In 1998 I received an invitation from the Chinese Radiological Society to speak at their Annual Scientific Meeting in Shanghai. I met Professor Zhang Wanshi, the Chief of Radiology in Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army Airforce Hospital, during the meeting. The following year, he invited me to Beijing to teach at the annual scientific meeting of the tri-services (Army, Navy, and Airforce).
One evening Professor Zhang took me to Lao She Teahouse (老舍茶馆). Lao She Teahouse (opened in 1988) is well-known both as a physical tea house in Beijing and the celebrated name of a play written by Shu Qingchun (舒庆春). Lao She (老舍) was his pen name.
The Teahouse is a powerful and captivating account of Chinese history, using the setting of a teahouse to paint the social struggles of individuals from the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) to just before the Civil War (1927 – 1949).
The play consists of three acts covering 50 years. The first act started on the eve of the Boxer Uprising (义和团运动, 1898 – 1901) when poverty was rife amongst the countryside folk (against the backdrop of heavy Western and Japanese domination). The second act fast forwards 20 years into the period of the Chinese Republic in turmoil when Warlords backed by foreign forces divided the country. The final act (in 1948) covered the period of widespread dissatisfaction when the Kuomintang, under foreign influence, ruled China.
This history creates an incredibly politically charged narrative showing the effects of these times on everyday people. Lao She depicted the panoramic canvass from rich eunuchs to deserting soldiers and sleazy pimps in a teahouse setting. Characters from all walks of life struggle, touch and intersect within the austere environment of a teahouse. At the centre of the play is Wang, the owner of the Teahouse. He spent his life comforting the incredible mix of people in his Teahouse.
Like Chen Gexin and numerous other artists and intellectuals in China, Lao She suffered grave mistreatment during the Cultural Revolution. Condemned as a counterrevolutionary, the Red Guards paraded him through the streets and gave him a public beating. He suffered tremendous physical and mental humiliation. He was said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in Beijing’s Taiping Lake on 24 August 1966.
Today, Lao She’s former home in Beijing is preserved as the Lao She Memorial Hall. It was opened to the public as a museum of the writer’s work and life in 1999. He was buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery (八宝山革命公墓), Beijing’s principal resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high government officials, and individuals deemed of significant importance due to their contributions to society.
The Teahouse gave me a balanced perspective of modern Chinese history. This insight is critical in understanding today’s geopolitical tension between China and the West.
Vince
Dr Vincent Chong is a retired Professor of Radiology at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
