Chinese Literature

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The artist has depicted her grief with consummate skill. Another design, done

by Chang Yung-shou from Kiangsu,

showing chrysanthemums standing, lively and beautiful, in spite of frost, is dexterously cut in a style revealing modern influences.

Some of the cuts in the exhibition showed a marked departure from traditional designs. They reflect the many new trends in China today, the improvement in the peasants’ standard of living, their increased political awareness and

confidence in the happy life towards which all their efforts are directed. It is not surprising, therefore, that some of the cuts depict ploughing with tractors, peasants learning to read and write, the alliance of workers and peasants, and so on. Because of this infusion of new ideas and sentiments, as a result of the collaboration between professional artists and peasants and the study and improvement of the art, an already rich art form is becoming even richer and more expressive. :

A Beautiful Folk Tale on the Screen

A splendid rainbow and flowers in bloom,

A pair of butterflies flutter among the flowers, For ever together, never to part,

Liang Shan-po and.Chu Ying-tat.

Liang Shan-po and Chu Ying-tai, the lovely Chinese colour film which won a

prize at the eighth international film-

festival held at Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia in 1954, is based on an old folk tale probably originating some time during the Eastern Chin Dynasty (around 400 A.D.). For centuries its hero and heroine, who fought for freedom of choice in marriage under the feudal system, have been loved by the people. Over and over again their tragic yet inspiring story a has inspired writers, dramatists and musicians, and has been embodied in at least thirty different types of plays.

The film version is based on the form it takes in local Shaohsing opera, and the opening sequence shows the stage of a theatre about to produce it. The curtain slowly rises on a scene somewhere south of the Yangtse River over a thousand years ago. We move to the house of a lovely and talented girl, Chu Yingtai, and her father. Chu is desperately anxious to go to the school and study. But the difficulties seem insuperable: in feudal society women were despised and schools for women unheard of. Finally she manages to get round her father and secure his consent. He agrees to let her dress as a man in order to attend school at Hangchow.

On her way she meets a handsome young man, Liang Shan-po, going to the same school. They are immediately attracted to each other and pledge sworn brotherhood.

For three years they study together. Liang never once suspects that his schoolmate is a girl, but Chu falls deeply in love with him. Then a blow falls. A letter from Chu’s home demands her instant return. Before leaving she has a heart-to-heart talk with the schoolmaster’s wife, who proves sympathetic. Chu asks her help in arranging their union.

Liang accompanies Chu part of the way home. Chu does her best to open Liang’s eyes without actually disclosing her secret. She draws his attention to the birds, drawn together by the power of love; she comments pointedly on their close reflections in the water as they bend over a well... but Liang suspects nothing. He thinks she is being a little sentimental. Finally, just before they part, Chu thinks of a plan. She tells Liang that she has a younger sister, the very image of herself, and that she would like to arrange a match between them. With that they part, on the understanding that Liang shall visit her at an appointed time to claim her sister’s hand.

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