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Hong, Shen

(Wujin, Jiangsu 1894-1955 Beijing) : Dramatiker

Subjects

Index of Names : China / Literature : China / Periods : China : People's Republic (1949-) / Periods : China : Republic (1912-1949)

Chronology Entries (9)

# Year Text Linked Data
1 1919-1922 Hong Shen studiert Literatur und Dramatik an der Harvard University.
  • Document: A biographical dictionary of modern Chinese writers. Compiled by the Modern Chinese Literary Archives. (Beijing : New World Press, 1994). (BioD, Publication)
2 1920 Performance of The emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill, Nov. 1, 1920 by the Provincetown players in the Playwright's Theater in New York.
Hong Shen watched one performance.
3 1923 Hong, Shen. Yama Chao = Zhao Yanwang. In : Dong fang za zhi ; vol. 20, no 1-2 (1923). = In : Hong Shen xi qu ji. (Shanghai : Xian dai shu ju, 1933). [Geschrieben 1922].
Performance of The Yama Chao = Zhao Yanwang by Hong Shen. Adaptation of The emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill. Hong Shen played the main role.
In the newspaper 'Ching bao' reported that the performance was a failure because the audience couldn't understand it and even regarded the actor as a maniac.
Hong Shen : "Zhao Yanwang is intended to show that society should be held responsible for the sins of the individual. No one in the world is born morally good or bad. Both the good and the bad are products of their environment. Nor is there anyone who is perfectly good or absolutely bad, for human behavior is rather complicates. But why is Zhao like this ? If we can study his life story and the stories of people like him, we will find they might all have suffered seriously from maltreatment and unhappy experiences, especially when they were too young to resist."
"The first scene is somewhat splendid – the language, in particular, is condensed and the dialogues are full of vitality. From the second scene on, he borrows the background and facts from Eugene O'Neill's The emperor Jones, such as circling in the forest, becoming delirious and seeing hallucinations and being chased with people beating the drums, and so on. Apart from the meaning of its subject matter, nothing else in the play is worthy of mention"
Cheng Fu-tsai : Although Hong Shen is fiercely attacked for his imitation of O'Neill's play, his adaptation is undoubtedly a creation of his own rather than a mere mimicry of the American prototype. He has not just incorporated the expressionistic devices into his own play, but has striven to make the play represent and reflect the social and political situation of China in the 1920s. His attempt at externalizing the psychological fear of an escaped convict in modern Chinese drama is unmatched. Thus, the creation of The Yama Chao has achieved a certain degree of success in early modern Chinese drama.
From one of Hong Shen's admissions it ensues that for eight scenes of the drama he utilized the 'background and the facts' from The emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill, and only the first scene, according to him, 'is essential, its style is cohesive and selective, the dialogue is impressive', hence, only this part of the drama is really original.
The Yama Chao borrowed from its American prototype the theme of money, the division of scenes, the use of soliloquies and the psychological treatment of hallucinations in a forest setting. Act three is an adaptation of the forest scenes from The emperor Jones. The Yama Chao follows in scene division, motif, and technical devices.
Hong Shen found O'Neill's symbolic treatment of social and individual ills in The emperor Jones congenial to his own purpose of staging social reform : the predominantly male cast in O'Neill's play attracted Hong Shen.
Hong, Shen : "I am extremely disgusted at the male's impersonating female characters. It is perhaps because I have read too much of Freud's works on abnormal sexuality. Every time I see a man putting on the make-up of a woman, I really feel like having goose-pimples all over me. But I still want to stage a play, and consequently the only thing I can do is to write a play which does not require female characters at all. This is one of the reasons why I made up my mind to borrow the form of Eugene O'Neill's The emperor Jones when the subject-matter of The Yama Chao was decided upon". [In : Zhongguo hua ju yun dong wu shi nian shi liao ji. Tian Han [et al.] zhu. (Beijing : Zhongguo xi ju chu ban she, 1958). 中国话剧运动五十年史料集].
  • Document: Chen, David Y. Two Chinese adaptations of Eugene O'Neill's 'The emperor Jones'. In : Modern drama ; Vol. 9, no 1 (1966). (One45, Publication)
  • Document: Frenz, Horst. Eugene O'Neill and China. In : Tamkang review ; vol. 10, no 1-2 (1979). (One46, Publication)
  • Document: Gálik, Márian. Milestones in Sino-Western literary confrontation, 1898-1979. (Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1986). (Asiatische Forschungen ; Bd. 98). S. 126. (Gal9, Publication)
