When the white light lights up the stage, "Mao Liying" walks through time and space towards the audience. On August 13, the original drama "Water Hengzhi" premiered at the West Bund Art Center in Shanghai.
In December 1939, Mao Liying, a member of the Communist Party of China, chairman of the China Professional Women's Club, and daughter of the customs, was assassinated by Wang's puppet agent on the streets of Shanghai. In 1949, the 10th anniversary of Mao Liying's death, a memorial service was held in Shanghai. Shanghai Mayor Chen Yi wrote an elegiac couplet: "Sacrifice for the interests of the people is the most glorious, and the people will always commemorate her!" In 1962, playwright Yu Ling wrote a play about Mao Liying's deeds. The script "Fire in July" was rehearsed by many theater groups across the country. In 1981, the movie "July Fire" was released. Hangzhou Yue Opera Theater also created the modern Yue Opera drama "The Dawn Bride" based on Mao Liying. In 2014, Mao Liying was included in the first batch of 300 famous anti-Japanese heroes and heroes by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
In 2024, on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of Mao Liying's death, Xuhui Customs, a subsidiary of Shanghai Customs, teamed up with Xuhui District Culture and Tourism Bureau, District Commerce Committee, and Hongmei Street to write and perform "Water Hengzhi" based on Mao Liying's growth experience. Mao Liying's experience working in Jiangguan Customs played an important role in her spiritual growth and ideological maturity. Exploring this mental journey and continuing the red blood of Jiangguan became the original intention of creating "Water Hengzhi".
Mao Liying was born in a poor family. In early 1931, she dropped out of Soochow University because she could not afford the tuition and was admitted to Jianghai Customs as an English typist. In her spare time, she read Chinese and foreign literary classics, accepted progressive ideas, and joined the "Lewen Club" organized by the Jianghai Customs underground party. In May 1938, Mao Liying joined the Communist Party of China after being introduced by Hu Shisheng, the first secretary of the Jianghaiguan underground party branch. In order to carry out the party's task of "organizing the masses and publicizing the masses", she resigned from Jiangguan Customs, prepared to establish the China Professional Women's Club, and was elected as the president. She actively organized charity sales and devoted herself to raising cold clothes and money for refugees and the New Fourth Army until she died at the age of 29.
"Water Hengzhi" actors, scriptwriters, stage management, and ticketing are all handled by Xuhui Customs staff. The script is written by oneself, the props are made by oneself, the posters are designed by oneself, and the costumes are in casual clothes. The whole play has gone through 8 major revisions. Feng Jie, a customs officer in Xuhui, plays Mao Liying. She locked herself in a small room to recite her lines and figure out the psychology of the character. Chu Zhengyi, who plays Hu Shisheng and deputy director of Xuhui Customs, said, "We are not professional, but we must be sincere; many of our performances are not up to standard, but we must be serious." Chief of the Bonded Supervision Section 1 and Mao Liying's boyfriend The actor Wu Lei said, "100 days of rehearsals are 100 days of party class." Sun Yu, deputy chief of the comprehensive business department, plays Mao Liying's friend Zheng Yumei, and her children respectively play childhood Mao Liying and refugee Xiao Aluo. "I hope to plant a seed in their hearts. The next little red seed. "
"Shui Hengzhi" restores many customs martyrs, She Yi and Chen Fei, Zhang Naihuang, Ma Dianqing, Wu Jinyuan... They left Jianghaiguan around 1938, or went to Yan'an, or joined the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu, or went south to Zhejiang, and sacrificed their young lives in the Anti-Japanese War. They were all under 30 years old when they died.
The stage of "Water Hengzhi" does not use the traditional frame type. Instead, five performance areas are set up in the middle of the venue, with a total area equivalent to the size of a basketball court. The audience sat around the performance area on three sides. Use the simplest building blocks to replace real scenes, abandon LED screens, music accompaniments, etc., in the words of director Gu Pan, “Pure spirit requires pure ways to express.”
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