Modern Chinese Drama, or Huaju (spoken play), started to develop in the early part of this century in Shanghai. Different from traditional Chinese opera, it soon won fans for its realistic portrayals of the lives of common folks and for its wide range of works by such Western playwrights as Shakespeare, Moliere and Chekhov.

Since then, a number of Chinese playwrights have created works that realistically reflect the changes in the lives of Chinese before and after the founding of New China. The most memorable include 'Teahouse,' 'The Peking Man,' 'The Thunderstorm,' 'The Family,' 'The Prairie' and 'The Death of a Famous Opera Performer.' Younger playwrights have tried to develop a more modern style, exploring the inner psyche of personalities with more modernist works and incorporating more modern theatrical techniques.

Unfortunately, modern Chinese playwrights and performers have to fight hard to attract viewers away from pop music concerts, variety shows and television programmes.

Synopses

Cai Wenji (Cai Wenji, 1959) -- Written by Guo Moruo, one of the great men of science and literature in China this century, the full-length drama portrays Cai Wenji, a woman poet in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) who was married to a nomadic tribal king after she was captured by the Huns. Twelve years later, Cao Cao, a noted statesman, sent an envoy to ask Cai to return to central China to continue work on a history book left by her father. Moved by Cao's sincerity, Cai finally leaves her husband and two children and returns to her hometown. The play, premiered in Beijing in 1959 by the Beijing People's Art Theatre, is still in the theatre's repertoire. Playwright: Guo Moruo; Director:Jiao Juyin.

Death of a Famous Opera Performer, The (Mingyou Zhi Si, 1929) -- Written by Tian Han, one of the great playwrights in modern China, this full-length modern drama tells of a veteran folk opera performer, Liu Zhensheng, who fights hard to expose the cruelty and corruption of a local despot in order to save his student, Liu Fengxian, a young beautiful folk opera star, from the despot. However, the despot exercises his power and uses dirty tricks to hound Liu Zhensheng to death on the stage. The title of the play serves as a pun, meaning the death both of Old Liu, the teacher, and Liu Fengxian's artistic career. The play was first staged in the 1930s in a few major cities. After liberation, it was premiered in Beijing in 1979 by the Beijing People's Art Theatre. Playwright: Tian Han; Director: Xia Chun.

Family, The (Jia, 1942) -- The four-act play, based on the novel so the same name by great modern Chinese writer Ba Jin, is adapted by Cao Yu, one of the great playwrights of modern China. It focuses on the marriage, hard work and finally the death of Ruijue, wife of the eldest son in a big feudal family, to expose the corruption of the big feudal families in old China and the cruelty of the old marriage system. The play has been staged in Beijing by the China Youth Theatre and in Shanghai by the Shanghai People's Art Theatre. It has been included in the two theatre's repertoires. Playwright: Cao Yu; Director: Huang Zuolin, Yu Liude and Liu Tongbiao (Shanghai), and Chen Yong.

Longxu Slum (Longxugou, 1951) -- Written by Lao She (1899-1966) in 1953, this modern drama was the first full-length play produced by the Beijing People's Art Theatre. Known as a milestone in the development of realistic drama in modern China, it contrasts the lives of residents in a Beijing gully called Longxugou before and after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. Before 1949, it was a slum where inhabitants suffered from bullying by local despots and from the increasingly stinking conditions. After liberation, the new government turned Longxugou into a thoroughfare, constructed a tap water system in the area and cleaned out the despots. Playwright: Lao She; Director: Jiao Juyin.

Peking Man, The (Beijing Ren, 1941) -- Written by Cao Yu, this four-act modern drama was premiered by the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1957, and restaged in 1987 and 1990. The play dramatizes the conflicts, woes and foul-play of members of a declining feudal family in the 1930s. In this family, the patriarch Zeng Hao spends his days recalling past years of luxury; his eldest son is a good-for-nothing who lives off on his father; his son-in-law is a playboy who engages himself only in empty talk; and his daughter-in-law is a relentless woman who manages the whole household. Su Fang, Zeng's niece, is the only one that holds some promise. She finally leaves the suffocating family for freedom and a new life. The play is one of the representative plays in the Beijing People's Art Theatre's repertoire. Directed by Tian Chong (1957) and Xia Chun (1987,1990).

Teahouse (Chaguan, 1957) -- Written by Lao She (1899-1966), this three-act modern drama is set in a typical old Beijing teahouse, where people from all walks of life gather. By portraying the rise and decline of the teahouse and the plights and successes of an array of characters, the play offers a cross-sectional view of Chinese society during the period between 1898, at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), to 1948, the eve of the fall of the Kuomintang. The play was premiered by the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1958. The theatre has since staged the play in a number of foreign countries in Europe, Asia and North America. It is one of the most representative works in the theatre's repertory. Playwright: Lao She; Director: Jiao Juyin and Xia Chun.

Thunderstorm, The (Leiyu, 1934) -- Written by Cao Yu, this full-length modern drama features the complicated relationships among the members and servants of a large well-off family and the family's disintegration as a result of the morbidity and corruption in old China. A son of a wealthy family, Zhou Puyuan, has an affair with the family maid, Shiping, and she bears two sons. After he marries a wealthy woman he keeps the eldest son and drives Shiping away with the youngest. Shiping marries a butler, Lu Gui, and they have a daughter, Sifeng. An entangled family history is played out in what turns out to be a tragic ending. The play was first premiered in the 1930s in Chongqing, but was later presented in Beijing in 1954 by the Shanghai People's Art Theatre. It is in the repertoire of both theatres. The play has been also adapted into a film with the same name twice, and performed as a ballet by the Shanghai Ballet Troupe in 1983. Playwright: Cao Yu; Directors: Xia Chun (Beijing) and Wu Renzhi (Shanghai).