Put Down Your Whip

Put Down Your Whip
	Xu Beihong's 1939 oil painting of Wang Ying's performance of the play.
Written by	Chen Liting
Date premiered	10 October 1931
Place premiered	Nanhui County
Original language	Chinese
Setting	Manchuria

Last updated May 03, 2019

Put Down Your Whip, also translated as Lay Down Your Whip (Chinese :放下你的鞭子; pinyin :Fàngxià nǐde biānzi), is a 1931 Chinese street play written by Chen Liting during the Republican era, who drew inspiration from the earlier play Meiniang by Tian Han.

Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases not mutually intelligible, language varieties, forming the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the ethnic Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. About 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language.

Hanyu Pinyin, often abbreviated to pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China and to some extent in Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Mandarin Chinese, which is normally written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones. Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters.

Chen Liting was a Chinese playwright, drama and film director, screenwriter, and film theorist. He was one of the most prominent film directors and screenwriters in pre-Communist China, together with Shi Dongshan, Cai Chusheng, and Zheng Junli. His most famous film was Women Side by Side (1949).

Originally an anti-government play, it was adapted to take on an anti-Japanese theme after growing Japanese aggression against China. It became the most influential street play during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and was performed countless times throughout China, and even in the White House for President Roosevelt by the actress Wang Ying. The future Madame Mao was also among its many performers.

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7, 1937, to September 2, 1945. It began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937 in which a dispute between Japanese and Chinese troops escalated into a battle. Some sources in the modern People's Republic of China date the beginning of the war to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. and has been the residence of every U.S. President since John Adams in 1800. The term "White House" is often used as a metonym for the president and his advisers.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which realigned American politics into the Fifth Party System and defined American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II. Roosevelt is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in American history, as well as among the most influential figures of the 20th century. Though he has been subject to substantial criticism, he is generally rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Wang Ying's performance of Put Down Your Whip inspired Xu Beihong's eponymous painting, which in 2007 set an auction price record for Chinese paintings.

Xu Beihong, also known as Ju Péon, was a Chinese painter. He was primarily known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also regarded as one of the first to create monumental oil paintings with epic Chinese themes – a show of his high proficiency in an essential Western art technique. He was one of the four pioneers of Chinese modern art who earned the title of "The Four Great Academy Presidents".

Put Down Your Whip is a 1939 oil painting by Chinese Realism painter Xu Beihong. Completed during Xu's stay in Singapore, the painting was exhibited numerous times before its disappearance from public view in 1954. It re-emerged in 2007 and was sold for HK$72 million in an auction on 7 April 2007 in Hong Kong, then setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a Chinese painting at an auction.

Plot

Original version

A young girl named Fragrance (Xiang Jie) and her old father are poor and homeless street performers. Fragrance sings the folk song "Fengyang Flower-Drum" and does acrobatics on the street. She performs badly because she is weak from chronic hunger. Angry with his daughter's poor performance, the old man raises his whip to punish her. A young man, who is an actor in disguise, charges out from the audience, shouting "Put down your whip!" He scolds the old man for abusing his own daughter. Unexpectedly, Fragrance defends her father, and recounts her family's plight: they are refugees who have escaped flood, exploitative landlords, and tyrannical government of their hometown. The spectators are deeply moved by her misfortune. At the end, the young man turns to the spectators and exhorts them to resist the oppressive Kuomintang government: "We must resist those who coerce us to live a life of starvation and homelessness."^[1]

The Kuomintang of China, also spelled as Guomindang and often alternatively translated as the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China based in Taipei that was founded in 1911. The KMT is currently an opposition political party in the Legislative Yuan.

Later development

After increasing Japanese encroachment into north China, and especially the December 9th Movement of 1935, the play was adapted to take on an anti-imperialist and anti-Japanese theme. Instead of escaping from government oppression and flood, Fragrance and her father now escape the brutal Japanese occupation of Manchuria; and instead of appealing to the audience to fight against the government, the young man urges his compatriots to unite and defend the country against Japanese invasion, or "we will soon meet the same fate as our countrymen in Manchuria." The theme song was also changed to the "September Eighteenth Melody" lamenting the September 18 Incident of 1931 when Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. Other patriotic songs including the "March of the Volunteers", which later became the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, were also used.^[1] The location of Fragrance's hometown kept changing as new places became devastated by the Japanese invaders. After the 1937 Nanking Massacre, the fallen Chinese capital Nanking would become her hometown.^[1]

The December 9th Movement was a mass protest led by students in Beiping on December 9, 1935 to demand that the Chinese government actively resist Japanese aggression.

