Sun Weishi
Encyclopedia
Sun Weishi, (1921 – October 15, 1968) was the first female director of modern spoken drama (Huaju) in Chinese history. Sun's father was killed by the Kuomintang
(KMT) in 1927, and Sun was eventually adopted by Zhou Enlai
, who later became the first Premier of the People's Republic of China
. In spite of Sun's artistic accomplishments, the wives of Mao Zedong
and Lin Biao
hated her, and this animosity later led to Sun's death during the Cultural Revolution
.
to join the CCP in Germany, and subsequently became a close friend of both Zhu De
and Zhou Enlai. After studying abroad in the Soviet Union, Sun Bingwen returned to China in 1924 and joined the faculty of Whampoa Academy. Sun Bingwen was executed when the relationship between the KMT and CCP deteriorated in 1927, during the White Terror
.
Following her father's death, Sun Weishi's mother, Ren Rui, took the family into exile, raising Sun Weishi and her three siblings alone while participating in CCP underground work. In 1935, when Sun was only fourteen, Sun's mother entrusted her to a leftist acting troupe based in Shanghai
. In order to hide her identity and keep her safe, Sun's name was changed to "Li Lin" until 1937.
Sun Weishi had three siblings, one sister and two brothers. One of Sun Weishi's brothers, Sun Yang, was imprisoned with his father in 1927, when he was only twelve. Sun Yang was eventually released, became Zhu De's personal assistant, and became the president of Renmin University after the founding of the People's Republic of China
. In 1967 Jiang Qing
accused Sun Yang of being a spy for the Soviet Union, the Japanese, and the Kuomintang, and Sun Yang was tortured and killed by Maoist Red Guards
in the basement of his own university.
Sun Weishi's other brother, Sun Mingshi, died in combat fighting for the CCP against the KMT. Sun's sister, Sun Xingshi, taught at the Foreign Languages Department at Peking University
. In 1975 Sun Xingshi married Sun Weishi's husband, Jin Shan, who had been imprisoned throughout the Cultural Revolution for his association with Sun Weishi.
to request permission to travel to the Communist base in Yan'an
, but was refused, due to her youth and lack of political connections. Sun's father's old friend, Zhou Enlai (who was childless), found Sun crying outside of the Eighth Route Army
Liaison Office, and adopted Sun as his daughter. With Zhou's assistance, Sun was able to travel to Yan'an, and joined the CCP in 1938.
After arriving in Yan'an, Sun was introduced to Mao Zedong and Zhou's wife, Deng Yingchao
, and got along well with them both. Lin Biao
was rumored to have developed a romantic interest in Sun while they were both in Yan'an, but Sun did not reciprocate due to Lin's age.
In Yan'an Sun enrolled in the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University with her mother, and became active in theatre. Jiang Qing
, when she was single and new to Yan'an, once auditioned for a play with Sun. Jiang was given a minor role, while Sun was given the lead. In comparison to Jiang, Sun was compared as being a far superior actress, more attractive, and seven years younger. Jiang never went onstage again.
Soon after arriving in Yan'an, Jiang began a romantic affair with Xu Yixin, a senior teacher at Lu Xun College, and fell in love with him. Xu soon became infatuated with Sun Weishi, and Sun reciprocated this affection. Jiang's jealousy over Sun's acting ability, and Sun's ability to attract men that Jiang was also attracted to, was the beginning of a long-lasting hatred that Jiang held for Sun.
.
In 1937 Lin Biao had been injured in an incident with the army of Yan Xishan
, was flown to Moscow for medical attention, and remained there until 1942. Before returning to China Lin proposed to Sun and promised to divorce his wife, from whom Lin was estranged. Sun was not able to accept Lin's proposal, but promised to consider marrying Lin after completing her studies. Lin divorced his wife after returning to China, and married another woman, Ye Qun
, after three years. The relationship between Sun and Ye was notably bad.
