by David Hare
Liu On whom?
Man-hsi On the person who owns the land.
Liu The landlord.
Man-hsi Yes. We depend on the landlord for a living.
Liu Yu-lai?
Man-hsi If the landlord didn’t rent us land, we’d starve.
Liu But who gave him the land?
Man-hsi He bought it.
Liu How did he make the money to buy it?
Yu-lai If …
Man-hsi No, let me, leave this to me. It’s not … Listen … I’ve forgotten what I was going to say.
Fa-liang Why do we need to know?
T’ien-ming You must not just do things. You must know why you do things.
Fa-liang Why?
T’ien-ming Because you need a theory …
Tui-chin What’s a theory?
Man-hsi The question is … I don’t see it. Why ask it? What answer do you want? What do you want me to say?
Liu You must work it out for yourself. If you want to serve the people you need to think.
Man-hsi Collaborators, yes, I could understand, should be executed; this, I don’t understand.
T’ien-ming Fa-liang. Tell us something of your life.
Fa-liang My life?
T’ien-mingYes. Just tell us.
Fa-liang I was fourteen when I went to work for Shen Ching-ho. My mother had been ill, my father had to borrow four dollars from the landlord to buy medicine. So to guarantee the loan he lent me to the landlord to work for seven years. I was always hungry. Twice I was ill. But no matter how hard I worked I couldn’t begin to pay off the debt. By the time I’d worked for him three years, we owed him fifteen dollars instead of four. And then, after seven years, by the time he’d taken off all the things he claimed I’d broken, all the time I was sick, what was left was not enough to pay even the interest on the debt. So I had no wages at all. I had worked seven years. And he gave me nothing. At the end I tore down two sections of our house, I tore out the timbers. And only then could I pay back the original debt.
Ch’ung-lai’s wife I was sold at the age of nine to be Ch’ung-lai’s wife. I then had to serve in his family for six years before I married him. I was a child wife, everyone beat me. One day my mother-in-law broke my arm. The water in the pot was boiling. I asked her what I should cook in it. She didn’t answer. I asked her again. She picked up an iron poker and broke my arm with it. She said I annoyed her. I lay on the k’ang for a fortnight, couldn’t work or move. Then Ch’ung-lai’s family threw me out. Ch’ung-lai went to Taiyuan to get work pulling a rickshaw, I went to work as a cook for a landlord. After about six years we earned enough to buy one acre of land, but it only yielded two bags of grain. After we had paid taxes, there was nothing left.
Liu Why should one man have the right to say ‘This land is mine’ and then without doing any work himself demand half of what’s grown on it?
Man-hsi He owns it. It’s his, he can do what he likes.
Liu Is it right?
Man-hsi Listen. I work for a landlord. He feeds me. At the end of the year he pays me. If he had cheated me, then I could … discuss it with you. But as he doesn’t … then … so.
Liu So tell me. Who depends on whom?
Man-hsi It’s …
Yu-lai I …
Man-hsi Say the thing again.
Liu Who depends on whom?
T’ien-ming Hsueh-chen.
Hsueh-chen My father was a labourer but he sold me to a husband against my will. My husband could find no work, could barely live. So he gambled what money we had. We lost our only quilt, we were left with nothing. I’ve had three children. One I saw the Japanese kill, a soldier with his boot, then with his sword. The second died of worms crawling out of him. So I threw my husband out of the house, took my third child, begged alone. People give me nothing. I live in the fields, eat herbs, sleep in the straw. And my third child is alive.
Man-hsi There has to be somebody to give us work to do.
Yu-lai Why?
Man-hsi If there were no landlords we’d starve.
Tui-chin I once went to my landlord to ask for more wages. He said, if you’re poor it’s because the heavens will it, it’s because your grave is poorly located. All you can do is wait for your luck to change. Select a more suitable spot for your own grave and hope that the eight ideographs of earth and heaven are in better conjunction when your son is born.
T’ien-ming What do you conclude?
Slogan: THEY TALKED FOR EIGHT HOURS
We have all suffered. But we’ve never asked why. If we had to suffer. Do you see?
Man-hsi I don’t understand.
