China and the West

Aufführung von Major Barbara von George Bernard Shaw im Beijing People's Art Theater in der Übersetzung und unter der Regie von Ying Ruocheng ; mit Zhu Lin als Lady Britomart, Song Dandan als Major Barbara, Zhu Xu als Andrew Undershaft und Ren Baoxian als Cusins.

Wang Zuoliang schreibt eine Review in der Ren min ri bao ; June 20 (1991) : "What Shaw is saying in the play is in Western society, the capitalist rule everything. In order to show this through characterization and setting, he makes use of all his linguistic powers. The Beijing People's Art Theatre Troupe has this ability. They are nurtured by the spoken scenes in traditional Chinese opera, and trained by the Beijing People's Art Theatre Troupe's habit of paying attention to tone. Even the Chinese old poems also nurtured them. The attempt to perform various kinds of foreign plays in these years has expanded their experience. Therefore when the play began, the refined and yet authoritative expressions of Lady Britomart, played by Zhu Lin, aroused our expectations. When Undershaft, played by Zhu Xu, enters, faced by his wife who is difficult to deal with and his children, he courteously and vigilantly wards off their criticism and refuses their demands."

Shen Huihui schreibt eine Review in der Guang ming ri bao ; June 15 (1991) : "Major Barbara was first performed in 1906. Bernard Shaw stepped out bravely, crying out to stop the imperialist war. He was not afraid of being misunderstood or ciricized. Using his deep thinking, he foresaw that imperialism and capitalism would make use of war to lead mankind into a darker abyss. In Major Barbara, he satirically reveals the real purposes of the conspiracy between politics and religion, and criticizes sharply the church and political authority at that time."

Sun, Jiaxiu. He Xiao Bona xi ju she ci shang yan : kan hua ju Babala shao xiao. In : Xi ju ; no 8 (1991).
Er schreibt über die Aufführung von Major Barbara : "Act two is an important act for Bernard Shaw. It thoroughly exposes the evils of poverty and ist irreparable effects on society under the capitalist system. Capitalism deprives people of their dignity. Capitalism turns people into rude, cruel, and inhuman creatures as in the case of Walker. Capitalism produces an extreme polarity between rich and poor, as well as the moral degradation seen in alcoholism and dishonesty. Shaw wrote this act to expose the capitalist system, but the production did not effectively accomplish that exposure, especially with the excision of some of the discussion in this act."

Wendi Chen : The production was peculiar because the political, social and cultural climate of the time was not in favor of staging such a play, and it was significant because the production was charched with a serious social and professional mission.
The following day the Da wan bao (Beijing evening news) reported that "many people in the drama profession as well as a large general audience attended the first night's performance. The play was received with great enthusiasm". Ke Wenhui, one of the literary critics wrote : "The first night's performance ended with laughter and extended applause. The dramatic effect was extraordinary. It was an event unlike any other during the last few years".
Major Barbara was a major dramatic event for the following reasons : the great reputation of Shaw in China, the reputation of Ying Ruocheng and his cast, the prominence of the location where the performance took place and possibly, the striking contrast between the production of this foreign play and local productions.
Ying confessed that his interest in Shaw dated back to his college days in the 1940s ; it was his 'long cherished wish' to be able to put Shaw on the Chinese stage : "If we don't include Bernard Shaw, we are not presenting a full picture of twentieth century drama. Shaw occupies a crucial position in the development of modern drama". Ying was fully aware of the scope of technical challenges in producing the play. He repeatedly cautioned his cast with respect to Shaw's language and characterization. He warned : "Shaw's plays are seldom staged in China mainly because of his language. His verbal skills consist of many tit-for-tat witty exchanges".