Sun completed her studies and returned to China in September 1946, and participated in the land reform movement in Shanxi
. Sun then joined the cast of a travelling theatre group, performing in Shanxi, Shaanxi
, and Hebei
. In 1949, Sun was the head of the interpreting team that accompanied Mao Zedong
on his state visit to the Soviet Union. After Sun returned to China, Jiang Qing
, who was now Mao's wife, continued her rivalry with Sun.
invited Sun to become the artistic director of the China Youth Art Theatre, which he had founded. Sun enthusiastically accepted, and began work on establishing the first professional theatre of spoken drama in the PRC. The first play that Sun directed was How Steel is Made, a play based on a Russian novel written by Nikolai Ostrovsky
.
How Steel is Made, based on its author's own experiences, was a story about a revolutionary named Pavel Korchaghin who had been crippled while fighting in a revolutionary war, but who eventually overcame great difficulties to become a successful writer. The play was extremely successful, and is considered the first example of modern spoken drama produced in the PRC. The lead character of Pavel (played by Jin Shan) became a household name in China during the early 1950s.
In 1952 Sun produced "the most successful foreign classic ever mounted on the PRC Stage", Gogol
's the Inspector-General. In 1952 Sun also produced a play in celebration of the founding of the Children's Art Theatre, Little Rabbit. Little Rabbit was made into a film by the Beijing Film Studio in 1953, and is still considered one of the best children's plays ever produced in the PRC.
In 1954, on the one hundredth anniversary of Anton Chekov's death, Sun produced one of Chekov's plays, Uncle Vanya, in collaboration with a Soviet expert. From 1954 to 1956, Sun also worked as the principal instructor of directors with the China Central Drama College
.
, a famous actress who played Pavel's lover in the play.
By the time that Sun and Jin met, Jin was a famous film and theatre actor, "the Clark Gable of the Shanghai stage". When he was young Jin was adopted by the Shanghai gangster Du Yuesheng
, and encouraged to join the Communist Party in order to facilitate collaboration between the CCP and the Green Gang
. In the 1930s Jin became an agent of Zhou Enlai, and gathered information for the Communists. During the Second Sino-Japanese War
Jin toured areas of China not controlled by the Japanese, staging patriotic anti-Japanese plays.
Shortly after his marriage to Sun, Jin was sent to the camp of Kim Il-sung
to stage a play for Communist soldiers serving in the Korean War
. While in Kim's camp, Jin was accused of having an affair with one of Kim's female secretaries. When Kim discovered the affair he had the secretary shot, and turned Jin over to the commander of the Chinese forces, Peng Dehuai
. Peng sent Jin back to Beijing with the recommendation that Jin be executed. In the end, Jin was briefly imprisoned and expelled from the CCP, but was saved from execution through the intervention of Sun and Zhou.
. In June 1956 Sun produced the play Joys and Sorrows, a drama about a romantic triangle between a CCP official and two women. The play was warmly received for its verisimilitude, portraying CCP officials as prone to the same weaknesses as other people. Because Joys and Sorrows focused on the personal life of a CCP leader, both it and Sun were criticized during the Anti-Rightist Movement
of 1957, initiated by Mao in order to persecute those potentially critical of him.
In 1957 Sun produced her second play for the Chinese Experimental Theatre, Peach Flower Fan, a period play in which Sun utilized features of Chinese opera and folk dance. In 1957 Sun also produced a comedy, Portrait of One Hundred Clowns, in order to defend herself against her political critics by shallowly promoting the Anti-Rightist Movement.
In 1961 Sun produced a play, the Hatred of Black Slaves, based on the American novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
. In the Hatred of Black Slaves Sun experimented with techniques found in Chinese opera (the same which had inspired Brecht
's concept of "alienation effects") in an effort to break down the "fourth wall
". The Hatred of Black Slaves was notable for its attempts to expand the play's dramatic action beyond the confines of the stage.