  • Document: Liu, Haiping. Eugene O'Neill in China. In : Theatre survey ; vol. 29 (1988). S. 14. (One42, Publication)
  • Document: Cheng, Fu-tsai. Eugene O'Neill in China. (Master thesis, Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University, 2005).
    http://etdncku.lib.ncku.edu.tw/theses/available/etd-0705105-103717/unrestricted/etd-0705105-103717.pdf. S. 3132, 36. (One40, Publication)
  • Person: O'Neill, Eugene
4 1924 Aufführung von Lady Windermere's fan von Oscar Wilde unter der Regie von Hong Shen für die Shanghai Drama Association.
5 1928 Film : Shao nai nai de shan zi = 少奶奶的扇子 [The young mistress's fan] in der Übersetzhung von Hong Shen, unter der Regie von Zhang Shichuan nach Wilde, Oscar. Lady Windermere's fan. (London : Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893). (Kline/Roethke collection). [Erstaufführung 1892 St. James Theatre London].
Hong Shen was not satisfied with the several versions of translation as 'they were not appropriate to the Chinese theatre'. He translated it again, and made many changes according to his own taste. As one critic observes, "All the place names and the names of persons are given in common Chinese names, and the details of everyday life are also adapted to Chinese custom and convention. Only the main theme and the general spirit of the play, plus the plot and setting, remained with the original style". Mao Dun : "Five hundred tickets were sold out immediately, and they had to issue two hundred extra tickets. After the first night personages of various circles in Shanghai strongly demanded extra performances."
6 1933 Hong, Shen. Hong Shen xi qu ji. [O'Neill and Hong Shen]. [ID D28773].
The fictive conversation between two representatives of modern American and modern Chinese literature takes place in January 1933 and their meeting place are the opposite shores of the Pacific Ocean. The conversation turns around the question of imitation and originality in the dramatic work and concerns mostly O'Neill's Mourning becomes Electra. At the start Hong Shen reproaches O'Neill with having unduly copied Aeschylus and his Oresteia. Nonetheless, his admiration belongs to O'Neill for he writes ; "I like very much to read your plays. They explain the oldest affairs and conflicts with the aid of the latest scholarly notions. This is very correct and I admire you for it". Yet despite this admiration, O'Neill seems in this conversation to be no more than the speaker of Hong Shen's ideas. O'Neill appears as an older school-fellow. Hong Shen accepts to be instructed by him, but in reality O'Neill says only what suits Hong Shen's ideological and artistic design. This then is equivalent to asserting that the statements in this dialogue are Hong Shen's own statements.
Hong Shen writes : "Food and love are to great needs in human life : man cannot avoid satisfying these two physiological needs. Numerous writers from ancient until modern times have described various murders committed to provide food. But few have described this truthfully and deeply. There are many who have described murders for the sake of love ; however, there the relationships are usually distorted or delineated superficially. It would be very difficult to find one who can describe these conflicts as deeply as did O'Neill."
  • Document: Gálik, Márian. Milestones in Sino-Western literary confrontation, 1898-1979. (Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1986). (Asiatische Forschungen ; Bd. 98). S. 132-133. (Gal9, Publication)
  • Person: O'Neill, Eugene
7 1936 Zhongguo xin wen xue da xi. Zhao Jiabi zhu bian. (Shanghai : Liang you tu shu gong si, 1936). [A comprehensive anthology of modern Chinese literature]. 中國新文學大系
Hong Shen : "[Professor George P. Baker] has been teaching at Harvard for more than twenty years since I arrived there. He has countless outstanding students in dramatic circles, and [Eugene] O'Neill is one of them. His dramatic course, called English 47, is known throughout America."
8 1937 Yuan, Changying. Shan ju san mo. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1937). (Zhongguo xian dai xiao pin jing dian). 山居散墨
The resemblance between The emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill and Zhao Yanwang by Hong Shen was first discovered, studied and made public by Yuan Changying. There followed a hot debate between Yuan and Ma Yanxing, a student and friend of Hong Shen, who tried to deny the kinship between the two plays.
  • Document: Liu, Haiping. Eugene O'Neill in China. In : Theatre survey ; vol. 29 (1988). (One42, Publication)
  • Person: O'Neill, Eugene
9 1952 150. Geburtstag von Victor Hugo.
Guo Moruo schreibt "Pour la paix, la démocratie et le progrès", hommage à Victor Hugo. Chu Tunan schreibt im Quodidien de la Chine nouvelle den Artikel "Hommage à Victor Hugo, Léonard de Vinci, Nicolas Gogol". Hong Shen schreibt "Fêtons le cent cinquantenaire de Victor Hugo". Wen Jiashi schreibt "La poésie de Victor Hugo".
Die Beijing Library organisiert eine Ausstellung über Hugos Leben und Werk.