Manchuria geographic region in Northeast Asia

Manchuria is a name first used in the 17th century by Japanese people to refer to a large geographic region in Northeast Asia. Depending on the context, Manchuria can either refer to a region that falls entirely within the People's Republic of China or a larger region divided between China and Russia. "Manchuria" is widely used outside China to denote the geographical and historical region. This region is the traditional homeland of several groups, including the Koreans, Xianbei, Khitan, and Jurchen peoples, who built several states within the area historically.

March of the Volunteers national anthem of the Peoples Republic of China

The "March of the Volunteers" is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, including its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Unlike most previous Chinese state anthems, it is written entirely in the vernacular, rather than in Classical Chinese.

Reception

The play was written by Chen Liting, then a 21-year-old primary school teacher in Nanhui County outside of Shanghai, drawing inspiration from Tian Han's play Meiniang.^[2] Chen did not put his name on the script, however, because of the strong anti-government overtone in the original play.^[1]

Tian Han Chinese playwright, screenwriter, songwriter

Tian Han, formerly romanized as Tien Han, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. He emerged at the time of the New Culture Movement of the early 20th century and continued to be active until the Cultural Revolution, when he was attacked and died in jail before being posthumously rehabilitated by the Chinese authorities in 1979. He is considered by drama historians as one of the three founders of Chinese spoken drama, together with Ouyang Yuqian and Hong Shen. His most famous legacy may be the lyrics he wrote for "March of the Volunteers" in 1934, which were later adopted as the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.

The play was a failure when it debuted on 10 October 1931 in Nanhui. But after its adaptation to a patriotic anti-Japanese play, it became the most influential street play of the Sino-Japanese War,^[1] and was performed countless times throughout China during the war.^[1]^[2] The play was frequently staged by amateur performers as well as many famous stars. The great actress Wang Ying even performed an English version of the play in the White House for President Roosevelt, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and many diplomats.^[3] The future Madame Mao, then known as Li Yunhe, was also among its many performers.^[3]

Put Down Your Whip has been described in Chinese media as a "spiritual atomic bomb" against the Japanese invaders.^[4]^[5]

In art

In October 1939, Wang Ying performed Put Down Your Whip in Singapore. Artist Xu Beihong, who was a friend of the actress, painted a life-size portrait of her performing the play. In April 2007 the painting was sold in auction for US$9.2 million, setting a record for the highest auction price ever paid for a Chinese painting.^[6]

Artist Situ Qiao also saw Wang Ying's performance in Singapore and painted his version of the play in 1940,^[7] which has become the painter's most famous work.^[8]

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 Hung, Chang-tai (1994). War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937-1945. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520082366.
1 2 Yeh, Wen-Hsin (2000). Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond. University of California Press. pp. 368–370. ISBN 9780520222182.
1 2 Nils Göran David Malmqvist, ed. (1989). A Selective Guide to Chinese Literature 1900-1949: The Drama. BRILL. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9789004090989.
↑ 电影艺术"活化石"陈鲤庭逝世 [Chen Liting, "living fossil" of film, passes away]. China News (in Chinese). 28 August 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
↑ Li, Bo (2007). "The creation and performance of Put Down Your Whip". Movie Review (12). doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-6916.2007.12.060 . Retrieved 11 October 2013.
↑ "Xu Beihong's masterpiece sold at record price for Chinese painting". People's Daily . 8 April 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
↑ 油画《放下你的鞭子》 [Oil Painting Put Down Your Whip] (in Chinese). Xinhua. 17 June 2005. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
↑ Sullivan, Michael (2006). Modern Chinese Artists: A Biographical Dictionary. University of California Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780520244498.

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[hung-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hung, Chang-tai (1994). War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937-1945. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520082366.

[yeh-2] 1 2 Yeh, Wen-Hsin (2000). Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond. University of California Press. pp. 368–370. ISBN 9780520222182.

[malmqvist-3] 1 2 Nils Göran David Malmqvist, ed. (1989). A Selective Guide to Chinese Literature 1900-1949: The Drama. BRILL. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9789004090989.

[chinanews-4] 电影艺术"活化石"陈鲤庭逝世 [Chen Liting, "living fossil" of film, passes away]. China News (in Chinese). 28 August 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.

[5] Li, Bo (2007). "The creation and performance of Put Down Your Whip". Movie Review (12). doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-6916.2007.12.060 . Retrieved 11 October 2013.

[6] "Xu Beihong's masterpiece sold at record price for Chinese painting". People's Daily . 8 April 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2013.

[7] 油画《放下你的鞭子》 [Oil Painting Put Down Your Whip] (in Chinese). Xinhua. 17 June 2005. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.

[8] Sullivan, Michael (2006). Modern Chinese Artists: A Biographical Dictionary. University of California Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780520244498.