words rachel mok

A west-looking production is only one of two in the Silk Road Arts Festival to ask hard questions about life in Hong Kong.

As much as we may love the pure enjoyment and pleasure of performance art, a thought-provoking work often has the greatest impact in theatre: A work that forces you to rethink the way you see the world – it may, for instance, jolt you from the stupor of advertising brainwashing (eg slim = beautiful) or pose the subversive question whether it is valid to sacrifice all in the name of economic and social harmony. Flipping through the programme of the Silk Road Arts Festival, it is easy wonder if the two Hong Kong productions, Bun in the Cave and Heading West 2: The Curious Case of Sanzang, are the only two critical shows in the festival, as they reassess the history of China and plant doubts about sacrificingour cultural heritage for economic development.

The powers that be may well argue that we should be glad artists still enjoy the freedom to create such shows in a festival presented by the establishment itself. But Ho Ying Fung, artistic director of Theatre Fanatico who are staging Heading West 2, doesn’t see individualism as a privilege – for him it is a necessity. ‘We must have our own perspective and determination in doing this. It doesn’t matter how few of [these kinds of shows] there are – numbers isn’t a problem. Being in the minority is not a problem – in a healthy society there should be lots of different minority groups. That’s what makes things interesting – that the society is culturally diversified,’ he counters.

To Ho, Sanzang was a perfect example: He insisted even without the endorsement of the Tang emperor on going to the West to bring back the Buddhist scriptures. When he passed through Gaochang, the ruler actually offered him a position in the administration. ‘But he turned it down and kept on doing what he believed to be his mission. We often joke that Chinese intellectuals – even Li Bai and DuFu – had to be an official and fail miserably at least once in their lifetime,’ Ho says. ‘But Sangzang shows what autonomy is – and that is not often mentioned in history.’

As the title of the show suggests, this is not the first time Ho and his team explore China’s Wild West. His 2002 production, Heading West, followed a traveller retracing Sanzang’s route and, through meeting three strangers, questioning the Chinese government’s development of the west and northwest of the country. Heading West 2: The Curious Case of Sanzang continues the discussion – set in the year 2002, it transforms the ancient city Gaochang (today’s Turpan in Xinjiang), the once important and prosperous transport hub between China and the West, into the ultimate “green city” – not through government efforts but through a private enterprise led by a lawyer from Hong Kong with the testimonies of seven witnesses, all played by actor Chan Chu-hei.

Chan finds resonance with the premise of the play and applies it to his own career in Hong Kong. ‘I have been in the scene for more than 10 years and have a feeling like we are trapped in a dead end. It is like running in a circle,’ he says. The culture of a city is, he thinks, most easily realized by noting what MTR billboards are pushing. ‘There was a time when most billboards I saw bore advertisements for slimming centres, with women wearing few clothes. In the performing arts there are lots of [advertisements for] shows with men cross-dressing as women. It is funny – I mean if I were a tourist, what would I have thought of this city? If I come to check out the cultural scene of Hong Kong, is this all I can find? It was such a bizarre sight for me.’

It is pretty obvious that in Ho’s show, Gaochang is just a metaphor for Hong Kong. He says the show borrows from our plans for the future to examine what we have missed in trying to realize them: Independent thinking and the traditions of minority groups are sacrificed for economic development and cultural uniformity. In the promotional material of the show, he quotes Taiwanese writer/critic Ping Lu: ‘Those not putting an emphasis on the future are destined to lose their past.’

To better understand his subject and to confirm his impressions of Xinjiang, Ho paid a visit to the ruins of Gaochang back in May – and returned with mixed feelings. ‘It is like as super-giant factory at the back of China. The oil field, the coal mine, factories are everywhere. Tianshan glacier No 1 has been melting so rapidly in recent years and the river will be gone soon.’ The most personal effect of Beijing’s dominance over Xinjing, though, was the curious delay of his evening meal. ‘It wasn’t until 10pm every night that we could have dinner – and I wondered why it was so late.’ It turned out that for the convenience of administration, all cities follow Beijing time – but there is a two-hour difference between the capital and Xingjiang. In some way, one’s biological clock is controlled by the state as well.

‘The focus of the show seems far away but we are actually seeing things really close to us through the show. In Hong Kong we talk about lots of things every day – the development of arts, culture, creativity etc – but it is all empty discussion. If we really had those things, we wouldn’t need to talk about them.’ And so Gaochang is a mirror to Hong Kong, reflecting what our city may become if we continue the direction we are blindly heading. ‘Looking back at history, not many great cities and their prosperity last for a long time. I don’t know the fate of Hong Kong – it may not become a ruin like Gaochang but someday our brains may become totally wasted. Why is independent thinking never encouraged in Hong Kong?’

While the main visual on the promotional material is derived from Chinese modern painter Yue Min Jun’s most recognized work Execution, Ho also asked Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky – the subject of the award-winning documentary Manufactured Landscapes – if he could use his pictures. Many of Burtynsky’s collections deal with the urbanization of Chinese cities, production cycles in factories in China and, ultimately, the legacy of globalization. ‘I emailed him for permission and I was quite surprised he actually agreed,’ says Ho. These pictures, documenting the actual faces of modern China, pull audiences back from the fictional world of The Curious Case of Sanzang into the harsh realities of the present. ‘From his pictures I see a dehumanized world. These pictures will be used as exclamation marks for each scene throughout the performance,’ says Ho. And, as it is one of the few provocative presentations in the festival, he looks forward to Heading West 2 making an impact. ‘I hope our shows are not just an icing on a cake – there are just two performances. And then we are back to zero again,’ he admits.

Heading West 2: The Curious Case of Sanzang will be staged on October 16 and 17 at 8pm in the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium. Tickets are $180, $140 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.