"Cloud Gate Dance Theatre presents" "PORTRAITS OF THE FAMILIES remembering a century in Taiwanese history" "performed on September 20, 1997 at the National Theatre of Taiwan" "Choreography by Lin Hwai-min" "Music by Arvo Part traditionalChineseandHakkamusic with excerpts from spoken personal historical accounts" "Stage Design by Ming Cho Lee lighting design by Lin Keh-hua" "slide show design by Elaine McCarthy slide design consultant:" "Wendall Harrington costume design by Chen Wan-li photography consultant:" "Chang Chao-tang interviews by Lu Chien-ying and reporters of Survey Report by Super TV Channel" "Portraits of the Families is a lament for the loss of our beloved ones." "He is saying:" ""If you go to a foreign land," ""and want to see your family, you should look at the see," ""and it will be like looking at your family." ""Or, when you want to see them, at night, you can look at the stars." ""This way, you'll be looking at them."" "We're saying:" "Chinese, Taiwanese..." "But how can you tell?" "What is Chinese, and what is Taiwanese?" "We all live here, how much do we differ?" "In 1938, in China, my father was in the last group of people, who wanted to leave Chongqing." ""I want to save the last five minutes."" "That's what he told to my mother." "At that time, we were about to board a ship in Guangzhou." "He is saying that, when he was young, unmarried, and lived alone, his name was Shitaa Kei." "It means "lazy at work"." "After his children were born, and he became a father, his name changed to Syanbi Awashan." "Syanbi Awashan, that was after he got kids." "It should be Syaman." "Syaman Bi Awashan." "Its meaning is like:" "a few people were running a hundred meters, and he was the last one to finish." "When he got a grandson, his name changed again." "It became Syaben Bawinen." "Syaben Bawinen means... a person guided by the others." "It's not that he is guiding anyone." "It's just that the others have to help him, when he walks." "Before the takeover, during the Japanese time, father didn't dare to say that we were Chinese from the mainland." "It's just like, five or six years ago, parents didn't dare to tell their children about the massacre of February 28." "So, it was only after the takeover that we were told about being Chinese." "That we came from the mainland." "Of course, the first time I knew about it was when I visited the ancestral graves." "Grandfather's grave mentioned Tangshan." "Some others mentioned Zhangzhou." "When I was looking at the family album as a kid, in the back it was saying:" ""Longxi district in Zhangzhou of Fujian province."" "And it was also mentioning Neishanwei." "Defeats came one after another in the war." "Father was holding out until the very end." "In the end, he took a plane to Taiwan." "Those old planes needed to be refueled along the way." "So, in the afternoon of the same day, they had a stopover in Kunming." "Mother was very happy at that time." "She expected... to be reunited with her husband in two days." "Then, unexpectedly, she opened the morning newspaper." "It was saying in bold letters on the front page:" ""Yunnan governor Lu Han attempts to escape justice."" "Great powers changed overnight." "Father was snatched at the very last moment." "It's hard to foresee life and death." "On April 27, 1938... we escaped from Fengshun to Chaozhou." "We stayed in Chaozhou for two years." "After that, in 1940... we fled to Hong Kong, and then to Taiwan." "Life was very hard at that time." "The salary was small, a little over 200." "We had to overcome those difficulties." "Until I turned 12, I was Japanese." "It's right to put it that way." "I was a 100% Japanese national." "But they'll curse at me, if I try to mention it now." ""You were Japanese slaves!" "You have to embrace your motherland!"" "But who was it that made us become Japanese?" "Then, father fled to the mountains, and joined guerilla forces." "After that, he moved to Laos, which was controlled by the French, and, from there, to Hong Kong and, finally, Taiwan." "It took him a whole year and 20 days... till he was able to reunite with his family." "Last summer I went to America." "The daughter of my wife's younger sister... graduated from a university and got a job there." "Then I told her I really hate Americans." "So she ran off to her mother and asked her:" ""Does uncle hate me too, then?" "I am American."" "I didn't consider her American." "But she thought if I hate Americans, then I should hate her too." "I've lived through American air raids." "So I didn't learn English all the way until now." "The air raids started in 1944." "Many were killed." "Every day on the way to work, you would see people without legs or arms... heads hanging on trees, bowels ripped off by explosions... or scorched corpses being carried away." "Often, after seeing this, I would come to work swallowing my tears." "The people working with me were all 17-18 year old girls." "They were so scared." "They didn't know what was going to happen to them." "So, to