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Taiwan tales take stage to curious Beijingers
By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-08 09:51
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A play from Taiwan, which depicts a village inhabited by the families of Kuomintang soldiers, has opened a window for Beijingers to understand an essential part of the history of Taiwan.
The Village was on show from Friday to yesterday at Century Theater. Tickets for all 1,713 seats were sold out each day.
Co-produced by director Stan Lai and TV producer Wang Wei-Chung, the play is set in a village in Chiayi in Taiwan where Kuomintang soldiers and their families moved in 1949. It retells their stories over the past 60 years.
Jin Shengzhen, chief scientist of the National Astronomical Observatories who came to watch the play with his wife on Saturday, said he was deeply affected by the play.
"Although there is a lot of comedy, I think the play is still a tragedy because their affections are cut off," said Jin, who traveled to Taiwan in 2003.
The scientist's opinion was backed up by a popular TV star who was also at the event.
"These stories should not be forgotten, because they represent both history and the present situation," said Zhang Zequn, a host with China Central Television.
Zhang said he interviewed a former Kuomintang soldier in Taiwan in 2003. Although the soldier was not famous, Zhang believed his story should always be remembered.
Before 2008 when most mainlanders were not able to travel in Taiwan, many people could not form a concrete idea about the lives of those in Taiwan.
However, with increasing numbers of mainlanders traveling to the island province, the general public is becoming more knowledgeable about life on the other side of the Taiwan Straits.
Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said in an interview with a TV channel that 930,000 trips were made by mainlanders to Taiwan in 2009, 3.4 times the number in 2008.
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"We did not know anything about these villages in Taiwan before the play," said a woman surnamed Li in her 20s, who came with her friend on Friday.
Li said it was very informative to learn that people in Taiwan also had a hard time over the past 60 years.
"While it seems a long way away from me, I think I can now understand," Li said.
Wang Wei-Chung told METRO on Friday that his parents were Beijingers who moved to Taiwan in 1949. He wanted to bring their story back to the capital.
"That is the most significant point for me to bring this play to Beijing," he said.
Wang said about 80 percent of the stories in the play came from the village he grew up in.
