Optimism, we are told, has died a horrible death in the West, so with cheerful gloom we sit back and watch the world get nastier and nastier, not doing anything because nothing can be done.' Yet many a world-weary cynic undergoes a drastic metamorphosis whenever the magic word 'China' is mentioned. Gone are the portents of doom haunting his own society: the rosy-coloured spectacles are seized, and through them the Peopled Republic is seen as a Happy Land of Red Flags and Beautiful people. 'But' the oh-so-disappointed qualification follows, 'it wouldn't work here', and, his brief flurry of good spirits fading, our tragic hero sinks back into comfortable contemplation of the worms gnawing at the foundations of Godzone, and the whole rotten structure about to crumble to its inevitable, apocalyptic destruction.

The point I've had to make to some of the people who've grilled me for hours on end about China, and then gone away with stars in their eyes, is that China is not a Utopia but a nation of people building their own society in their own pragmatic way and their own good time. We can learn from their experience, particularly as regards the theatre. Of course, the Chinese model can't be imported wholesale but the central concept underlying Chinese theatre - 'For Whom?' - can and should be applied in New Zealand.

During our three-week sojourn in the People's Republic we saw theatrical performances at many of the places we visited - schools, spare-time institutes, army camps and kindergartens, as well as in theatres and concert halls. The Chinese seem able to put on a cultural performance at the drop of a hat, and everything we saw suggested that the masses of the Chinese people view the theatre as their theatre, in the same way as they view the Communist party as their party and Chairman Mao as their leader. This impression was reinforced when we arrived in Peking and talked to people at the University about literature and art. They explained to us that they wanted to popularise theatre and raise its standards in terms of both form and content.

Mass Movement

So throughout China a mass movement is under way to get more and more people actively engaged in the performing arts and to raise their level at the same time. The two components of this movement are professional and amateur theatre. The theory is that professional performing artists learn from the masses of the people while amateur artists seek to emulate the work the professionals have done (and are doing) in creating the revolutionary model works, and by much practise and sharing their experience improve the standards of their work. Does this theory work in practise? Everything we saw during our brief visit suggested that it does, and that the performing arts are almost as popular in China as rugby is in New Zealand.

We first encountered amateur theatre in China at Kung Kiang housing estate in Shanghai, when kindergarten children per- page 11 formed a song and dance routine 'to welcome the Uncles and Aunts from New Zealand' Perched on tiny children's chairs, with cameras operating at peak efficiency and point-blank range, we watched with awe as the children sang lustily and danced gracefully, waving bouquets of paper flowers, as if they had been performing in front of an audience all their lives There was a curious blend of enthusiasm and dedication which seemed to ensure that nothing was dropped and noone succumbed to a disaster of any kind.

So impressed were we by this and other children's performances that when talking with the professors at Peking University we asked if children received any formal tuition in the performing arts. We were told that most older kindergarten children have singing and dancing classes, and there are spare-time cultural institutions to give training to school-children and young factory workers. 'Catch them while they're young

In Shanghai we also visited Tian Shan middle school It has a roll of about 2,000 and has a spare-time performing arts troupe of about 50 students. Apart from putting on performances about twice a year for the whole school, each member of the troupe is a 'backbone activist in theatre for his or her particular class and from time to time organises the whole class to put on a performance, 'according to need1 - perhaps a short play to propagate the movement to study the theory of Proletarian dictatorship - or a song and dance to welcome friends from the New Zealand University Students. Association.

Workers' Troupes

At Shanghai No 2 Machine tools plant I talked with a member of the factory's theatre troupe. She was a grinding machine operator and she said that there were more than 20 members in the troupe, and that they had no permanent director. Sometimes they would receive coaching from the Youth Palace. In addition to this troupe each workshop (there were about 1000 workers per workshop) put on its own performances. Generally they presented plays about the 'Militant and happy life of the workers, raising good examples', and utilizing the collective wisdom of the whole team. Some of their subjects included class struggle, the activities of the militia, and 'how women prop up half the sky'

All this strongly infers that theatre in China is a popular art, and that the mass movement to popularise it is succeeding. The reason for its success is fairly obvious - theatre in China is about the everyday life of its working people. Theatre artists are taught to 'take the whole society as their factory and what they produce must serve the workers, peasants and soldiers of China In New Zealand great efforts have been made by various theatre groups, organisations and God knows who to try and get people interested in theatre. These attempts have met with failure, because,. for the great majority of New Zealanders, theatre has nothing they can grasp, no point of reference. Its relevance to the people and its relevance to New Zealand society cannot be clearly established unless one attempts an incredible series of mental gymnastics For the rest of the people theatre has no meaning and is therefore not important.

Shanghai middle school students provide an impromptu performance.

Peking University

Before the Cultural Revolution, Chinese theatre was in a similar condition. One of the professors at Peking University had this to say about the revolution in literature and art:

Why should we have a revolution in literature and art? Because before the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution about 80% of our art troupes put on performances about feudalism and imperialists, with emperors and beautiful princesses The theatres were usually only 1/3 full So the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the National People's Congress initiated a revolution in literature and art.'