calm down before the work, they would put on some perfume, make up their faces with lipstick and rouge." "So that they would look pretty, even if they die." "When you say patriotism, it's patriotism for what country?" "The Qing Empire?" "The Japanese Empire?" "Governed by the Japanese for 50 years..." "When my grandfather was dying, his last words were:" ""Life was so hard under the Japanese rule."" "On the 10th of March, 1947, father was taken away by five people wearing civilian clothes." "Mother simply couldn't bear it." "Her sanity was taken away together with dad." "We had to take her to a hospital." "We were praying gods, and relying on religion... just to get enough determination to survive." "With mom's condition, we had to burn everything left from my father." "We couldn't leave anything by her side, so that she would be able to see it." "When it comes to farming, the first thing is to irrigate the field." "When the land becomes soft and moist, you can bring an ox to plow." "After plowing, it needs to be irrigated again." "And then, the ox can be used for harrowing." "After the rice seeds germinate and mature, they can be sawn, it takes almost two weeks." "At the time of sawing, you should stretch ropes." "You proceed one by one." "Every time you can saw five handfuls." "The ropes are there is to give marking on the field." "Then the sprouts will come out straight and beautiful." "Some people work in groups of four, and they set up bamboo poles before seeding." "This way, the sprouts come out even more straight and beautiful." "In 1984, my mother felt feverish." "She came by my side and told me:" ""I really want to see your dad."" ""I really miss your dad."" ""I really miss your dad."" "And she buried her face in my hands." "At that time, we were assigned to the vanguard." "There were six Taiwanese among us, and four Japanese, all in one squad." "At that time we thought that only the best were assigned to the vanguard." "That one needs to excel... to receive the honor of being sent to the vanguard." "Come to think of it now, the vanguard was a mere shield against bullets." "It was all happening in 2000 meter tall mountains." "We were hiding during the day and coming out at night." "Even the weather was helping Americans." "Raining all the time." "Everything turned into a swamp." "We were really miserable in that place." "We wouldn't move by more than a hundred meters in a night." "Boys and girls were crying, all of us." "When we were tired, we would sit down on our backpacks... and sleep a bit..." "What's this strange smell?" "Actually, there is a corpse right by your side." "We wouldn't even be able to make a gravestone for him." "Just chop off a piece of bamboo and cut it open, then remove the white pith, then we could write on it:" "private such-and-such..." "That was the highest burial honor one could get." "My brother was very lively since he was a kid." "He could be running all over the place." "If he saw a car, he would always run after it." "But his arms and legs were very awkward even back then." "When we came to that place, there were so many people outside." "We didn't know what to do, and then we heard this banging sound." "He rushed straight ahead." "He ran inside, not looking at anyone, and embraced our father." "And he was screaming:" ""Daddy, don't get scared, don't get scared!"" "Then he realized that our father's jaw..." "I don't know if it was because of pain or what..." "But his jaw just dropped down." "So he pushed it up." "Like this, my brother pushed it up." "He was clinging to dad, saying "Daddy, daddy, don't get scared!" ".."" "When my brother grew up, he became emotionally very unstable." "He would cry whenever he was drunk." "He would cry out loud, and wouldn't stop." "Once I got off the plane," "I immediately got in touch with the Society for Victims of Political Repression, and they brought me over here." "With their help, I found this place with a yellow banner." "But all of them, tree or four people, kept looking around the yellow banner." "They looked everywhere, but they couldn't find the grave of my dad." "So, at that moment, I felt very restless." "I wanted to turn this whole place over." "But once I started to look," "I found the gravestone of my father right away." "Since 1940, my father was involved... into trade business from Shanghai to Hong Kong and Taiwan." "In 1951, he returned home at the time of Spring Festival." "After that, he had to leave again." "He sent us a telegram when he arrived to Hong Kong." "He said he was going to Taiwan." "After that, he simply disappeared." "Because Taiwan split off in the forties, there wasn't any way we could do anything... to find anything about what happened to my father." "It was only in 1984... that I went to the US to study." "Since then, I was trying to find my father." "In 1985 and 1986," "I submitted many ads to major Taiwanese newspapers... looking for a missing person." "But I didn't hear anything back." "But in 1987... a former trade partner of