Mao, Dun. Wei shen me wo men xi ai Yuguo de zuo pin [ID D21065].
Wong Tak-wai : The article merely pointed out that Hugo's popularity in China was due to the Chinese poeople's identificatory acceptance of what he condemned and paid tribute – they sympathized with his characters, the awareness of whose strengths and limitations contributed toward their critical adoption of the progressive and abandonment of the incongruous elements.
Shen Dali : Mao Dun a indiqué que la popularité de Hugo était en Chine due au caractère de l'écrivain qui savait bien qui aimer et qui condamner, et que le peuple chinois appréciait beaucoup cette conscience nette du bien et du mal, et du beau et du laid.
  • Document: Gálik, Marián. Between translation and creation : Victor Hugo's entry into Chinese literature (1903-1904). In : Le rayonnement international de Victor Hugo. Ed. par Francis Claudon. (New York, N.Y. : P. Lang, 1989). (Hugo9, Publication)
  • Document: Wong, Tak-wei. Victor Hugo in China. In : Le rayonnement international de Victor Hugo. Ed. by Francis Claudon. (New York, N.Y. : P. Lang, 1989). (Hugo5, Publication)
  • Document: Shen, Dali. Hugo lu par les chinois. In : Victor Hugo en Extrême-Orient. (Paris : Maisonneuve & Larose, 2001). (Victor Hugo et l’Orient ; 10). (Hugo6, Publication)
  • Person: Chu, Tunan
  • Person: Guo, Moruo
  • Person: Hugo, Victor
  • Person: Mao, Dun
  • Person: Wen, Jiashi

Bibliography (6)