Slogan: THEY TALKED FOR THREE DAYS
T’ien-mingThink. All think of your lives. Think what you’ve endured, what have you suffered for?
Yu-lai What can they do which we can’t? Nothing. What can we do which they can’t? We can work. Our labour transforms their land. We make it valuable, we create their wealth.
Ch’ung-lai’s wife We have all suffered for them.
T’ien-mingSo who depends on whom?
Yu-lai We make them rich, they depend on our labour, they depend on us.
Ch’ung-lai’s wife They depend on us.
T’ien-ming Yes.
Liu Yes.
Fa-liang They depend on us.
Yu-lai Take us away, they’d die. Take them away, we live.
T’ien-ming You do not depend on them. They depend on you. Understand this and everything you have ever known is changed.
Liu We have liberated a peach tree heavy with fruit. Who is to be allowed to pick the fruit? Those who have tended and watered the tree? Or those who have sat at the side of the orchard with folded arms?
Yu-lai We shouldn’t even pay rent.
Slogan: THEY STOPPED PAYING RENT
Liu The policy in the Liberated Areas is to ask simply for a reduction in rents and interest charges. But here in Lucheng County, you – the leaders – will go ahead of the policy.
They shake hands with Liu and say good-bye. Then join the peasants.
T’ien-ming Now surely we can right the wrongs of the past. Already in many places the landlords have been beaten down. We have only to follow the example of others. Then we can all fanshen.
Above the platform they raise a red banner saying FANSHEN.
SECTION THREE
1
Slogan: SETTLING ACCOUNTS
At one end Ch’ung-wang sits with a pair of scales, ready to receive rent. At the other on the platform Ching-ho sits, his fingernails being tended by his Daughter.
Ching-ho Shen Ching-ho. A landlord.
Ch’ung-wang Kuo Ch’ung-wang. A landlord.
A group of peasants forms outside Ch’ung-wang’s house. Then Tui-chin steps from the group and into the house.
Ch’ung-wang Rent.
Tui-chin The peasants have decided to stop paying rent.
Ch’ung-wang Come here.
Tui-chin We have decided it’s wrong to pay rent. And we have decided you took too much in the past …
Ch’ung-wang Come here.
Tui-chin Through the war, you charged us too much. And we want it back.
Ch’ung-wang Tui-chin, the land you farm …
Tui-chin Also interest on loans, that was too high …
Ch’ung-wang You have just lost.
Tui-chin And we want that back. And land you seized when we couldn’t pay our debts …
Ch’ung-wang The house you live in …
Tui-chin We want that back. Also there are to be penalties for when you hit us …
Ch’ung-wang You have just lost.
Tui-chin Or abused us or starved us …
Ch’ung-wang The clothes you are wearing …
Tui-chin If it’s wrong to pay rent …
Ch’ung-wang You have just lost.
Tui-chin It must always have been wrong.
Ch’ung-wang Come here.
Ch’ung-wang rises to strike Tui-chin. At once the villagers invade the house.
Yu-lai Elected Vice-Chairman, Peasants’ Association. Find his grain.
Ch’ung-wang Peasants’ Association?
Fa-liang goes out to search for his grain.
Yu-lai You are to attend a meeting at which your past life will be reviewed. Everything you have taken from us unfairly since the war began – rent, interest, land – you will return. Everything you have done to us since the Japanese came you will pay for. In one day we will add up the bill for your life.
Fa-liang Look.
Yu-lai Until then we are seizing your grain as security for your debt. And we are posting militia on your land.
Fa-liang returns, throwing down a rotten bag of mildewed grain.
Fa-liang Look. Look.
Tui-chin It’s rotten. Why? Why did you let it go rotten? How could you?
Fa-liang This was salt.
Tui-chin Salt. This was salt. (He takes the jar and flings the contents in Ch’ung-wang’s face. It has hydrolized.) One year when I couldn’t pay my rent you took my whole harvest. Now I find it’s in here rotting. Why?
Yu-lai He was hoarding it. He was hoping to make money.
Fa-liang People died …
Yu-lai Wait …
Tui-chin Le-miao starved to death on your land …
Yu-lai Wait …
Tui-chin All the time this was here.
