A dance craze is keeping many Chinese awake at night. All over the capital, revelers in vacant lots and on sidewalks produce an earsplitting racket by beating drums and gongs and stamping their feet. In an unlikely role reversal, the ones making all the noise are grandparents and other oldsters hooked on the yangge, a traditional northwestern harvest dance. It first gained contemporary popularity in the 1940s, when the communist armies fighting against Japan choreographed new movements to the folk dance. Now Beijing's elderly are also improvising on the original. Gaily costumed women flutter silk fans beneath kohl-rimmed eyes as they sashay, in single file and circles, like rowdy guests at a street wedding. Officials estimate that 60,000 senior citizens take to the streets nightly, creating a din loud enough to rival a passing freight train. A local hot line has registered hundreds of complaints about the yangge in four days. No official so far wants to spoil the fun, but critics are drawing the line. Gripes Hou Yuyan of Beijing's Guangming Culture Weekly: "Some young people wonder whether such a rural form of entertainment is congruent with Beijing's image of a cosmopolitan city."

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Yang'ge dance patterns

The first yang'ge selection below was recorded at Ding County by Sidney Gamble. Gamble wrote that this play embodied harmful aspects of Chinese superstition, the political repression of the emperor system, and women's complicity with an oppressive patriarchy.

Ma Xiuying : Daughter of Mr. Ma, Zhu's employer

Maid

(In the beginning of the skit, Zhu Yuanzhang tells the audience that right now he is just a poor cowherd, but a fortune-teller told him that he would one day become emperor. As Zhu sleeps in the cow barn, the Ma family maid sees that his body is covered with small dragons, a supernatural omen signifying that Zhu is destined to become emperor. The maid runs and gets her mistress, Ma Xiuying, who hurries over to see the sight. The scene of an unmarried gentlewoman leaving her house to peek at a slumbering peasant man sets the general ribald tone of the skit. Try to be aware of the suggestive humor in this skit -- tame enough to us, but quite racy for a Chinese peasant audience in the 1940s).

Xiuying:
Walk slowly, maid, and give me your hand.
I pull up my skirts and go down the stairs.

Maid:
Quickly we go through the house and across the yard

Xiuying:
It is not far away.
We come to the barn
With my hands on the windowframe
I peek in at the window
I see the cowherd sleeping there
Oh, what an extraordinary sight!
Some small dragons are crawling over his body
Some are crawling in and out of the
seven apertures in his head.
And a big dragon is coiled on top of his head.
A dragon is the symbol of an emperor
No doubt he will mount the throne someday!
I must get him to grant me his favor while he is still poor....
But this maid is in my way!..... Oh maid ---

Maid:
My Lady!

Xiuying
I am thirsty.

Maid
Well, let me take off my shoes and go fetch you some water from the pond.

Xiuying:
You fool! How can a noble lady drink cold water from a pond?

Maid:
And how can a noble lady drink hot tea by the cowpen?
Haha!
I am a big girl, and not as foolish as you think.
You are only thirsty to talk to the cowherd ! It's just like...

Xiuying:
It's just like what?

Maid:
It's just like throwing a meat patty to a dog!

Xiuying:
What do you mean?

Maid:
"Once it's gone, it will never return!"

Xiuying:
That's a good one!

Maid:
It's good for you and good for him, but it's not good for me, so I'll go and get the tea.....(exits)

(The maid leaves, and Xiuying boldly goes up to the cowherd and asks him his story. Certain that he will become an emperor, she gives him a red silk jacket to wear [red is the color for weddings] and tells him he may wear it, but only at night. She then kneels before him and asks him to bestow a royal title on her.....)

Xiuying
What will you give me if you mount the throne in the future, Mr. Zhu?
(kneels down before him)

Zhu
The cowpen is not a palace, the manger is not a throne,
and there are no ministers or generals by my side.
How can I arrange a ceremony to bestow a title on you?

Xiuying:
You may take the cowpen as your palace,
the manger as your throne,
and the cows as your ministers and generals.
Then you can arrange a ceremony to grant me a title!

Zhu
What a smart girl you are, Miss Ma!
Let me grant you a title in the stable.
You are hereby granted the highest title of all, My Empress,
if I should mount the throne some day!

Xiuying
(kowtowing before him)
Thank you, your Highness!
It is too cold to talk out here in the wind...
You had better seek refuge in my room....

(At this point the maid enters, bringing her mistress not tea but a cup of vinegar to drink [the phrase "to eat vinegar" means to be jealous of a rival for someone's affections...] The maid asks for a royal title as well, but Zhu only promises her the title of official tea-server in the palace. After a few more jokes, the skit concludes)

(adapted from Sidney D. Gamble, Chinese Village Plays from the Ding Hsien Region. Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1970)

The selection below represents a "reformed" yang'ge from the Communist base area Yan'an. How has The Cowherd changed? Have any elements been preserved?

Male A
Male B
Female A
Female B
 
Male A: (introductory monologue to the audience)
I walk head down then look up to see,
Let me tell you about the Border Region.
 