After the success of the Hatred of Black Slaves, Zhou Enlai directed Sun to produce a play portraying the heroic deeds of oil workers in Manchuria
. Sun and her husband, Jin Shan, moved to the oil city of Daqing
and worked for several years with oil workers and their wives, eventually producing the play the Rising Sun. The plot of the Rising Sun focused on the contributions that women made in agriculture and the construction of oilfields, and featured a cast made up exclusively of local people. The play was well received in Daqing, Beijing
, and Shandong
. Encouraged by the play's success, Sun and Jin returned to Daqing in order to produce more plays based on oil workers, but were not able to complete their work before the advent of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The Rising Sun was the last play that Sun would ever produce.
Sun Weishi and Jin Shan were both imprisoned on March 1, 1968. After Sun's arrest Jiang confiscated and burnt many of Sun's personal belongings, and arranged for Sun's name to be officially changed to "孙伪士" ("Sun, the Hypocrite", which sounds like "Sun Weishi"). Jiang gave orders that Sun be sentenced without trial, and directed that Sun be tortured at leisure, but not killed.
After being imprisoned, Sun Weishi was tortured for seven months, and eventually died in prison on October 15, 1968. After hearing of her death, Zhou Enlai ordered an autopsy, but Jiang intervened and had Sun's body quickly cremated. After cremating Sun's body, Jiang had her ashes disposed of, in order to prevent Sun's family from taking possession of them.
Jin remained in prison until his release in 1975, after the Cultural Revolution ended. Jin was not informed of Sun's death until after his release. After Jin's release, the Rising Sun was re-staged as part of a larger criticism of the Gang of Four
, who many blamed for Sun's persecution and death. The occasion of the play's first staging after 1975 was reported as being particularly solemn.
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
(KMT) in 1927, and Sun was eventually adopted by Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
, who later became the first Premier of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. In spite of Sun's artistic accomplishments, the wives of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
and Lin Biao
Lin Biao
Lin Biao was a major Chinese Communist military leader who was pivotal in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeastern China...
hated her, and this animosity later led to Sun's death during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
.
Family background
Sun's father, Sun Bingwen, was recruited by Zhou EnlaiZhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
to join the CCP in Germany, and subsequently became a close friend of both Zhu De
Zhu De
Zhu De was a Chinese militarist, politician, revolutionary, and one of the pioneers of the Chinese Communist Party. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in 1955 Zhu became one of the Ten Marshals of the People's Liberation Army, of which he is regarded as the founder.-Early...
and Zhou Enlai. After studying abroad in the Soviet Union, Sun Bingwen returned to China in 1924 and joined the faculty of Whampoa Academy. Sun Bingwen was executed when the relationship between the KMT and CCP deteriorated in 1927, during the White Terror
Shanghai massacre of 1927
The April 12 Incident of 1927 refers to the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party organizations in Shanghai by the military forces of Chiang Kai-shek and conservative factions in the Kuomintang...
.
Following her father's death, Sun Weishi's mother, Ren Rui, took the family into exile, raising Sun Weishi and her three siblings alone while participating in CCP underground work. In 1935, when Sun was only fourteen, Sun's mother entrusted her to a leftist acting troupe based in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. In order to hide her identity and keep her safe, Sun's name was changed to "Li Lin" until 1937.
Sun Weishi had three siblings, one sister and two brothers. One of Sun Weishi's brothers, Sun Yang, was imprisoned with his father in 1927, when he was only twelve. Sun Yang was eventually released, became Zhu De's personal assistant, and became the president of Renmin University after the founding of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. In 1967 Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
accused Sun Yang of being a spy for the Soviet Union, the Japanese, and the Kuomintang, and Sun Yang was tortured and killed by Maoist Red Guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
in the basement of his own university.
Sun Weishi's other brother, Sun Mingshi, died in combat fighting for the CCP against the KMT. Sun's sister, Sun Xingshi, taught at the Foreign Languages Department at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
. In 1975 Sun Xingshi married Sun Weishi's husband, Jin Shan, who had been imprisoned throughout the Cultural Revolution for his association with Sun Weishi.