Fa-liang Once I came begging, I crawled for grain …
Yu-lai Wait …
Tui-chin Kill him. Cut off his hands.
Yu-lai Wait. Wait for the meeting.
Slogan: FIFTY-EIGHT ACCUSATIONS
The group re-forms. The other villagers go, leaving just Fa-liang, Tui-chin, Cheng-k’uan and Yu-lai facing Ch’ung-wang.
Yu-lai The people have accused you. Now you must pay.
Fa-liang There are six good bags of grain. That’s all I can find.
Cheng-k’uan It’s not enough.
Tui-chin We’ve measured his land. Thirteen acres.
Cheng-k’uan Not enough.
Yu-lai He owes the village one hundred bags of grain. It’s his blood debt. And his sweat debt. He must settle accounts.
Cheng-k’uan Look. Here is a list of everything you took from us. Where is it?
Ch’ung-wang I don’t know.
Fa-liang You turned it into coins.
Ch’ung-wang I don’t have any coins.
Fa-liang All your houses, all your stock, all your grain, your clothes are not enough to settle your account. Where are your coins?
Ch’ung-wang No coins.
Fa-liang Where are they?
Yu-lai clears a space. He hits Ch’ung-wang twice.
Ch’ung-wang Fifty dollars. In the stove.
Yu-lai Fa-liang. Stove.
Fa-liang goes off. Yu-lai nods at Cheng-k’uan.
Yu-lai Cheng-k’uan.
Cheng-k’uan moves round for his turn. Hits Ch’ung-wang.
Ch’ung-wang Forty dollars.
Cheng-k’uan Where?
Ch’ung-wang Back yard.
Yu-lai Fa-liang. Back yard.
Yu-lai nods now at Tui-chin who takes his turn at hitting Ch’ung-wang.
Ch’ung-wang Thirty. Under the stable.
Yu-lai Fa-liang. Stable. (He turns and smiles at Tui-chin.) All right?
Tui-chin Yes.
Yu-lai May we leave it to you?
Tui-chin Of course.
Yu-lai It may be slow.
Cheng-k’uan Good night.
Yu-lai Good night.
They smile and go off. Tui-chin looks at Ch’ung-wang, then kicks him again. Shen Ching-ho rises.
Ch’ung-wang Another fifteen. Under the tree.
Tui-chin Fa-liang. Tree.
On the platform Ching-ho suddenly speaks.
Ching-ho My oldest clothes. (He changes and dirties his hands.) One bag of white flour.
His daughter fetches it. He turns to her.
Kiss me.
She does so. Then they set off across the village. Fa-liang returns with the coins.
Tui-chin Did you get them?
Fa-liang Yes.
They look at each other.
Tui-chin When I was born my family wanted to celebrate.
But they had to borrow money for dumplings. And so before I could speak, I was already in debt to the landlord. A man stands up to his neck in water, so that even a ripple is enough to drown him.
The scene scatters, as Ching-ho stops at the door of Yu-lai and Cheng-k’uan who are sitting at home. He puts the bag down and gestures to his daughter to stay outside, unseen. Then he goes in.
Ching-ho New Year.
Yu-lai Yes.
Ching-ho I had to come.
He smiles. Yu-lai looks at Cheng-k’uan.
A new life. Just to say a Happy New Year, a happy new life.
Yu-lai Yes.
Ching-ho That’s good. Thank you. (He goes to the door, slips his hand out, brings in the bag.) I know your life is hard. On this soil. The valuable work you are doing. Service to the community. But we are all … citizens of one village. Please no ceremony but … help yourselves to the flour and pass a Happy New Year. (He puts the bag down and walks backwards away.) If at any time you should meet any difficulty in your new life in any way you should know my door is as it has always been, open, and I am as I have always been, ready to help. (He gestures his daughter in.) This is my daughter. She has always wanted to …
Silence.
Yours. Good night. (He goes out.)
Yu-lai and Cheng-k’uan look at each other. The daughter stands silent, dignified, ignored for the rest of the scene.
Yu-lai What does he take us for? Rats who can be bought for one bag of flour? One bag? I’m worth a thousand bags. I am a granary.
Cheng-k’uan looks at the impassive girl, then goes over to the flour, puts a finger in, licks it, then stares in the bag as down a deep well.
