The Oriental Cultural Association asked me to write a play with the title "Oriental Culture".After thinking for many days, I can't think of a way.Although a script may not be completely interspersed, there must be a story; I can't find a story that can express "Oriental culture".Even if symbolism is used, with characters representing abstract concepts, "culture" contains too many items to be exhausted.Taking a step back and picking only a few important items to represent culture seems to be ineffective, because it is difficult to decide which ones are important and which ones are not.Moreover, what everyone thinks is important, I may not understand; what I understand may not be important.If this difficulty cannot be overcome, things will not be concentrated and the drama will not be written.

After thinking about it for a few more days, I decided to make an idea from the genre of the script.That is to say, if the completeness of the script is abandoned and elements such as singing and dancing are inserted into the drama, there are many tools for expression, and even if it is difficult to cover all the aspects that can be expressed, it is at least broader than relying solely on drama.From the perspective of the script, is this "a platter" approach "desirable"?I don't think about it.I know that only in this way can I have any hope of writing it.Well, I have a "big platter" in mind.

However, this doesn't solve everything! What is culture?What is oriental culture?What will Eastern culture look like in the future?No one can answer it satisfactorily!A group of people has its spiritual and material way of life throughout the ages; if we call this way of culture, then education, ethics, religion, etiquette, and basic necessities of life are all contained in it, which is extensive and varied. .If you put too much emphasis on the spirit, you will ignore the material; if you put more emphasis on the material, you will lose the spirit.If you stick to the past, you will lose the present, and if you hold on to the present, you will prevent it from coming.There is simply no way to start!If I were a thinker, it would be easy.From a living culture, I can put forward the main points, talk about its ins and outs, and make a family statement.However, I am not a thinker.Besides, even if I am a thinker and qualified to speak out about culture, it is still useless.What I want to write is a screenplay, not a thesis!

It seems that we still have to figure it out from the script.If I take one thing as the main thing and make up a story, and this story reflects the culture, it must be more powerful than listing the conditions or facts of the culture.Telling culture through stories means that culture lives in the world and can be revealed at any time; if culture is spoken frankly, it must not be so natural and lively.So, I thought of a story.Of course it is the story of the War of Resistance.The purpose of the Anti-Japanese War is to maintain the survival and freedom of our culture; only when culture survives freely can history prosper and continue—human beings survive but culture dies, they must be slaves.Then, during the Anti-Japanese War, it is a good time to review culture, because since we spare no effort to preserve culture, the strength of culture and its length must be reviewed.We must see its past, present, and future.Regarding the past, we cannot deny that we have a high culture.Even ghost slaves who are accustomed to eating foreign food claim that the moon in foreign countries is much brighter than that in China, but no one in the history of the world has dared to underestimate Chinese culture.