Joining the Chinese Communist Party
In 1937, when she was only sixteen, Sun traveled to WuhanWuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
to request permission to travel to the Communist base in Yan'an
Yan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....
, but was refused, due to her youth and lack of political connections. Sun's father's old friend, Zhou Enlai (who was childless), found Sun crying outside of the Eighth Route Army
Eighth Route Army
The Eighth Route Army was the larger of the two major Chinese communist forces that formed a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China which fought the Japanese from 1937 to 1945. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Communist...
Liaison Office, and adopted Sun as his daughter. With Zhou's assistance, Sun was able to travel to Yan'an, and joined the CCP in 1938.
After arriving in Yan'an, Sun was introduced to Mao Zedong and Zhou's wife, Deng Yingchao
Deng Yingchao
Deng Yingchao , was the wife of the first Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai, Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1983 to 1988 and a member of the Communist Party of China.-Biography:...
, and got along well with them both. Lin Biao
Lin Biao
Lin Biao was a major Chinese Communist military leader who was pivotal in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeastern China...
was rumored to have developed a romantic interest in Sun while they were both in Yan'an, but Sun did not reciprocate due to Lin's age.
In Yan'an Sun enrolled in the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University with her mother, and became active in theatre. Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
, when she was single and new to Yan'an, once auditioned for a play with Sun. Jiang was given a minor role, while Sun was given the lead. In comparison to Jiang, Sun was compared as being a far superior actress, more attractive, and seven years younger. Jiang never went onstage again.
Soon after arriving in Yan'an, Jiang began a romantic affair with Xu Yixin, a senior teacher at Lu Xun College, and fell in love with him. Xu soon became infatuated with Sun Weishi, and Sun reciprocated this affection. Jiang's jealousy over Sun's acting ability, and Sun's ability to attract men that Jiang was also attracted to, was the beginning of a long-lasting hatred that Jiang held for Sun.
Education in Moscow
Sun accompanied Zhou Enlai to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1939, when Zhou flew to Moscow to seek medical treatment for a broken arm. Sun accompanied Zhou as his personal assistant, and studied Russian in her spare time. Sun remained in the Soviet Union when Zhou returned to China in 1940, studying theatre at Moscow Oriental UniversityMoscow Institute of Oriental Studies
Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies ) was a university-level educational institution that operated in Moscow, Russia, in 1920-1954. It was created as a result of merging Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages and the Oriental studies departments in Moscow's other higher educational...
.
In 1937 Lin Biao had been injured in an incident with the army of Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. Yan effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War...
, was flown to Moscow for medical attention, and remained there until 1942. Before returning to China Lin proposed to Sun and promised to divorce his wife, from whom Lin was estranged. Sun was not able to accept Lin's proposal, but promised to consider marrying Lin after completing her studies. Lin divorced his wife after returning to China, and married another woman, Ye Qun
Ye Qun
Ye Qun was the wife of Lin Biao , the Vice-Chairman of China who controlled China's military power. She was mostly known for taking care of politics for her husband. She died with her husband and son in the plane crash over Mongolia on September 13, 1971...
, after three years. The relationship between Sun and Ye was notably bad.
Sun completed her studies and returned to China in September 1946, and participated in the land reform movement in Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
. Sun then joined the cast of a travelling theatre group, performing in Shanxi, Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
, and Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
. In 1949, Sun was the head of the interpreting team that accompanied Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
on his state visit to the Soviet Union. After Sun returned to China, Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
, who was now Mao's wife, continued her rivalry with Sun.
Early artistic career
Shortly after Sun returned to China, in the spring of 1950, Liao ChengzhiLiao Chengzhi
Liao Chengzhi was a Chinese politician. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1928, and rose to the position of director of the Xinhua News Agency; after 1949, he worked in various positions related to foreign affairs, most prominently president of the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute,...
invited Sun to become the artistic director of the China Youth Art Theatre, which he had founded. Sun enthusiastically accepted, and began work on establishing the first professional theatre of spoken drama in the PRC. The first play that Sun directed was How Steel is Made, a play based on a Russian novel written by Nikolai Ostrovsky
Nikolai Ostrovsky
Nikolai Alexeevich Ostrovsky was a Soviet socialist realist writer, who published his works during the Stalin era...
