China and the West

Brief von Hu Shi an Liang Shiqiu über die Übersetzung von William Shakespeare.
Er schreibt : "Dear Shiqiu, I have received both of your letters, and officially assumed the post in the Translation Committee. The list [Ye] Gongchao has been preparing is almost ready. He has not yet handed it to me as the names of the various editions have yet to be filled in. I discussed the matter with I.A. Richards recently and with Zhimo in Shanghai. The idea is to invite [Wen] Yiduo, [Chen] Tongbo, [Xu] Zhimo, [Ye] Gongchao and you to work out a plan for the translation of the complete works of Shakespeare. We hope that a standard version can be made available within five or ten years' time. Do discuss the matter with Yiduo.
The fundamental problem is to decide on the type of language we should use to translate Shakespeare. My suggestion is to ask Yiduo and Zhimo to try verse, while Dongbo and you try prose. After these experiments we could then decide whether to use prose throughout or both prose and verse.
You'll be paid at the highest rates. This kind of books usually doesn't sell too badly and we may be able to retain the copyright for future reprints.
I invite comments from you and Yiduo. Please consult Jinfu and Taimou as well. I have already written to Zhimo and Dongbe.
On the fifth of January I'll be leaving Peking and going south on the Tientsin-Pu-kou train. I have a meeting on the ninth. In the middle of the month I should be able to travel north again. If I can manage to find enough money for the trip, I'll come to pay you a visit—just to dispell the widespread belief that Tsingtao [Qingdao] is inaccessible."

William Shakespeare's Dramen in China.
Yanna Sun : Chinese performances of William Shakespeare can be assigned to one of three categories : the first contains those stagings that preserve the original Shakespearean spirit ; the second are those that sinicize the plays by transplanting Shakespeare into the Chinese culture and society, adopting the traditional Chinese operatic styles ; the third group comprises those that synthesize both Chinese and Western elements in terms of textual interpretations and theatrical techniques, a hybrid of the Western and the Chinese style.
Lu Gusun : When seeing an actor wearing an ancient Chinese costume perform Shakespeare's plays some people feel that it looks like a square peg in a round hole. Actually, to wear different costumes is merely a matter of form. If English actors, when performing Shakespeare's plays, can wear Cossack uniforms and modern German steel helmets, if American players can wear Indian clothes and the Canadian performers Eskimo clothes, why can't Chinese performers put on ancient Chinese costumes ? There can be no doubt that so long as we preserve the Shakespearean spirit, the adaptation of Shakespeare's plays into traditional Chinese drama will further prove the universal appeal of Shakespeare and add extraordinary splendor to the Shakespearean theater of the world.

Film : Ye cao xian hua = 野草闲花 [Wild flower among the weeds] unter der Regie von Sun Yu nach Dumas, Alexandre fils. La Dame aux camélias. Vol. 1-2. (Paris : A. Cadot ; Bruxelles : Lebègue, 1848).

Wu Dayuan studiert französische Literatur an der Université de Dijon.

Zhang Ruoming promoviert am Institut franco-chinois Lyon und kehrt nach China zurück.

Jozef Hoogers ist als Missionar in Xijiadou (Shanxi) tätig.

Chen, Xiying. Yibusheng de xi ju yi shu [ID D26205].
Kam Kwok-kan : Chen Xiying's essay is one of the most profound and provocative Chinese analysis of Henrik Ibsen's dramas. Putting Ibsen in the cultural context of European literature, Chen reevaluates his art by considering the contributions he made to the establishment of modern drama. He also traces the new elements in Ibsen's plays to Eugène Scribe and Emile Zola. Ibsen, according to Chen, is greater than his predecessors as he has modified and perfected the technique of the well-made play. His social dramas add new life to the well-made play. Illustrating his arguments with textual references from The pillars of society, Nora, and Ghosts, Chen provides an excellent analysis of the development in Ibsen's method of playwriting. Nonetheless, contrary to the popular opinion in which Ghosts is recognized as Ibsen's geatest work, Chen claims that both The wild duck and Rosmersholm are much superior in regard to technique.

Chen, Zhice. Yibusheng de Qun gui [ID D26207].
Chen schreibt : "It is comparatively easy to discuss Ibsenism, or Ibsen's ideas and causes, for what one has to do is to read one of Ibens's plays and pick out a few key sentences, then one can write a full essay. As for me, I would like to talk about his dramatic techniques - those used in Ghosts. This is a difficult task for me, but since Ibsen is a dramatist, we should focus on his dramatic accomplishments, and only in this way will we not insult the artist. Ibsen's method differs from that of other playwriths in that, first, an ending becomes a beginning in his plays ; second, instead of chronological presentation, Ibsen uses retrospective exposition ; third, Ibsen gives up the conventional pattern of development ; all the three acts are expositions and the final unravelling comes at the end of the plays."

Kam Kwok-kan : Chen Zhice states that it is comparatively easier to discuss Ibsenism, or Ibsen's ideas, for in so doing all one has to do is to read one of Ibsen's plays and pick out a few key sentences, than to talk about his dramatic techniques, especially those used in Ghosts. Chen believes that any study should focus on Ibsen's dramatic accomplishments, for only in this way can one do justice to the artist. Chen's statement is a critique of the popular view that Ibsen is a social revolutionist rather than a dramatist. Chen points out, Ibsen's success lies foremost in his technical innovations.

