Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Chinglish
David Henry Hwang (M
Butterfly) wrote a telling and biting play about contemporary
Chinese-American relations called Chinglish. It is the play I assigned to my Intro. to
World Theatre students for analysis and discussion. I suspected the play would provide bridges
for my students as they experienced this giant country. I did not suspect the play would teach the
teacher so well.
Chinglish is about
an American sign salesman from Ohio who is in China attempting to seal a deal
with the government of a local province.
His family-owned business is on its last limb and if he can make this
sale he will save the company…and himself.
The Chinese clients are badly bruised from poorly translated signs from
previous experiences (i.e. “Chief Financial Officer” read “Financial Affairs is
Everywhere Long” ). As they move through
multiple negotiations, translations from Chinese to English and English to
Chinese are consistently misinterpreted and, in the end, the one thing that
matters most is the power of Relationships or guanxi. Relationships between people are
international and cut through language and cultural barriers. This is not to say the obstacles are easy to
overcome—quite the opposite and are, in fact, fuel for many hilarious and
touching moments in the play (in our lives too?). In the end, its all about human to human. In this case, our fragile, exposing and
vulnerable Shared Humanity.
Current Chinese theater is a powerful blend of the past
(Chinese Opera, Shadow Puppetry) and the future (western-style realism, film
adaptations of American musicals). I use
the word “power” intentionally. What was
“delicately attended to” in Japan is “powerfully delivered” in China. The Cultural Revolution and Communist
government have controlled the artistic output of the country. Many ancient theater tradition artifacts are
marvelously on display (statues, texts) and many are nowhere to be found. The filter of Chinese authority is apparent
at every cultural turn. Theater is
important in China—the theater China wishes to be important. We are wired in the west to frown upon
“Communism.” While human rights
violations cannot be condoned in any country regardless of political ideology
or labels (and I’m not just referring to Communist countries here), it is
fascinating to see how the muscle of theater, storytelling and performance
manage to muscle through the political messes we create to efficiently
illuminate the character of a nation. Is
the Chinese government’s control of art so different than the West’s control of
their art? Censorship is
censorship. Perhaps familiarity makes
one more digestible than the other? I
ask these questions of myself at each port to escape the potential cloud of
judgment that may impair my view of the storytelling in front of me. I try to come to each country in AFP
fashion: Open eyes, open ears, open
heart.
The Theater of our
visit was, as always, reflected both inside and outside of the physical theater. We visited a national theater in Shanghai
where large state-of-the-art flat screen televisions promoted the current
season: Classic Beijing Opera in all of
it’s historic splendor running in reparatory with sleek-suited, contemporary
family plays. I have several students
from China in my classes on the ship.
One of them is an avid follower of American musicals and was recently
given permission on his home campus to direct a production of Rent.
I asked him how that was received and he said he couldn’t show “all of
the play.” I assumed that he meant he
had to cut the homosexual and AIDS moments….you know, 85% of the play. He replied “Oh no, not those things, those
are widely discussed in our stories. It
was all of the drug use and wild freedom parts against authority we had to
adapt.” Interesting, interesting,
interesting. I wanted to see his
production more than ever after our conversation.
Shanghai (“On the Ocean”)
After a port delay we finally arrived in rainy
Shanghai. It was cold and wet throughout
our stay. For all of our Buffalo
friends, I’M NOT COMPLAINING…we thought about you and the winter you are having
every time we were “bothered” by the rain.
We put on our ponchos (Maria packed us wisely) and headed out!
Many people and publications suggested we go to the Bund as
a great walking around place…we were not impressed…lots of malls and overpriced
shopping cleverly wrapped in amazing architecture…old Shanghai meets new
Shanghai…Chinglish!
Craving authentic China we took a cab (super cheap way to
travel in Shanghai) to Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar. This was a marvelous experience: a maze of authentic Chinese stores, authentic
traditional Chinese architecture, authentic Chinese food tightly snuggled in
modern skyscraper Shanghai…Chinglish. In
the middle of Yuyuan is a beautiful traditional Chinese garden with a
“floating” ancient tea house where we were treated to a wonderful tea
ceremony…followed by a high pressure sales job to buy overpriced
tea…Chinglish. After deflecting the numerous
arrows of commerce from several employees we left impressed with the ENTIRE
ceremony…China is better at this capitalist thing than we are! Who’s teaching who??
We spent the second part of our Shanghai day in the People’s
Square where Nate was thrilled by the kazillion-story mall. I think seeing high-priced Nikes and
Starbucks grounded him a bit. Thankfully
we agreed to go to the top floor with him as there was an amazing food court
filled with every Chinese food you could imagine. Yes, we had to suffer through floors of Polo,
Abercrombe and Banana Republic to find Dim-Sum, dumplings and squid…the
Chinglish trek to the promised land.
Hong Kong
While Hong Kong certainly had its share malls (everywhere…I
mean everywhere), the charm of this multi-island section of China embraced
us. Hong Kong enjoys its own ways—they have their own currency, laws,
ethos. They are part of China and not
part of China…very funky, very cool, certainly more progressive. Still, Chinglish was apparent at every turn. We even had to get to our ship through a
super mall.
