The reaction to “ Teahouse”

 

            After I read the Teahouse, I was thinking about the purpose that Lao She wrote this Teahouse in 1957. The Teahouse indicated three dark historical periods, which were late Qin, the early Republic and the victory of Anti-Japanese War. However, in the 1954, the first constitution of the People’s Republic of China was published. The idea of having a Constitution was “a limit to a state power is new to China. According to Du, the people’s democratic dictatorship was invented by Mao ” (Wong, P2). In the constitution, the law also indicated that party need to respect people’s human rights. As Chinese national song, The Match of the Volunteers Arise, sings: “Stand up! People unwell to become slaves.”  People stood up and are hopeful. At the beginning, I thought the Teahouse was a government’s propaganda. However, after the culture revolution, I think Lao She may want to indicate that the Teahouse would continue happening in real life.

            Teahouse was one of the famous plays from Lao She. The background of the Teahouse was Beijing Yutai Teahouse, where had all of social classes people. The Yutai Teahouse was in Beijing. Beijing was named Zi Jin Cheng , where the emperors lived there. In the constitution of people’s republic of China also mentioned that Beijing is the capital city in China. In the Teahouse, Lao She also mentioned that people lived in Beijing were proud.  This shows that people’s feudal thought. People yearned for powers.

            Teahouse had three acts. Lao She describes the people’s life in the three different periods, which were the late Qing, the early Republic and after victory of Anti-Japanese war. Consequently, he revealed the old China was dark and decayed, and people were suffering.

            In the three periods, people couldn’t get rid of the feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism. There were three main characters in Teahouse, who were Wang Lifa, Forth Elder Chang, and Qin Zhongyi . Wang lifa owned the Beijing Yutai teahouse. “he is shrewd and somewhat self-centered, but means well” (lao She, 1957, P2). In the third act, Wang lifa said: “ My whole life I tried to please everybody, I bowed and scraped to whoever I had to” (Lao She, p178). He stooped to compromise in order to give his family a good life. However, he still bankrupted and died.  Qin was born in rich family. Later, he turned to be capitalist investment. Also he was the follower of the reformists. He advocated saving the country by industrialization. However, his factory was demolished.  Forth Elder Chang was “a well built and morally upright man”(lao She , P2).  He bought a bowl of noodles to a poor woman forty years ago in the Yutai Teahouse.  However, after 40 years, Chang was suffering hunger and cold. Wang Lifa, Elder Forth Chang and Qin Zhongyi were in the higher classes. However, they still had the tragedy fate. At here, not just the poor people were suffering, the higher class people also suffering from decayed society.

            There are several parts I think very important. In the three periods, because of the decayed feudalism, people lived depressive and hopeless. In the first act, the background time was late Qing, which the Reform Movement just failed. People seemed to be happy. However, a poor person needs to sell her daughter. What a brutal society that people lived in. In the second act, the background time that Yuan Shikai died and the imperialist had power. Third-Born Li said: “ Reform! Everything’s taking on a new face, and the newer the face the more faceless it is.” Li didn’t trust the country. He was not hopeful to the reform. Additionally, majority of Chinese were similar with Li that were numb and hopeless. In the third act, the background time was after the victory of the Anti-Japanese war. However, the feudal capitalism still existed. People were still suffering. As Forth Elder Chang hopelessly said: “Myself? I love my country, but no one gives a damn about me” (Lao She, P182). He couldn’t change anything. He felt hopeless and angry.

           The Teahouse might be government propaganda. There might be a lot of people who were Wang Lifa, Qin Zhongyi and Forth Elder Chang. They experienced the darkest periods. When they watched the Teahouse, they had strong contrast and pathos. They looked back to the past 50 years. They were suffering.  However, they looked the current life. They were respected. They have human rights. They appreciated Mao Zedong. They trusted the Communist Party. This prompted them trust the Communist Party more.

            However, the ten years cultural revolution happened after 1966. In the real life, some education people and capitalists started being suffering. Lao She was one of the victims. I think Lao She was the same as Qin Zhongyi in Teahouse. He loved China. If not, he won’t go back to China from the US. In 1956, his play Teahouse was unprecedented succeed. However, in the 1966, he suicide at the Taiping lake because of the Cultural Revolution (Lao She 2013).

            I have many reactions when I was reading the Teahouse. Did people really get rid of the suffering life? Did people really have human rights? In my opinion, the Teahouse story still continue happening in the real life. Even though the bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism disappeared, the feudalism still exited. This also lead the Cultural Revolution happened in 1966.  In the Teahouse, the tragedies were about people were suffering from cold and hunger. Also, the people were controlled by the power. Look at today, we still face the same problems. When we read the news, there are still a lot of people are suffering from hunger.  Also, some people are still enslaved to powers. Consequently, the Teahouse is in the real life.

Work Cited:

Wong, K.C.(2006). Human Rights and Limitation of State Power: The Discovery of Constitutionalism in the people’s Republic of China. Asia-Pacific Journal On Human Rights &The Law. 7(1), 1-37. Doi: 10.1163/157181506778218157

Lao She. (1957). Teahouse. 1-108.

Lao She (2013). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6^th, edition, 1.