Nonprofit Production Profiles a Century of Chinese History

Reflecting a century of drama and history, a Chinese family separated by geography, war and politics is the subject of a play written by a Palo Alto resident set to hit the stage in San Jose soon.

Given the large Chinese population in Cupertino, it may be of local residents' interest to learn a little about Chinese history, especially about the relationship between China and Taiwan, which always seems confusing to some non-Chinese.

Are Taiwanese people Chinese? The answer to this question can be found in a Mandarin play with English captions, "Soaring Over a Century," which will be on stage at the San Jose Repertory Theatre Aug. 6 and 7.

Summer is San Jose Rep’s off season, which allows production groups such as Huayi—the production group for “Soaring Over a Century”--a Chinese community nonprofit theater group, to rent the space for its own shows.

Hongtong Lin, director of "Soaring Over a Century," taught at Beijing Film Academy and has worked on more than 30 plays since his retirement. The play presents a longer span of history than all the other plays he has directed, he said.

"The biggest challenge about the long historical span is to change backgrounds for many different scenes," said Lin. "Fortunately we have advanced LED technology. We use LED slide shows for backgrounds, and they look very real."

Lin also said he finds directing the play a meaningful task, as it depicts many Chinese people's common experiences and shared feelings.

Playwright Joyce Hsu, a Palo Alto resident who has written plays for Huayi since 1996, said she wrote "Soaring Over a Century" in response to several friends' common request for a play that presents the history of the Republic of China for its 100th anniversary this year.

Hsu reflected upon true stories she had heard about the Republic of China's past century, and incorporated them into a family saga in which four generations go through 100 years of war and peace, separation and reunion.

Dramatic highlights of the play start with 1949, the year the Nationalist government of the Republic of China lost the entire Mainland China to the Chinese Communists but re-established itself in Taiwan. In the play, a pilot follows the Nationalist government to Taiwan, taking his eldest son, Da-Bao, but leaving his wife and youngest son, Er-Bao, in China.

Six decades later, when Da-Bao and Er-Bao reunite, they are both retired pilots like their father, but one for the Nationalist government in Taiwan and the other for the Communist government in China. They chat about an air battle between China and Taiwan in 1960, and then suddenly realize they might have fought against one another in the air.

To the two brothers' surprise, it could have been Er-Bao who shot Da-Bao's left arm and left permanent damage.

Hsu said the conversation between the two brothers was what came to her mind first when she gathered ideas for the play.

"A civil war is brother against brother," said Hsu, who was born in China but moved to Taiwan as a child with her family in 1949. 

Hsu said her own childhood experience with the Chinese Civil War helped her create the drama between Da-Bao and Er-Bao. She added that the war was the hardest on her parents' generation.

"I wrote the play as a tribute to my parents' generation," Hsu said.

All members of the Huayi Theater Group are volunteers, receiving no financial compensation, Hsu said. Revenue from ticket sales of every play goes to cover production expenses, but usually that doesn't suffice.

"We've put eight of my plays on stage. Only one broke even," said Hsu. "Fortunately my husband has been very supportive to pay for the difference every time."

Hsu said she would love to see "Soaring Over a Century" break Huayi's past box office records.

"I'm sure many people from China or Taiwan will relate to the characters of the play. I also hope American-born Chinese or people of other races can learn some Chinese history from it," she said.

Tickets for "Soaring Over a Century" are $35 each, or $30 each for groups of 10. To purchase tickets, email joycehsu88@yahoo.com or petery@huayi.org.