# Year Bibliographical Data Type / Abbreviation Linked Data
1 1915 Le, Shui [Hong, Shen]. Jiao qi. In : Xiao shuo yue bao ; vol. 6, no 6 (June 1915). [Artikel über Nora von Henrik Ibsen].
狡妻 		Publication / Ibs63
  • Cited by: Tam, Kwok-kan. Ibsen in China 1908-1997 : a critical-annotated bibliography of criticism, translation and performance. (Hong Kong : Chinese Univesity Press, 2001). (Ibs1, Published)
2 1931 [Remarque, Erich Maria]. Xi xian wu zhan shi. Leimake zhu ; Hong Shen, Ma Yanxiang yi. (Shanghai : Xian dai shu ju, 1931). Übersetzung von Remarque, Erich Maria. Im Westen nichts Neues. (Berlin : Propyläen-Verlag, 1929).
西線無戰事 		Publication / Rem2
3 1933 Hong, Shen. Hong Shen xi qu ji. (Shanghai : Xian dai shu ju, 1933). Enthält : Oni'er yu Hong Shen [O'Neill and Hung Shen].
洪深戲曲集 		Publication / One60
  • Cited by: Gálik, Márian. Milestones in Sino-Western literary confrontation, 1898-1979. (Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1986). (Asiatische Forschungen ; Bd. 98). (Gal9, Published)
  • Person: O'Neill, Eugene
4 1949 [Saroyan, William]. Ren sheng yi shi. Saluoyang zhu ; Hong Shen yi. (Shanghai : Chen guang chu ban gong si, 1949). (Chen guang shi jie wen xue cong shu). Übersetzung von Saroyan, William. Time of your life. (New York, N.Y. : Harcourt, Brace, 1939). [Erstaufführung Booth Theatre, New York, 1939].
人生一世 		Publication / Saro5
5 1983 Twentieth-century Chinese drama : an anthology. Ed. by Edward M. Gunn. (Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, 1983). (Chinese literature in transition).
[Enthält] :
Hu, Shi. The greatest event in life. = Zhong shen da shi (1919).
Hong, Shen. Yama Chao = Zhao Yanwang (1922).
Ding Xilin. Oppression. = Ya po (1956).
Ouyang, Yujian. P'an Chin-lien. = Pan Jinlian (1928).
Xia, Yan. Under Shanghai eaves. = Shanghai wu yan xia (1937).
Chen, Baichen. Men and women in wild times. = Lusan shi nan nü (1939).
Li, Jianwu. Springtime. = Qing chun (1944).
Yang, Jiang. Windswept blossoms. = Feng xu (1945-1946).
Yang, Lüfang. Cuckoo sings again. = Bu gu niao you jiao le (1957).
Tian, Han. Kuang Han-ch'ing = Guang Hanqing (1958-1961).
Wu, Han. Hai Jui dismissed from office. = Hai Rui ba guan (1961).
Weng, Ouhong ; A, Jia. The red lantern. = Hong deng ji (1964).
Zong, Fuxian. In a land of silence. = Yu wu sheng chu (1978).
Zhou, Weibo. The artillery commander's son.
Sha, Yexin. If I were real. = Jia ru wo shi zhen de (1979).
Yang, Mu. Wu feng. =Wu feng (1979). 		Publication / Gunn2
6 2009 The Columbia anthology of modern Chinese drama. Ed. by Xiaomei Chen. (New York, N.Y. : Columbia University Press, 2009).
[Enthält] :
Hu, Shi. The greatest event in life. = Zhong shen da shi (1919).
Hong, Shen. Ya ma chao. = Zhao yan wang (1922).
Tian, Han. The night a tiger was captured. = Huo hu zhi yi ye (1921).
Ouyang, Yuqian. After returning home. = Hui jia zhi hou (1922).
Ding, Xilin. The wasp. = Yi zhi ma feng (1923).
Ding, Xilin. Oppression. = Ya po (1926).
Bai, Wei. Breaking out of the pagoda. = Da chu you ling ta (1928).
Cao, Yu. Thunderstorm. = Lei yu (1933).
Li, Jianwu. It's only spring. = Zhe bu guo shi chun tian (1934).
Xia, Yan. Under Shanghai eaves. = Shanghai wu yan xia (1937).
Wu, Zuguang. Returning from a stormy night. = Feng xue ye gui ren (1942).l
Lao, She. Teahouse. = Cha guan (1958).
Tian, Han. Guan Hanqing. = Guan Hanqing (1958-1961).
Chen, Yun. The young generation. = Nian qing de yi dai (1963).
Weng, Ouhong ; A, Jia. The red lantern. = Hong deng ji (1964).
Gao, Xingjian. Bus stop. = Che zhan (1983).
Li, Longyun. Man and the wilderness. = Huang yuan yu ren (1988).
Yang, Limin. Geologists. = Di zhi shi (1995).
Shen, Lin ; Huang Jisu, Zhang, Guangtian. Che Guevara. = Qie Gewala (2000).
Lai, Shengchuan. Secret love in peach blossom land. = An lian tao hua yuan (1986).
Chan, Anthony. Metamorphosis in the moonlight under the stars. = Xing guang xia de tui bian (1986).
Chan, Joanna. Grown ourselves with roses. = Hua jin gao lou (1988). 		Publication / ChenXi1

Secondary Literature (2)

# Year Bibliographical Data Type / Abbreviation Linked Data
1 1966 Chen, David Y. Two Chinese adaptations of Eugene O'Neill's 'The emperor Jones'. In : Modern drama ; Vol. 9, no 1 (1966). Publication / One45
2 1976 Gálik, Marián. Chao - the king of hell and The emperor Jones : two plays by Hung Shen and O'Neill. In : Asian and African studies ; vol. 12 (1976). Publication / One50
  • Cited by: Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich (AOI, Organisation)
  • Person: O'Neill, Eugene