.
How Steel is Made, based on its author's own experiences, was a story about a revolutionary named Pavel Korchaghin who had been crippled while fighting in a revolutionary war, but who eventually overcame great difficulties to become a successful writer. The play was extremely successful, and is considered the first example of modern spoken drama produced in the PRC. The lead character of Pavel (played by Jin Shan) became a household name in China during the early 1950s.
In 1952 Sun produced "the most successful foreign classic ever mounted on the PRC Stage", Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's the Inspector-General. In 1952 Sun also produced a play in celebration of the founding of the Children's Art Theatre, Little Rabbit. Little Rabbit was made into a film by the Beijing Film Studio in 1953, and is still considered one of the best children's plays ever produced in the PRC.
In 1954, on the one hundredth anniversary of Anton Chekov's death, Sun produced one of Chekov's plays, Uncle Vanya, in collaboration with a Soviet expert. From 1954 to 1956, Sun also worked as the principal instructor of directors with the China Central Drama College
Central Academy of Drama
The Central Academy of Drama is a drama school in Beijing, People's Republic of China.-History:The academy was established in April 1950. It was named by Mao Zedong. It inherited the drama department of Lu Xun Art Academy in Yan'an, art school of North China University, and National Drama College...
.
Marriage
Following the production of How Steel is Made, Sun Weishi began a romantic affair with Jin Shan, who had played the male lead, Pavel. The affair caused a controversy within Communist circles when it became public. The two eventually married on October 14, 1950, after Jin divorced his wife, Zhang RuifangZhang Ruifang
Zhang Ruifang is a mainland Chinese film actress. In 1963, Zhang won Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for her household character in comedy Li Shuangshuang. She is considered one of "Four Dan Actresses" in China , along with Bai Yang, Shu Xiuwen and Qin Yi.-Filmography:-External links:...
, a famous actress who played Pavel's lover in the play.
By the time that Sun and Jin met, Jin was a famous film and theatre actor, "the Clark Gable of the Shanghai stage". When he was young Jin was adopted by the Shanghai gangster Du Yuesheng
Du Yuesheng
Du Yuesheng , commonly known as "Big-Eared Du", was a Chinese gangster who spent much of his life in Shanghai. He was a key supporter of the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek in their battle against the Communists during the 1920s, and was a figure of some importance during the Second Sino-Japanese...
, and encouraged to join the Communist Party in order to facilitate collaboration between the CCP and the Green Gang
Green Gang
The Green Gang was a Chinese criminal organization that operated in Shanghai in the early 20th century.-Origins:It was a secret society established originally by Fong Toh-tak of Shaolin Monastery to protect the Han Chinese who were oppressed by the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and to restore...
. In the 1930s Jin became an agent of Zhou Enlai, and gathered information for the Communists. During the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
Jin toured areas of China not controlled by the Japanese, staging patriotic anti-Japanese plays.
Shortly after his marriage to Sun, Jin was sent to the camp of Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
to stage a play for Communist soldiers serving in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. While in Kim's camp, Jin was accused of having an affair with one of Kim's female secretaries. When Kim discovered the affair he had the secretary shot, and turned Jin over to the commander of the Chinese forces, Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai was a prominent military leader of the Communist Party of China, and China's Defence Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was an important commander during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese civil war and was also the commander-in-chief of People's Volunteer Army in the Korean War...
. Peng sent Jin back to Beijing with the recommendation that Jin be executed. In the end, Jin was briefly imprisoned and expelled from the CCP, but was saved from execution through the intervention of Sun and Zhou.
Late artistic career
In 1956 Sun became the artistic director and vice-president of the new Chinese Experimental Theatre. While working with the Experimental Theatre, Sun attempted to create a new style of socialist art by combining Stanislavsky's system with dramatic techniques found in traditional Chinese operaChinese opera
Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE...