Our first day was spent on an amazing Semester at Sea field
program that I led: Tai Chi, Tea and Dim
Sum. We began our day taking a Tai Chi
class outside, directly facing the harbor of Hong Kong. Our teacher is a famous Tai Chi master…simply
amazing experience. Ancient martial arts
set against the backdrop of one of the most impressive skylines in the
world…Chinglish squared! We then had the
pleasure of taking a tea class from a tea master, Viviane. She is PASSIONATE about tea—we ate,
dissected, crumbled, analyzed and drank all types of Chinese tea. She was an
inspired teacher and has an amazing company, Ming Cha Tea. She is a mixture of old world teacher and
marketing genius.; check out www.mingcha.com for Chinglish in action. We completed this awesome day with Dim Sum
lunch. We were the only non-Chinese
patrons at this sprawling movie set of a restaurant. “Dim Sum” comes from the phrase “from the
heart.” From the heart of China to the
stomachs of America…I’m still full.
For more on our Tai Chi, Tea, Dim Sum Day:
* The ship’s communication team does great work!
The next day was spent at Lantau, home of the largest
sitting Buddha in Asia and the Po Lin monastery. To say that we were deeply impacted would be
an understatement. We went with our
friends Sara (the director of the children’s program on board the ship) and her
husband Nick (videographer for the ship).
Nick asked if he could use our visit for a Semester at Sea story…this
video really sums up our special visit and its connection to our voyage:
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Shrines, Subways, Sprirt and…Shhhhhhh.
Japan is a land of deep contrast: A deep spiritual connection to sacred ways of
the past set amidst an ultra-modern, technology driven collection of mega
cities. While this may seem a chaotic
clash of sights and sounds, its not.
Quite the opposite really.
Stepping through the many Japanese cities we visited was a calming,
pretty, simple, appreciative, kind experience.
At times we felt like the city was
so welcoming it quieted itself so as not to disturb our visit.
I always teach my students that theater’s primary job is
(and has always been) to reflect the society it exists in; its ethos,
character, politics, pulse…its vibe. The
god-fearing tragedies of the Greeks, the church dominated pastoral plays of the
middle ages, the European absurdist’s response to Hitler’s final
solution—“holding a mirror up to life.”
This is beautifully evident in Japan’s rich theatre tradition: Kabuki’s bold, theatrical, ornate visual
world balanced by the razor sharp definition and precision of each gesture,
each step each pose. Attention to each
detail without apologizing for the grandeur of the environment, of the
style. The spirit of a nation served
generously in vividly proud, lush portions.
If you can imagine the visual strength of a huge rock concert (KISS,
Lady Gaga) combined with the precise, delicate ritual of calligraphy and
embraced by the very real spirits of ancestors from thousands of years ago…you
can imagine Kabuki. I bloggeth over in
my imaginative description because (alas) Kabuki was out of season during our
visit. Nonetheless, this description
also fits the personality of Japan. We
visited five major cities during our visit and while each had its own separate
flavor, some common attributes reported by students, faculty, staff and family
were:
-Feng Shui all the way. Great effort goes into the order, balance and
beauty of all things. Buildings,
streets, food, people.
-Kindness and
Accommodating. There is no word for “No”
in Japanese. Why? Because they never use it. We all returned with stories of Japanese
people going out of their way to help us…and then apologizing for not doing
enough.
-Clean, Clean, Clean. It is difficult to find a trashcan in Japan. It is also difficult to find
garbage…anywhere. Imagine if a giant cleansing
wind blew through Manhattan followed by a hot rinse…that’s the Japan-City we
saw consistently.
-Yum! Delicious, clean, fresh food everywhere. From the subway kiosks to the sushi café’s,
to the fast food street shops…delicious food prepared carefully and
thoughtfully. A hot bowl of noodles with
fresh shrimp was never far away.
-Shhhh. There is no needless noise in Japan. We were in large, contemporary, highly
populated cities and it seemed like a holiday everyday. Step on a packed subway train: Shhhh.
Walk downtown to find a restaurant:
Shhhh. Stroll through a shopping
area: Shhhh. It was a relief not to hear noise.
-Spirit Matters. The matter of fact acceptance of Japan’s
Shinto past (with all of symbolic superstitions) as well as the contemporary
commitment to Buddhism and other belief systems are simply present at all
times. No fuss, no advertising, no judgment…it
just Is. This universal spiritual embrace seems to
balance past and present with a touch of self-aware humor. It was comforting to witness that.
Pic-tastes:
Mt Fuji towering protectively over the port city of
Yokohama. This was the view from our
room as we sailed into port. An immediate
welcome to the pleasant contrasts of Japan.
A room lined with a history of noodle flavors at the Ramen
Museum and factory.
Shrines, shrines, shrines.
Awe-inspiring.
In Osaka, a hot bowl of noodles and shrimp.
Lake Ashi at Hakone National Park on our way to Mt.
Fuji. Mystical bliss.
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