my father contacted my mother." "He told us that, back then... they were doing business together, and he had to meet my father at a wharf." "But my father didn't arrive." "A few days later, it became known that he was arrested." "Three month after that, he was executed." "In the fifteenth year of the Showa era, I was summoned to the local military unit." "At that time people believed that joining the Japanese army was like a death sentence." "When I was about to leave, my fiancee came to take a picture with me." "We were engaged, but not yet married." "She didn't know what to say." "Her mother asked me... if I had anything to say before I leave." "She seemed so scared..." "what would I tell her?" "When I was leaving home, my mother collapsed." "So I asked them, when they have time, to go and visit my mother more often, to keep her company." "Besides that, I couldn't find anything to say." "Because I didn't know what was going to happen." "I was sent to the South Seas, and my brother was sent to the Pescadores." "He was drafted at that time." "My other brother was sent to work at a Japanese air force repair factory." "Of the 4 brothers, 3 were drafted." "Mother was so happy." "All of us returned." "All the three!" "Of the 4 sons, 3 left and 3 returned." "All the 4 at home, she was so happy!" "She wanted to kneel a hundred times." "So she went to Hsinkang and Peikang... to kneel a hundred times for Sea Goddess Mazu." "I first wanted to count for her, but then I said: if I count wrong, Mazu may get angry." "So I said: "I'll take a hundred coins each worth one cent, and, every time you kneel, I'll hand you one coin."" "She wanted to kneel a hundred times at both Hsinkang and Peikang." "So, altogether, at Hsinkang and Peikang, she knelt two hundred times." "At the end of the war, a year of two before the Chinese takeover, we were mostly eating sweet potatoes..." "We were taking a little bit of rice, mixing it with a lot of sweet potatoes, and cooking through." "All the rice would rise to the top, there would be just one bowl, and we'd give it to my little brother." "After the takeover, the first bowl of white rice with soy sauce I ate..." "It was so delicious, there is no way to say it..." "Every day is the same." "Wake up in the morning, then study, eat lunch, take an afternoon nap, then study in the afternoon, then have dinner... also take a shower..." "And, when you're done, you study all the way until midnight." "It's so hard!" "In high school, you can go ice-skating... or you can bring girls over to watch MTV." "And what after watching MTV?" "After watching, it's not too important..." "Watching MTV, that's important..." "While watching MTV, you can see if you can make anything happen afterwards." "I am telling you, damn it..." "One of my classmates got so drunk!" "He was biking back from Tamshui to Taipei at night." "That day, it was raining like hell." "His bike slipped, and he fell off." "He wasn't hurt, just vomited all over himself right under the rain." "The rain was damn pouring." "There wasn't anyone in the street." "So he was lying there soaked in rain and vomit." "He freakin' called me after that to say how freakin' cool it was." "Damn idiot!" "Shit!" "It's so fucking no fun." "And I don't even fucking know why..." "Sometimes, I'd go out to ride my bike and come across cops." "I'd slow down on purpose, thinking:" ""Come on, inspect me!"" "Because, when they ask for my identity card, I fucking feel like having an identity." "It makes me feel like I fucking exist." "Sometimes, I'd just stay a whole day at home not making a move." "Just staring like crazy at the phone." "Why is it?" "Why isn't anyone fucking calling me?" "So I think: "If I stare at the phone all the time, it will have to ring!"" "Hello!" "If you're trying to contact us, please leave a message, and we'll contact you." "Otherwise, you can call later to listen once again to this message." "Please leave your message or request after the signal." "Life was very hard at that time." "The salary was small, a little over 200." "We had to overcome those difficulties." "I was working day and night." "The kids were also very understanding." "People kept asking me: "How did you manage to bring up your kids like this?"" "I told them I didn't need to do anything about my kids." "If they went out and quarreled with someone, I only had to tell them once:" ""If someone hits you, no problem, you should never fight back."" "I only had to say it once, and they would know it." "To live well, we should be diligent and humble." "That's what I always taught to my kids and to their kids." "We need to work hard, and to persevere." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "2: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "3: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "4: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "1, 2, 3, 4. 2: 2, 3. 3: 2, 3." "4: 2, 3. 5: 2, 3. 6: 2, 3." "4: 1, 2, 3. 2: 2, 3. 3: 2, 3." "4: 2, 3. 5: 2, 3, 4." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "2: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." "1, 2, 3, 4. 2: 2, 3, 4. 3: 2, 3, 4." "4: 2, 3, 4. 5: 2, 3, 4." "6: 2, 3, 4. 7: 2, 3, 4." "8: 2, 3, 4. 9: 2, 3, 4." "10: 2, 3, 4. 11: 2, 3." "1, 2, 3. 2: 2, 3. 3: 2, 3. 4: 2, 3." "5: 2, 3. 6: 2, 3. 7: 2, 3." "8: 2, 3. 9: 2, 3. 10: 2, 3." "1, 2, 3. 2: 2, 3. 3: 2, 3. 4: 2, 3." "My husband's store was at North Zhongshan Road." "We had four kids." "Because he was worried about the kids, my husband closed down the store and went home." "A bunch of military was knocking at the door." "We didn't want to open." "They were banging like crazy." "Who knew they would break the door, and come inside to search through our stuff." "They were looking through all our things like maniacs." "They took away a lot of clothing, and all our money." "We lived in a little house." "He was standing in the doorway, and I was sitting inside." "When they came, they started shooting at him." "They didn't ask anything, just shot two times." "They took away his ring and watch." "And the little money he had in his pocket." "Just like this." "The two bullets entered here and went out of his back." "I knelt down to beg him, but it didn't help." "Told him we were simple folks, that we just mind our own business." "All of our kids were crying, they tried to push him away." "I knelt down and begged him saying that my husband is a good person." "They wouldn't listen to anything I said." "Just took out a gun, and shot two times right at his heart." "When he saw that someone was killed, he got scared." "He wanted to run away so that he would not be caught." "He ran toward the large concrete building, the one built where the temple used to be." "He killed three more people on the way, and went hiding in a toilet." "He was discovered there." "The guy who saw him didn't know anything." "He was killed, too." "They were found by the blood stains and taken out." "Then brought here from the back, collapsed in this pit and died." "Oh, it's so terrible!" "In our neighborhood, more than 10 people were killed." "There was a guy who ran a bicycle store." "He was shot in his back." "Kai-gui from upstairs, who was about 50, they pulled him down and chopped off his head." "It hurts me so much even to think about it." "My husband's younger brother came to visit our ailing son." "He was shot at the doorway." "At that time people were getting killed for no reason." "Ching-siang's father, and A-Tung, and Hai-long's son, our nephew, my husband, his brother, then also Kai-gui, and also..." "Tooth brushing!" "Start!" "Squat down!" "Brush!" "Faster!" "Still faster!" "Stand up slowly." "Brush faster!" "Stop!" "You, come out!" "Brush!" "Jump five times!" "Faster!" "Faster!" "Change hands!" "Change hands!" "..." "Stop!" "Brush!" "Faster!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" ".." "Freeze!" "You there, what's wrong?" "Come out!" "Jump ten times!" "Stop!" "Brush fast!" "Squat down!" "You again!" "It's always you!" "Squat!" "Raise your hands!" "Brush faster!" "Stand up!" "You, too!" "Come out!" "Squat down!" "Deeper!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "You there!" "Jump ten times!" "Change hands!" "Change hands!" "Change hands!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Change hands!" "Come out!" "Twenty sit-ups!" "You two go back!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Move your fingers!" "Stop!" "Come out!" "Squat and jump!" "Brush!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Change hands!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Change hands!" "Change hands!" "Change hands!" "Stop!" "All go back!" "Brush!" "Squat down!" "Change hands!" "You, come out!" "And you!" "Stand up!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Twenty sit-ups!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "..." "You!" "And the other one too!" "I told you come out!" "Run!" "Stand up!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Squat down!" "Change hands!" "Change hands!" "Brush!" "Faster!" "You two go back!" "Not you!" "You keep running!" "Stand up!" "Squat down!" "Stand up!" "Stand still!" "Start marching!" "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2..." "Turn!" "Start going!" "Faster!" "Stop!" "Turn right!" "Open your mouth!" "Close your mouth!" "Open!" "Close!" "Open!" "Close!" "When my father was 91, I took him to the town where he was born." "It was 59 years since he went there last time." "We went to the countryside to visit his parents' grave." "Suddenly, he told me:" ""We can go back home now."" "So I asked him:" ""Home?" "Where is home?"" ""Home?" "Home is at Pingdong!"" "He never forgot his birthplace, but he still considered Pingdong his home." "After returning to Taiwan, father seemed peaceful and resolved." "It was only then that I suddenly realized that he actually wanted to be buried in Taiwan." "How should we say it?" "Oh, I feel we've opened the doors of our hearts!" "PORTRAITS OF THE FAMILIES remembering a century in Taiwanese history"