Parliament : they were led by Carteret in the Lords and by Sandys in the Commons. A motion was introduced, though it failed to be carried, that an address made to the Crown for the removal of Walpole 'from His Majesty's presence and counsels for ever. The appearance of The Chinese orphan was opportune.

Liu Wu-chi : In his Chinese orphan, Hatchett introduced a series of long political harangues that are irrelevant to the story and hinder the development of the dramatic action. The hero is no longer Ch'eng Ying, or Kifang in Hatchett's play, who was instrumental in the orphan's revenge, but T'u An-ku, renamed Siako, an archvillain of a politican. Wheras his prototype, T'u An-ku, was a simple villain bent upon the destruction of his rival's family, in which were embodied all the traits of such an unscrupulous politician as Sir Robert Walpole might have seemed to be to his foes.
One of the most important changes made by Hatchett is the shortening of the time duration in the play. In Chi Chun-hsiang's story, twenty years elapsed between the third and fourth acts. During this time, the orphan grows up to be a brave and strong youth ready to carry out his revenge. In Hatchett's play, the orphan remains a minor and performs no active part. The revenge motif is therefore considerably lessened ; though Siako meets his deserved death, it comes as a result of his political failure rather than of a family feud. Hatchett retains the use of pictures to reveal the tragedy of the persecuted family, but these are not painted on a scroll for the curious eyes of the orphan, as in the original play ; instead they are embroidered on an imperial robe to be presented to the emperor, who learns from them how wicked his trusted minister has been. Hatchett's version is less effective than the original, in which the intensity of the orphan's feeling increases when he learns the secret of his birth and the tragic story of his family. In Hatchett's play the scene becomes tediously long, as the king finds out for the first time from story after story what an egregious ass he has been to let the crafty Siako cajole and hoodwink him all these years !
Hatchett also altered the characters of the Chinese play. Besides giving them entirely different names, such as Kifang for Ch'eng Ying, Siako for T'u An-ku, and, rather ridiculously, Laotse for Kung-sun Ch'u-chiu, he introduced new characters such as Bonze, the Chief Priest ; Ousanguee, Kifang's friend and painter of the pictorial robe ; and Lyping, wife of Kifang. Lyping was introduced to provide an emotional scene in which she cries to have her baby back when she learns that it has been sent away by Kifang and replaced by the orphan. But her hysteria contributes little to the plot ; nor does she appear again in the play.
As for the songs that are interspersed in the play 'after the Chinese matter', they are of little value or interest. They add neither to the embellishment nor to the development of the drama ; and they are as much unlike the Chinese songs as is the blank verse in which The Chinese orphan is written. As a matter of fact, Hatchett's only authentic notation is the 'bamboo discipline' giben Laotse, the retired old courtier. Hatchett assumes quite a new form, and the alterations are no improvement.

Willy Richard Berger : Hatchett ist der erste, der den Stoff vom chinesischen Waisenkind adaptierte. Das Stück ist ein politisches Pamphlet gegen Horace Walpole, ist aber vermutlich nie aufgeführt worden. Bei Hatchett ist ein verbrecherischer und machtgieriger Mandarin der Verfolger des Waisenkindes, das wie im Original durch den Arzt, der die Kinder vertauscht, gerettet wird. Den Bösewicht ereilt die verdiente Strafe, als seine Verbrechen offenbar werden, hier aber durch den König selbst, denn das Wagnis, den Waisenknaben im letzten Akt in der Rolle des erwachsenen Rächers auftreten zu lassen, traute sich ein englischer Dramatiker nicht zu. Hatchett hat sich recht genau an die chinesische Vorlage gehalten. Die politische Tendenz des Stücks schlägt erst in den letzten beiden Akten durch, die er aus A description of the empire of China and Chinese-Tartary kannte und ganze Szenen beinahe wörtlich übernommen hatte.