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Zhang Longxi

Economic fusion involving Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland is by now an old story. Investment from Hong Kong and Taiwan has fuelled the mainland's growth; in turn mainland markets and resources are making Hong Kong and Taiwan companies rich. The economies are complementary, not competitive. In the field of creative endeavour, however, Greater China has existed as three solitudes. That may be changing, as comparative literature don Zhang Longxi reports.

I had my doubts before I went to see 18 Springs, the multi-media music drama performed at the Kwai Tsing Theatre last month. I wondered whether Eileen Chang's famous novel could be adapted effectively for the stage. Among modern Chinese writers, Eileen Chang (1920-1995) is known for her exquisite depiction of subtle changes of mood and the undulation of emotions.  In her novels, it is not plot or movement that matters, but language - language that one can savour slowly in the mouth like some  bitter-sweet delicacy.

How does one translate such language from the novel to the stage - from a text read in silence and in private to a public display of movement and action, sound and colour? But after watching the performance last month, I was convinced it was an astonishing success.

The three-hour performance was co-produced by the Hong Kong-based Zuni Icosahedron and the National Theatre Company of China. The directors and supporting staff were from Hong Kong and the leading actress and actor were from Taiwan and the mainland, respectively.

Co-directors and script writers Mathias Woo Yan-wai and Edward Lam Yick-wah used  modern techniques of experimental theatre that made it possible for reading and recital, rather than dramatic action, to form the core of the performance. Much of the play was staged against the backdrop of a huge bookshelf, putting the idea of reading literally in front of the audience.

Every line of the script was based on Chang's original, luminous text. A narrator connected the episodes by reciting the relevant parts of the novel. My only complaint was the use of Vivaldi's Four Seasons as part of the background music: it was too sweet and too powerful for Chang's modern tragedy.

More importantly, the cyclical notion of time in Vivaldi's Four Seasons is incompatible with the linear temporality of Chang's novel, based on a concept of time as an irresistible force that burdens everything we do with unintended consequences.

The story line is simple. It follows a young man and a young woman, their families and friends, hesitations and misunderstandings, their all-too-human weaknesses and flaws, the fatal incident that suddenly changes the course of their lives and leads to their separation, and finally their bitter sense of remorse and helplessness. The play refuses to offer any sense of false comfort. There is something of the elegance and delicate touch of a Jane Austen novel, except that Austen's works are blessed with comic relief and an ironic spirit.

Chang's muse is deeply tragic, proclaiming the doom of her characters not through tumultuous changes in the outside world, but through blemishes and deficiencies in their moral character or disposition. When the play ends with the heroine's bitter cry - 'We can never go back' - we realise that what has been done cannot be undone, and that there is nothing left but the sense of eternal regret.

The sensibility is a familiar one in classical Chinese literature, transferred here to a modern and urban environment.

It is the relentless proclamation of a tragic sense of time, that the choices we make in the journey of life, particularly those wrong ones, are irreversible. Rene Liu Ruo-ying,  a well-known singer and actress from Taiwan, was perfectly suited to the role of Gu Manzhen, the unfortunate heroine whose tragic fate makes up the story of the play.

She displayed her talent not only in the leading role but also in performing several songs specifically created for the play, with lyrics by Michael Lam and Pia Ho and set to beautiful music by Pong Nan.

Liao Fan from the National Theatre Company of China was excellent, too, as Gu's star-crossed lover. His soft voice and skilful articulation left a deep impression of a flawed but, on the whole, decent and honest man.

The supporting roles were played by accomplished performers including Ting Naicheng and Chen Lihua from Taipei, and Wang Bing from Beijing. The latter's role as the late Qing statesman and diplomat Li Hongzhang in the television series Towards the Republic (Zouxiang gonghe) has won him national recognition.

Such stylish co-operation among artists from Taiwan, the mainland and Hong Kong is an indication of the potential for achievement when the talents of Greater China work together.  Hong Kong's unique role in initiating and facilitating such co-operation gives one confidence in our ability to shape a better future.

Zhang Longxi is chair professor of Comparative Literature and Translation and Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, City University of Hong Kong



Staging a precedent