{"id":789,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/professorhasthree-actplayperformedinchina\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:49","slug":"professorhasthree-actplayperformedinchina","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/professorhasthree-actplayperformedinchina\/","title":{"rendered":"WestConn professor has three-act play performed in China"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 When a young American soldier becomes a prisoner of war during the Korean War, he chooses to seek refuge in Red China at the time of armistice to chase his dreams of a better world.<\/p>\n

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This is the theme of \u201cTwin-Sun River: An American POW in China,\u201d a three-act play written by Western Connecticut State University Associate Professor of English Dr. Shouhua Qi.

\n The play debuted in April at the Shanghai Theater Academy with eight performances. After a staged reading of \u201cTwin-Sun River\u201d was sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in New York in March 2008, Tong Ruimin of the academy asked Qi about presenting the play.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere were a hundred people involved in the production with 20 actors,\u201d Qi said. The American consulate personnel in China were invited to the final performance. \u201cThey were laughing with tears in their eyes.\u201d The theme was altered slightly to put the peace theme more in the foreground than the original play, Qi said, to make it more \u201cpolitically correct\u201d for China. \u201cIn my play, the theme is that humanity transcends political and cultural boundaries.\u201d <\/p>\n

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The play is narrated by Private First-Class Simon Mackenzie, who disappears in the heartland of China to find his dream of solace; but his dream is tested over and over by flood, famine and the Chinese Revolution. He becomes enmeshed with a Chinese family whose only son did not return from the Korean War and falls in love with the soldier\u2019s \u201cwidowed\u201d wife. He is suspected of being a spy for the Russians and is beaten by the Red Guards. Throughout his trials, Mackenzie realizes that he cannot run away from his destiny, which is to build his own peaceful existence in his own heart.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy goal is to get the younger generation to see the history of the \u201850s, \u201860s, \u201870s, not just the boom of China as the next superpower,\u201d Qi said. \u201cThe Korean War is a forgotten war in this country, too. It\u2019s the first war the U.S. didn\u2019t win. It\u2019s not the most glorious page in our history. We don\u2019t want to forget our soldiers and their history. We don\u2019t want to forget the lessons we draw from it.\u201d <\/p>\n

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For more information, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.<\/p>\n

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Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.<\/em><\/p>\n

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DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 When a young American soldier becomes a prisoner of war during the Korean War, he chooses to seek refuge in Red China at the time of armistice to chase his dreams of a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-789","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}