Speaking of the present, except for those who are not addicted to being traitors, no one has to admit that our illiterate soldiers and civilians dare to face the enemy's mechanized troops head-on, and it has been more than four years since they encountered the enemy's mechanized troops. —There must be a deep cultural force that makes it so.If there is no such culture, it must be attributed to miracles, and there are no miracles in the world today! Speaking of the future, because of our confidence in the victory of the War of Resistance, we naturally think of two things; (1) Taking China as the vanguard and inspiration, all nations in the East—even the sensible people in Japan—must no longer use forbearance Gou'an is for peace, but you should stand up and exchange your flesh and blood for real peace.The southward advance of the Japanese warlords—whether economic or military—was at a time when peoples from China to India were awakening.With this awakening, everyone will not fall into the "peace pawn" of the Japanese warlords and entrust their souls to chains and whips. (2) The survival of a culture depends on its self-criticism, self-correction and self-enrichment from time to time; bragging about old brands and stubborn refusal to go one step further is self-destruction.During the Anti-Japanese War, we realized the strength of inherent culture, but we also saw our shortcomings—the Anti-Japanese War illuminated the culture with "X light".At the juncture of life and death, we must not hide our illness from the doctor!Where to go and what to take, you must do it yourself!In this way, we affirm that we have culture, and it is a very high culture.However, it is not so easy to make up a story based on this affirmation.First, on the one hand, when writing a story, on the other hand, one has to take into account the cultural issues hidden under the story, so the story must be very thin—the ice must be very thin, so that you can see the flowing water below!The story is thin, the script is fragile, not easy to remedy!Second, there are three stages of culture—past, present, and future; the war of resistance is also three stages—the war of resistance by oneself, the unity of various ethnic groups in East Asia, and peace in the future.How to mobilize this?The dual meanings of the story—the Anti-Japanese War and culture—had been difficult to match seamlessly, and there were so many problems in each meaning, even if I was an all-knowing generalist, I couldn't express it exhaustively and comprehensively.Also, thirdly, let’s talk about the culture of the past. Which one has not changed since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties and is the source of culture?Which one is purely our own, untouched by external influences?Everyone knows!Let’s take our clothing as an example. Cheongsam is the gown style of bannermen, but everyone wears it today.Going a little further, it is still not safe. Is the gown style of the Tang Dynasty purely Chinese?Therefore, I cannot use a single historical event to describe the culture of a certain generation.Moreover, even if I have all the preparations to write a historical drama, it is still only based on the past to tell the present, and the effect of the script is still indirect, without much moving power.I must mix the past and the present, and I would rather teach the past to have only a shadow, than teach the present to hide aside and wait for hints.Yes, I can only set up a little shadow to teach the past to appear a little different from the present; if someone asks: Does this shadow symbolize the Han and Jin Dynasties, or the Tang and Song Dynasties?Is it Buddha, or Confucius and Mencius?I can't answer, and I don't want to answer.All in all, the culture I mentioned is only based on my personal life experience, the situation of the Anti-Japanese War I personally saw, the cultural significance I can personally understand, and the length of our country’s culture that I personally see. And my personal hope for culture, expressing my personal opinion; never dare to arrange culture.I don't understand how many problems there are, so I dare not write them.What I am sure of, I dare to write down.In this way, my difficulties can be reduced a little; my own difficulties are reduced, and the poor appearance of the script is increased, but there is no way.I can only guarantee my honesty, but I cannot deny the shallowness of my talents and insights!Even what I believe is not necessarily without error; but if I had been more careful, the play would never have been produced.

Now we can talk about the script itself.The play is divided into three acts: the first act discusses the current situation of the Anti-Japanese War, and sets a little shadow of the past.The second act talks about Japan's southward advance, and implies the reconciliation of old and new cultures due to the war of resistance, and the joint resistance war with various ethnic groups in East Asia.The third act speaks of the establishment of peace in East Asia after the victory of China. The plot is simple.But the simpler it is, the less in-depth the problems it touches, as if it is impossible to wrap five buckets of rice in a handkerchief.Why should it be so simple?I was afraid that it would be difficult to perform with too many people.However, like the situation of the Anti-Japanese War, and Japan's southward advance, it must be written, and it cannot be very simple; so I used singing and dancing.Is it possible to use singing and dancing to be really simple and clear in performance?Still doesn't work!This method is self-defeating!There are four short songs and two choruses in the play, and probably at least thirty singers are needed to gain momentum.There are six dances in the second act, and at least ten dance experts are used-it is difficult to express the meaning of a random dance.Both singing and dancing must have accompaniment, and at least twenty or thirty musicians are needed.Including dozens of actors, a total of eighty or ninety people are needed!Some people may think that my use of singing and dancing is an intentional trick, and it is inconvenient for me to refute.But the sad thing is that it is self-defeating, and it is still too big to lose, making it difficult to perform.As for being lucky enough to be able to perform, the audience only listened to the music and watched the dance, ignoring the part of the drama, which is even more sad!It's the final scene that worries me the most.There is no struggle, no drama, but I wrote about peace in the world! "Assortment platter" is no longer a good dish, but with sweet eight-treasure rice mixed in it, I am afraid it will be even more "unbearable"!

Regarding the setting of the second section of the first act in Suixi, it is purely for the convenience of ethnic gatherings in Suixi; if you think it is inappropriate, please feel free to change the place.In the third act, Qingdao is set as the scene, and because the scene is beautiful, it can be changed if there is no other purpose. Lao She in Longquan Village, Kunming, 30th Anniversary Double Tenth Festival