New show in Beijing theater: Wen Cang Mang, tapping on the status of migrant workers.
A huge fire destroys almost all the property of a Shenzhen-based electronics manufacturer and Zhang Maomei, a woman from the less-developed Guizhou Province, rushes back into the flames in a doomed attempt to rescue any items. Her reward is to cause extensive burns to half her face.
While labor law stipulates that such injuries warrant compensation of 3.8 million yuan ($595,840), the electronics company instead starts investigating Zhang’s “real” motivation. Was it an accident – or were her actions deliberate, using knowledge of the law to secure a fund to treat her ailing family?
It might seem bizarre such a question could even be asked. But all involved, including the factory owner, the real-estate developer and a Party-member-turned manager, come under questioning.
And as the investigation deepens, untold stories, special interests, baffling questions and treachery emerge amid the struggling workers of Shenzhen, the country’s first – and most successful –Special Economic Zones, whose vibrant economy relies on cheap labor, lax oversight and often-toxic manufacturers.
Yet this story is, in fact, fictional – a drama based on typical events, shown at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts from tonight until Sunday.
“The interesting part of Wen Cang Mang (Asking the Land) is that the investigation only serves as a storyline [which] exposes the diverse nature of characters in society and helps portray the mental state of people from different social strata,” said National Theater Company of China (NTC) director Zha Mingzhe.
Zha’s tragic yet cynical drama, adapted from a novel of the same name by Cao Zhenlu, shows how many denizens the hectic Southern city must make their money: to save costs, companies often fire workers nearing the end of unpaid probations; to get out of mountainous areas, some young rural girls are forced to sleep with bosses (which leads to a tragic conclusion in the play).
We also meet a college professor forced to work as consultant for the boorish nouveau riche and a pregnant college-student-turned mistress blackmailing her married lover for a huge sum of hush-money.
“What I mean to do is portray different figures and expose human nature. It is more significant than just telling the story of an investigation,” said Zha, known for his War Trilogy in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which revealed the darker sides of society. “If an audience only has the mind to watch a story, I am sure he or she will be disappointed.”
Different mindsets are highlighted in one scene with the hospitalized 17-year-old migrant worker. Deputy manager Chang Lailin, who wants to give workers fair treatment, regrets casting aspersions on Zhang’s motivation, while HR manager Ma, fired for failing to resolve a workers’ strike, actually takes pleasure from the accident.
Meanwhile, Wen, a developer who covets a “Role Model Award” from the community where the company is located, blames Zhang for taking away his potential award. The professor, meanwhile, laments how Shenzhen’s materialism taints all who come into contact with it.
“It’s like a mirror. Everyone’s inner side is exposed. What they are actually thinking can be shocking,” said the director.
While the novel depicts an even crueler Shenzhen, the drama, the second in a government-funded NTC trilogy focusing on laobaixing (“old hundred names” or commoners), is more merciful with its central figures. For instance, in the novel, Chang changes from an ambitious Party member with humane concerns for migrant workers to one who provides false evidence during the investigation to protect his position. But in the drama, Chang is portrayed as a righteous man trying to do a good job.
Zha denies censoring Cao’s original vision in order to meet state funding requirements. “We had our own choices of scenarios while adapting the play and we didn’t have to follow that particular storyline… We are not making propaganda, we just focused on the story of Zhang’s investigation.
“My philosophy of directing plays is to seek the truth while looking for something positive. To reveal the authentic picture of our society and its people but not falsely eulogize its virtues and achievements.”
As the script by Gong Yingtian, a well-known screenplay writer, features flashbacks and stories set in different times and places, the director employed symbolic methods to put the two-and-a-half hour story on stage.
For example, in the last scene, the director purposely juxtaposes the rural funeral of a migrant worker with that of a wealthy developer’s father in Shenzhen, depicting them onstage at the same time. The families of the poor and super-rich walk past each other, holding the ashes of their deceased.
In the real world, they would never meet like this, the director noted. “What I want to do is to show the battle between of two cultures and what society is like: the urban civilization versus the countryside, the strong versus the weak, the pursuit for money and happiness. There are more meanings in that: I’ll leave it up to the audience.”