. In June 1956 Sun produced the play Joys and Sorrows, a drama about a romantic triangle between a CCP official and two women. The play was warmly received for its verisimilitude, portraying CCP officials as prone to the same weaknesses as other people. Because Joys and Sorrows focused on the personal life of a CCP leader, both it and Sun were criticized during the Anti-Rightist Movement
Anti-Rightist Movement
The Anti-Rightist Movement of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged "rightists" within the Communist Party of China and abroad...
of 1957, initiated by Mao in order to persecute those potentially critical of him.
In 1957 Sun produced her second play for the Chinese Experimental Theatre, Peach Flower Fan, a period play in which Sun utilized features of Chinese opera and folk dance. In 1957 Sun also produced a comedy, Portrait of One Hundred Clowns, in order to defend herself against her political critics by shallowly promoting the Anti-Rightist Movement.
In 1961 Sun produced a play, the Hatred of Black Slaves, based on the American novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
. In the Hatred of Black Slaves Sun experimented with techniques found in Chinese opera (the same which had inspired Brecht
Brecht
Brecht is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Brecht proper, Sint-Job-in't-Goor and Sint-Lenaarts. On January 1, 2006 Brecht had a total population of 26,464...
's concept of "alienation effects") in an effort to break down the "fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
". The Hatred of Black Slaves was notable for its attempts to expand the play's dramatic action beyond the confines of the stage.
After the success of the Hatred of Black Slaves, Zhou Enlai directed Sun to produce a play portraying the heroic deeds of oil workers in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
. Sun and her husband, Jin Shan, moved to the oil city of Daqing
Daqing
Daqing is a prefecture-level city in the west of Heilongjiang province of Northeast China. The name literally means "Great Celebration".Its population is 2,904,532 at the 2010 census whom 1,042,902 in the built up area made of 4 out of 5 urban districts It was founded in 1959 to house workers...
and worked for several years with oil workers and their wives, eventually producing the play the Rising Sun. The plot of the Rising Sun focused on the contributions that women made in agriculture and the construction of oilfields, and featured a cast made up exclusively of local people. The play was well received in Daqing, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, and Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. Encouraged by the play's success, Sun and Jin returned to Daqing in order to produce more plays based on oil workers, but were not able to complete their work before the advent of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The Rising Sun was the last play that Sun would ever produce.
Political persecution and death
When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Zhou Enlai's power became very limited, while Jiang Qing gained power. Although Zhou still held the formal position of Premier, he was not able to prevent the arrest of Sun or even his own brother, and personally signed their arrest warrants in fear of angering Mao. After forcing Zhou to sign Sun's warrant, Jiang ordered officers from the Air Force (loyal to Lin Biao, Jiang's ally) to arrest and secretly imprison Sun, so that Zhou could not intervene to protect her.Sun Weishi and Jin Shan were both imprisoned on March 1, 1968. After Sun's arrest Jiang confiscated and burnt many of Sun's personal belongings, and arranged for Sun's name to be officially changed to "孙伪士" ("Sun, the Hypocrite", which sounds like "Sun Weishi"). Jiang gave orders that Sun be sentenced without trial, and directed that Sun be tortured at leisure, but not killed.
After being imprisoned, Sun Weishi was tortured for seven months, and eventually died in prison on October 15, 1968. After hearing of her death, Zhou Enlai ordered an autopsy, but Jiang intervened and had Sun's body quickly cremated. After cremating Sun's body, Jiang had her ashes disposed of, in order to prevent Sun's family from taking possession of them.
Jin remained in prison until his release in 1975, after the Cultural Revolution ended. Jin was not informed of Sun's death until after his release. After Jin's release, the Rising Sun was re-staged as part of a larger criticism of the Gang of Four
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes...
, who many blamed for Sun's persecution and death. The occasion of the play's first staging after 1975 was reported as being particularly solemn.