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Soft power and heavy metal

By Tim Collard: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, August 23, 2013

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The play was staged in a modern Chinese version combined with heavy metal music. [Edinburgh International Festival]

"Coriolanus" showed how the cultural presentation of China has moved forward. Thirty years ago no British theatre would ever have staged a performance of a Shakespeare play in Chinese, because no-one would have come. This week the Edinburgh Playhouse was as packed as a Shanghai shopping mall.

The idea of a Chinese heavy metal band would have sounded preposterous thirty years back. Although in the early 90s there were some seriously good emerging rock musicians in Beijing, they were not always well regarded by the authorities, as rock music has always been associated with rebellion. But heavy metal, as showcased by the two officially authorized bands “Miserable Faith” and “Suffocated,” is also a curiously appropriate accompaniment to a play full of confrontations, verbal as well as military. Nor was it an excessively noisy experience, despite the splendid two-minute high-decibel thrash which opened the second half. The heavy metal genre can be surprisingly subtle in creating atmosphere and reflecting dramatic tension, as when the pressure builds on Coriolanus to renounce his new allegiance and return to Rome.

But one important Chinese trademark which has not changed at all is the numbers involved. After the opening music had started (oddly, the opening chorus of Mahler's 8th Symphony), about fifty actors tumbled onto the stage. We don't see this size of cast any more in British theatres – it would be simply too expensive. But China is still intent on making it clear; we have the numbers, and we can put on an impressive show. And we're no longer limited to the culture of the Ming and Qing dynasties; we can hit you with Shakespeare, with Mahler, with heavy metal. And we'll do it in our own language; we're not going to hide it away just because you lot are too lazy to learn it. We're going to shape the twenty-first century every bit as much as you are, politically, economically and culturally.

This is a challenge from China; that there is now a new element in international culture, which understands our culture better than we understand theirs, and which is willing to take us on our own territory. The message conveyed by every successful projection of "soft power" is the same: you don't want these guys as enemies, but that is not necessary, as they are perfectly willing to be friends. And, as I have always found, the Chinese make very good friends if you treat them with the proper respect. They will certainly always be welcome at the Edinburgh Festival.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/timcollard.htm

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