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Bitter Sweet Tale of a Beijing Teahouse

ll too rarely are Beijing's regiments of foreign expatriates given a true insight to aspects of Chinese life in the raw in times of social upheaval. Now some 900 invited expat's from all walks of life have enjoyed such a glimpse of those Old Beijing days, thanks to the superb one-off Spring Festival staging of the classic drama Teahouse, a social critique with the backdrop of a family's teahouse over three generations.

Written by renowned dramatist Lao She and excellently performed by the Beijing People's Art Theater at the Capital Theater, the three-act play encapsulates the late Qing Dynasty to the eve of 1949 and the founding of New China. The foreign audience was largely able to follow the play's message via a special screen showing the script in English.

Set in Beijing's Yutai Teahouse, a highly popular meeting place for many boisterous characters and not a few intellectuals before its disappearance in the late 1940s, the play's first act covers the 1898 crackdown on the first reform movement in China's modern history. Great poverty ensued, but only a few of the teahouse's regulars became involved in the arguments for solutions. Either way, it was the beginning of the end for the Great Qing Dynasty, whose demise came in 1911.

Act II covers the first years after the Republic of China was set up, times of continuous battles between warlords which made life impossible for ordinary people - a fact superbly reflected in the words and actions of the players on stage. The audience of foreigners also learned much about the early struggles of students bent on a bringing about political change.The final act embraces the years after the Anti-Japanese War, but hardly had victory been celebrated than Kuomingtang reactionaries and US soldiers triggered the civil war. Times were harsh, and ordinary people suffered even more trying times. Tragically, teahouse owner Wang Lifa - a man noted for his ability to handle any crisis and here brilliantly portrayed by Liang Guanhua - was forced to hang himself as a matter of honor.

In a welcoming address prior to the performance, Beijing's vice-mayor Zhang Mao said the staging was to help foreigners more deeply share the atmosphere of the city. He pledged that similar activities for expat's will be organized during future Spring Festivals.