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In this anthology are four pieces by the well-known Shanghai woman writer Lu Xing'er, one of many talented authors who have appeared on the Chinese literary scene since the 1970s. With an observably feminine sensitivity, she has tasted to the full the excitement, confusion, pain and joy of a generation, and this is vividly reflected in her careful portraits of the lives of ordinary Chinese people. Her protagonists are woman from all walks of life and her concern for their fate has made a deep and lasting impression on her readers.Lu Xing'er was born in Shanghai in 1949. In 1968, she was sent to do farm work in the Great Northern Wilderness, and in 1978 entered the Central Drama Institute. Since 1974 she has published a dozen short stories. She has also produced two novels, A Kiss to the Century and Fairytales in the Grey Building. Her publications also include two collections of short stories, The Structure of the Beauty and The Unremembered Tablet in the Wildness.
Table of Contents
Oh！Blue Bird
The Mountain Flowers Have Bloomde Quietly
One on One
Under One Roof
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The theatre was not big. The rehearsal was already underway.There was no stage setting and the performers did not wear make-up. It was not actually a dress rehearsal. Shu Zhen sat downbehind the small number of people there. The play reached itsclimax
the Red Guards who used to fight on one side startedto differ in real life. Shu Zhen had to bend forward to listen as twopeople sitting behind him talked continuously about the acting.
"They are trying to show their feelings. The feelings havecovered the tension. They are not acting out the inner life of theroles... The way they talk is as if they're reading aloud. None ofthem are communicating. Just to communicate with the audience isnot enough, the sound effects, the props, the environment, theirvision
they should react to all of these. They haven't doneenough homework before the rehearsal and they don't understandthe roles they are acting. That's the problem..." It was the voice ofa woman. A very pleasing voice in standard mandarin, and a ratheryoung voice though the words sounded like an expert expressing irrefutable judgement and conclusion.
Shu Zhen turned round to look out of curiosity. She was young, as he had expected, with long curling hair falling to her shoulders. She was in a light green pull-over with a silver gray anorak coat draped over it. She looked familiar. He had an impression that he had met her somewhere before. Maybe she was an actress in the provincial troupe？ Shu Zhen's attention was distracted from the play itself.
When the rehearsal was over and before all the audience had left, the young woman went up on stage. She shrugged her coat down onto a chair. Raising both arms, she said, "May I have the attention of the performers, please."
