Professor's plays are speaking up for farmers
Lu Jun, chief of academic committee of Shanghai Theater Academy, president of Songjiang Federation of Literary and Art Circiles, dean of Research Institute of Songjiang Culture
Where you are dropped, as the saying goes, is who you are. A farmer’s son, a Songjiang native, a professor and playwright from Shanghai Theater Academy, Lu Jun, 66, has been giving back to his hometown with his expertise over the past 40 years.
“Farmer’s blood is flowing in my vessel. I love the soil, the village life and the people there,” Lu said, sitting behind the desk loaded with piles of his academic work in stage art and research papers on Songjiang’s culture, art and history.
The strong attachment to the hometown is always inspiring the playwright, who creates dozens of popular plays about farmers, farmlands and fun farm life. “They nourish and enrich me. And I feel the duty to give back,” he said.
The professor’s childhood memories are all about farm work. Born into a poor family in Xinbang Town, the little Lu helped tend ducks by the river and plant crops in the rice paddies. But the clever, diligent boy soon stood out in the village with his talent in writing. At the age of 18, he was assigned to write speeches for the town’s Party secretary. Five years later, Lu was admitted to the Shanghai Theater Academy, and started his life in stage art.
On graduation, Lu gave up the chance to work in downtown Shanghai. He returned to suburban Songjiang to be a playwriting teacher in the district’s cultural center for 13 years.
What made Lu rise to fame was the play “Mind Relief” in 1981, which depicted the great changes China’s new agricultural policy brought to farmers when the country’s rural reform hit a bottleneck.
The play “A Wedding Interrupted by Three Daughters” was another of Lu’s success. Farmer Qian Afa wants to make a lot of money by establishing a “trust” for raising, roasting and selling ducks. He interferes with his daughter’s marriage for money. The three daughters cleverly interrupt the wedding with well-designed accidents. The play sparks laughter and also provokes thoughts.
“The cultural centers in Songjiang at that time were very strong in playwriting, performance and directing. Though everyone was an amateur, the plays they presented were as good as today’s professional art troupes,” Lu recalled.
The play “The Memory in Summer” was based on China’s first contract killing of a woman after 1949. A farmer became a rich boss and wanted to get rid of his wife. He hired a man to seduce her and planned to catch her in the act of adultery. Lu made a number of changes to the story. In the play, the killer falls in love with the wife, but in reality the woman was killed.
“The case was very cruel, but what I wanted to say was that what was great about Chinese farmers was they were able to go through any hardship and face poverty, but sadly they might not know how to live once they got rich,” Lu said.
Dramatic conflicts with black humor, exaggerated artistic techniques with precise logic, and keen observations of human nature make Lu’s plays popular not only among farmers but also urbanites. His works have been adapted into various operas in Mandarin, Cantonese, Zhejiang dialect, Shanghai dialect and Peking Opera.
“My plays change with the eras. But what I’m doing is to portray, analyze and speak up for farmers,” Lu said.
“Rooster Can Lay Eggs” won the 34th Tian Han Drama Award last year.
Stage photo from “A Nurse’s Diary,” which eulogizes the dedication of frontline medical workers, fighting hard against the COVID-19 pandemic. The play is China’s first modern drama with the theme of COVID-19 pandemic prevention.
Home of Drama
The most important project Lu is busy with in recent years is building his birthplace into a “Home of Drama.”
As the “root of Shanghai,” Songjiang is fertile soil for operas, dramas and playwriting. Kunqu Opera masters Yu Sulu (1847-1930) and his son Yu Zhenfei (1902-1993) spent years in Songjiang developing the opera. Songjiang is also the cradle of Huju Opera, performed in Shanghai dialect. In the 1930s, a batch of famous Huju Opera performers and playwrights started to shine on the city’s stages.
Today, Lu picks up the baton in this relay race.
By setting up the Research Institute of Songjiang Culture, the professor has found his stage to dig into Songjiang’s history, preserve and promote its varied arts in not only drama, but also literature, painting, poetry, calligraphy and many more.
In collaboration with Shanghai Theater Academy, the institute has launched a drama series of Songjiang-native celebrities in history. The first two have been performed, which depict the life stories of Xu Jie (prime minister in the Ming Dynasty) and painter Dong Qichang (1555-1636). Plays about calligrapher Lu Ji (AD261-303), litterateur Tao Zongyi (1329-1412) and Songjiang’s first Communist Party member Hou Shaoqiu (1896-1927) are done with scriptwriting and rehearsal, and are opening soon this year.
Contemporary plays include “A Nurse’s Diary,” which eulogizes the dedication of frontline medical workers, fighting hard against the COVID-19 pandemic. The play is China’s first modern drama with the theme of COVID-19 pandemic prevention. Children’s musical “Rooster Can Lay Eggs” won the 34th Tian Han Drama Award last year.
The professor is now working on compiling an eight-volume encyclopedia of Songjiang’s culture, and sorting out the district’s brief history and its art history of calligraphy, drama, literature, poetry and painting.
“It’s still in an infant stage for building a ‘Home of Drama,’ and we’ve prepared for years to give it a go,” Lu said. He is now establishing the Dramatists Association for Children and Youth, China’s first so far. “We are growing older, in bad need of fresh blood to join us, and then we could give the baton to the next generation.”