The main change has been 'to eulogise heroes from among the workers, peasants and soldiers. Guided by revolutionary model theoretical works, artists all over China have created their own plays and operas. Artistic festivals are held regularly at the country, prefectural provincial and national levels. Most provinces have participated in national artistic festivals.

The raising of standards is a two-way process. As well as learning from the model works, we also rely on audience opinion and adjust our art to suit the wishes of the broad masses.'

At the coastal city of Tsingdao, we had the opportunity to see a Peking Opera Troupe performing a model work entitled Pan Shi Bay The theatre was fairly large, and looked as if it could hold about 800-odd people, and it was nearly full when we arrived There were microphones stationed at the front of the stage in a vain attempt to combat bad accoustics and the incessant hum of talk which seems to be a feature of Chinese audiences. Above the stage was written in big red characters 'All our literature and art are for the masses of the people, and in the first place for the workers, peasants and soldiers.' The curtain went up, and with a vivid burst of light and music, the opera began.

Five and six-year-old kindergarten children welcome their New Zealand "uncles and aunts" at Kung Kiang Housing Estate.

The story of 'Pan Shi Bay' is one of those complicated. 'Meanwhile back in the jungle type plots. It hinges around a small fishing village which the Ex-local tyrant or 'Fish lord' and the Kuomintang attempt to infiltrate and recapture. The local militia, however, led by their heroic commander (Liu Chang Hai) thwarts their plot and brings them to justice. The story embraces games of bluff and counter-bluff the criticism of erring comrades, chase and battle scenes tableaux of heros, and moments of villainy, flashes of comedy, and touches of pathos and sorrow as fishermen recall the bitter life in the Old Society.

Peking Opera is an old form that has been remoulded in order to tell new stories such as this one - stories of the working people's history In the reshaping of Peking Opera, the Chinese may have destroyed 'a great art form' (in the words of the Soviets), but in its place they have created a folk theatre.

Heightened Realism

Elements of the old opera which had the most popular appeal have been retained and new ones added. Carefully constructed and beautifully painted sets are a new feature of Peking Opera, boldly and vividly coloured to create, an effect of heightened realism,' and set-changes are made incredibly quickly. There is an obvious delight in the creation of special effects, such as back-projection cunningly used to suggest moving waves, lighthouses flashing, and storm-driven clouds.

The acting style has not been changed, however. It involves a combination of gymnastics, dance and mine - all elements of the theatre are drawn together on the stage. Characters are boldly portrayed and sharply polarised between positive and negative, revolutionary and reactionary making for 'Goodies/Baddies' - type situations. Voice and gestures emphasised beyond the natural level so that, like most indigenous Asian theatre, the acting style is a medium in itself, like dance a medium that has to be translated. I found it a completely alien kind of theatre yet at the same time absorbing so that one made every effort to try and translate it

Characterisation

Characterisations are based on the combination of Typical' and 'Personal'. Typical and Personal' are a unified matter For instance, the class enemy - he is described as typical, (i.e a conglomeration of several nasty types). He also has his own definite personality.'

'A specific example is Liu Chang Hai, the company leader in Pan Shi Bay.' He is a militiaman, and as such is typical of China's militiamen but he has his own characteristics. We could not find a Liu Chang Hai in real life but we would find his sort of person.'

'Bourgeois writers take full account of describing personal experience, but a good work of art should reflect the nature of the era As for personal experience once it is connected with the revolution it has significance. So whenever we describe a hero we must integrate our description with social reality in order to reflect the nature and characteristics of an era.

Peking Opera is no longer about princes and concubines — now it concerns itself with portraying the working people of China. Its audience being the working people of China, there is a shared experience between actor and audience. 'Pan Shi Bay is about the struggle of the working people to resist agression. Although not many Chinese would have been involved in doing so in open warfare since liberation, most of those in the audience would have done some militia training for just such a contingency.

Within a framework of popular entertainment and shared experience the philosophical and moral outlook of the society is restated as it applies to the issues of the day 'Pan Shi Bay' exhorts the people to maintain vigilance to put classes and the class struggle before production and not be duped by the bourgeois and the reactionary.

Wages

Since the Cultural Revolution actors have been on a low-wage system, and artists in the troupes performing Revolutionary model works consistently return to the factories and communes to learn from the working people and to raise the level of local amateur theatre. In Peking recently a mass choir of 10,000 people gathered in the 'Great Hall of the People' to learn to sing Peking opera tunes. The drama troupe at Peking University sometimes gets coaching from professional artists Far from becoming part of an elitist group that turns its collective nose up at amateur theatre, the Chinese professional actor seems to be a truly dedicated performer seeking to fulfill the first and most important of Chairman Mac's criteria for the revolutionary artist To understand people and know them well'.

The Chinese people are at present engaged in a mass movement to study the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Their theatre consciously reflects the struggle between the two lines of thought, proletarian and bourgeois The Old Society makes its exit as the Worker marches onto the stage What is happening in Chinese theatre is of relevance to New Zealand theatre because the Chinese have asked of their art For whom?' Most New Zealand theatre people haven't got round to doing this yet. But of even more importance is the movement afoot that is asking of the whole society For Whom?' The two countries are poles apart but this question is valid in both.

******