There's been great change in the affairs of the Border Region,
People's lives have all improved,
Wasteland is cleared and dikes repaired,
We've cleared several hundred thousand mu of wasteland,
Grain production has increased by several hundred loads.
We learn to read and spin thread,
We've sewn several dozen items of clothing,
Young and old, everyone's wearing them.
We hold classes in the winter and read books,
When you learn to read you can do anything
You can keep accounts and reckon up,
Organize people into labor exchanges,
The peasants are diligent and never lazy.
The KMT is really disgusting,
Tho' they lead a large army of three million men,
They harm the people and don't fight the Japanese.
They send out spies to run amok,
And come to the Border Region to stir up trouble.
 
As I walk along, I raise my head to see,
I've arrived at the door and call out:
 
Male A: Hey! Let's go take the cattle to graze.
 
Male B: (from inside the house) No one's home.
 
Male A: What a rat! How is it that no one's home but there is a voice?
 
Male B: No one is home, but they left this message.
 
Male A: I want to discuss something with you.
 
Male B: What?
 
Male A: Going to the mountains to graze the cattle.
 
Male B: Graze your cattle or mine?
 
Male A: We'll herd both of ours up an take our books along, learning to read as we graze our cattle. We'll feel lonely as we walk along, so I'll sing and you can accompany me.
 
Male B: Okay, I'll do what I can, but let me warn you I'm not any good.
 
Male A and Male B sing together, Male B singing only sometimes:
Look at the sky, its already getting late,
Let's go up to the mountains to graze the cattle.
Hurry and eat, then clean up well,
Take along a piece of steamed bread and put on a felt jacket,
Raise your whip and run ahead,
Raise your stick and herd the cattle,
Hurry, hurry up the mountain to feed the cattle on green grass.
This year we work even harder,
This year we strive even more,
Clear the land for production,
Come chop wood and cut grass,
Let's all work hard together,
This year's harvest will certainly be good,
And when the harvest is good, the people of the Border Region are carefree.
 
Male A: The grass here is good, let's let the cattle graze here.
 
Male B: Let's sit down here and read.
 
(Female A and Female B arrive)
 
Female A and Female B: Hello brother cowherds.
 
Male A: What do you want?
 
Female A and Female B: Our brother left early this morning to go till the land, we want to bring him some steamed bread, but we don't know where he is working. Have you guys seen him?
 
Male A: (to Male B) Do you know?
 
Male B (aside) I know, but let's not tell them right away. The women of the Border Region know everything these days, let's first ask them a few questions and if they answer correctly we'll tell them where he is, if not, we won't.
 
Female A and Female B: Tell us.
 
Male A and Male B sing:
Who chops down big trees in the mountains?
Who opens up the Yellow River flowing underground?
Who cultivates wasteland and plants the five grains?
Who digs out cave dwellings?
 
Female A and Female B sing:
Villagers chop down big trees in the mountains,
The laboring heroes open up the Yellow River flowing underground,
Peasants cultivate wastelands and plant the five grains,
And workers dig out cave dwellings.
 
Male A and Male B sing:
Who excavates coal from deep within the mountains?
Who weaves cloth to make clothes?
Who makes tables and chairs?
Who makes hoes and shovels?
 
Female A and Female B sing:
Miners excavate coal from deep within the mountains,
Weavers weave cloth to make clothes,
Carpenters make tables and chairs,
And blacksmiths make hoes and shovels.
 
Male A and Male B sing:
Can it be gotten without workers?
Can it be produced without peasants?
Who makes this world?
Who should be its master?
 
Female A and Female B sing:
Without workers, it can't be gotten,
Without peasants, nothing can be produced,
The peasants and the workers make this world,
And they should be its masters.
 
Male A and Female B sing:
Who should be respected?
Whose face has the least luster?
Who earns people's praise?
Whose great accomplishments make their name known?
 
Female A and Female B sing:
The Laboring Heroes are respected,
The faces of slackers have the least luster,
Ma Xinger earns people's praise,
And Zhao Zhankui's great accomplishments make his name known.(note: Ma and Zhao were named "model laborers" by the CCP)
 
Male A and Male B sing:
Who calls for great production?
Who leads the way to prosperity?
Who takes part in the War of Resistance and production?
Do they protect our hometown with us?
 
Female A and Female B sing:
Chairman Mao calls for great production,
The Communist Party leads us to prosperity,
The Eighth-Route Army takes part in the War of Resistance and production,
And they protect our hometown with us.
 
Male A and Male B sing:
How can we reap more grain?
How can we have strong production?
How can we have strength
And defeat the puny Japanese?
 
Female A and Female B sing:
Only by opening up wasteland can we reap more grain,
Only by organizing cooperatives can we have strong production,
Only after having enough to eat and wear can we have strength
To defeat the puny Japanese soon.
 
Male A: You are exactly right!
 
Male B: Exactly!
 
Male A: Women of the Border Region sure do know everything. They've answered correctly, so let's tell them where their brother is.
 
Male B: They're tilling the land at Wada. We're going there too to graze our cattle. Hop on one of the cattle and come along with us!
 
Female A and Female B: We can't stand bulls, so we won't ride. Let's walk together.
 
Male A and Male B: Ok, let's go!

(All four walk off together singing.)

from Yan'an wenyi congshu (Complete volumes on Yan'an Literature and Arts) Vol. 7. Hunan: Hunan People's Publishing Co., 1985, pp. 332-337.
Translation by Jennifer Hunt, graduate student in Princeton's East Asian Studies department

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