Mao, Dun. Hong. (Shanghai : Kai ming shu dian, 1930).
[Roman, beeinflusst von Nora von Henrik Ibsen].
虹

Zhang, Changgong. Mi'erdun yu Du Fu [ID D26348].
Zhang schreibt : "Milton's basic principle was liberalism. His goal was to make liberalism applicable to religion, politics, education, and ideas. Through his characterization, Milton pursued libery for the people in all trades : peasants, scholars, teachers, jurors, collectors, etc. For Milton, liberty involved freedom of religious belief, freedom of education, rights of personal property, and freedom of ideas, imagination, literature etc.
His sole purpose was for the nation to grow... His prospect was that the nation could act with honor and justice, worship God, walk in the path of truth, and become a great united group with concerted life... Du Fu's wish was to restore order ; Milton's mind was devoted to the advancement of liberty. Du Fu dedicated his loyalty to the Emperor ; Milton dedicated his ideal of liberty to the nation... Politics is an important part of human life. The 'inspiration' of a political poet is different from that of a non-poliitcal poet ; it is more solid and more realistic. Du Fu's role as a political poet was one of the reasons that he occupied a special position in poetry – for his special gift could be better developed. So was the case of Milton.

Huang Chia-yin : Zhang is suggesting similarities and congeniality between Milton and Du Fu. Zhang pointed out the political undertones of Milton's three major works, although no direct descriptions of the actual events in England were found. Instead of qualifying Milton's ideas of liberty in the 17th-centgury political and religious struggles, Zhang transformed Milton into a liberal in the modern sense by the labeling of 'liberalism' upon him. So Milton advocated liberty at all fronts and fought for the rights and freedom of people from all social strata. Liberty was drawn out of Milton's puritan context and became a universal value that the poet would devote his life to for the well-being of his nation. Milton became the epitome of the ideal poet-statesman for many Chinese elites.

Hu, Shi. Jie shao wo zi ji de si xiang (1930). [Introducing my own thought].
"Mr. [John] Dewey taught me how to think ; he taught me to think with strict regard to the antecedents and consequences of thought, to consider all schools of thought and concepts as mere hypotheses waiting for proof. Dewey and Huxley enabled me to understand the nature and function of the scientific method."
It was also with Dewey that Hu received his systematic introduction to the function and significance of science and its method. Science, for Hu as for Dewey, was the whole realm of observational and experimental methods. It was a new philosophy of life which was 'built on the scientific knowledge of the past two or three hundred years'.

Tao, Xingzhi. "The text books prepared according to the principle of teaching-learning-doing combination". In : Zhong hua jiao yu jie ; vol. 19 (1930).
Tao devoted his life to the cause of educational reform in China. He was the first of John Dewey's Chinese followers to develop his own system of educational theory and practice, and the first to seek to extend Dewey's influence from the college level down to the rural school.

Performance of Bound East for Cardiff by Eugene O'Neill in China.

Gu, Jianchen. Shen dong. (Shanghai : Xian dai shu ju, 1930).
紳董
Adaptation von The emperor Jones von Eugene O'Neill.

Performance of Ile by Eugene O'Neill in the Department of Drama, Beijing University under the direction of Xiong Foxi.

Ezra Pound become more of an 'orientalist' and incorporate in his poetic pursuits research into Chinese characters and history, and, most importantly the development of the 'ideogram method' as the basis for a new kind of poetry. He had already written the haiku In a station of the metro, as well as other lyrics influenced by the Japanese and also based on the Chinese translations of Herbert Giles.

[Mansfield, Katherine]. Manshufei'er shi san shou. Xu Zhimo. [ID D30019].
Xu Zimo schreibt im Vorwort : "Mansfield, she is simply uniqug. Her poetry, like her prose, has its own flavor and rhythm. A simple and mysterious beauty vibrated forever on the tip of her pen. What she longed to reach and sought after all her life was a state of being crystalline, which she always aimed t in every respect – in her personality, ideas, and art of writing."

Mei Lanfang toured the United States. Marianne Moore saw a program of four short plays by him and his company. She was overwhelmed by Mei Lanfang's performance in female roles.
Letter from Marianne Moore to Monroe Wheeler ; Brooklyn, March 18, 1930.
I have seen Across the World with Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson, and tomorrow I expect to go to a program of four plays and dances by the Chinese actor, Mei Lan-Fang and his company.

Stark Young watched Mei Lanfang's performance in New York.
Mei Shaowu : Stark Young was so impressed by Mei Lanfang's acting that he called on Mei in person in New York and told him that in seeing the performance style of Chinese opera, it 'suddenly dawned on him that he had found the key to the solution of some problems in his theatrical studies'. (Mei, Shaowu. Mei Lanfang as seen by his foreign audiences and critics. In : Peking opera and Mei Lanfang. Wu Zuguang, Huang Zuolin, and Mei Shaowu. (Beijing : New World Press, 1981).
Chen Xiaomei : Young's view of the Beijing opera provides a striking example. Young suggested, that Mei Lanfang's art is essentially realist. He was astonished at "the precision of ist realistic notations and renderings". I twas for him a kind of ralism that amounts to "an essential quality in some emotion, the presentation of that truth which confirms and enlarges our sense of reality".

Thornton Wilder :
http://brbl-archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/orient/mod9.htm.
Thornton Wilder was inspired in 1930 by a New York performance by Mei Lan-fang, a legendary Chinese actor to transpose the Chinese "property man" into the stage manager and stress the minimalist setting of Chinese theater in Our Town.