The richest landlord in Long Bow. In the famine year he gave us nothing, now suddenly we all belong to one village. And we are offered flour.
T’ien-ming appears on the platform.
T’ien-ming Never trust a landlord, never protect a landlord. There is only one road and that is to struggle against them.
A banner descends reading: NEVER TRUST A LANDLORD, NEVER PROTECT A LANDLORD, THERE IS ONLY ONE ROAD AND THAT IS TO STRUGGLE AGAINST THEM
2
Ching-ho is seized as he goes home, stripped, tortured. Silent tableaux of the scene as it is described.
Man-hsi When the final struggle began Ching-ho was faced with accusations from more than half the village. Old women who had never spoken in public before stood up to accuse him. Altogether one hundred and eighty people testified. Ching-ho had no answer to any of them. When the Association met to decide what he owed, it came to four hundred bags of grain.
Cheng-k’uan That evening all the people went to Ching-ho’s courtyard to help take over his property. It was very cold. We built bonfires and the flames shot up towards the stars. It was very beautiful.
Yu-lai We dug up all his money, beating him, digging, finding more, beating him, digging, finding more. By the time the sun was rising in the sky we had five hundred dollars.
T’ien-ming We were all tired and hungry. We decided to eat all the things Ching-ho had prepared for the New Year. There was a whole crock full of dumplings stuffed with pork and peppers. We even had shrimp. Everyone ate their fill and didn’t notice the cold.
Shen Ching-ho Of the seven landlords in Long Bow, three died after being beaten to death by the Peasants’ Association. Two more died of starvation when they had been driven from their land. Shen Ching-ho was luckier: he ran away and became a teacher in a primary school.
3
Slogan: DISTRIBUTION OF FRUITS
Yu-lai speaks from on high. T’ien-ming stands beside him. Cheng-k’uan organizes the peasants while Man-hsi counts with an abacus.
Yu-lai We have seized the wealth from fiftee
n families. Two hundred and eighty-six acres of land, twenty-six draft animals, four hundred sections of house. And behind the temple doors: everything they own.
The peasants stand in single file while Cheng-k’uan explains.
Cheng-k’uan You’ll be given a number.
Fa-liang Yes.
Cheng-k’uan The number will be the number of pounds of grain you’ve been allocated.
Fa-liang Yes.
Cheng-k’uan You may then either keep the grain or change it into any object you want from inside the temple. Each object has its price marked on it. A plough I think three hundredweight of grain. A shovel fifty pounds, a slipper two, a rattle one, so on.
Man-hsi A hundred and eighty.
Cheng-k’uan You may spend a hundred and eighty pounds of grain.
Yu-lai (from above) The poorest allowed in first.
Cheng-k’uan Ch’ou-har. Because you are poor and have many needs, we have put your number up.
Man-hsi A hundred and ninety.
Cheng-k’uan You may spend a hundred and ninety pounds of grain.
Ch’ou-har A hundred and ninety.
Cheng-k’uan Hsueh-chen. Your number is not as high as others. There are only two in your family. We know you suffered a great deal but you did not speak at meetings. You did not speak out your grievances at landlords.
She nods, too shy to reply.
How can we know unless you speak out? Anyway you’ve got what you need.
Man-hsi One hundred and twenty.
Cheng-k’uan You may spend one hundred and twenty pounds of grain. Go in. Next.
Tui-chin Tui-chin.
Cheng-k’uan Yes. Now, you have denounced many landlords. You have been active in the struggle from the start, spoken at meetings. This should ensure you a lot. But in every case we have also balanced people’s grievances against their needs. And you are a single man, who has a lot of the implements he needs. So your number has come down.
Tui-chin What if I want a cow, but haven’t been given enough grain?
Cheng-k’uan Then you’ll get a share in a cow.
Tui-chin A share?
T’ien-ming Yes. Why not?
Tui-chin Share a cow?
T’ien-mingFour families, one leg each.
Tui-chin Very good.
Man-hsi A hundred and fifty pounds of grain.
Cheng-k’uan Next.
Ch’ung-lai’s wife I am Ch’ung-lai’s wife.