8 December 2017
On 6 December, a group of 67 teachers and students of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) travelled to the Fengjing Town of Shanghai’s Jinshan District to participate in the plaque unveiling ceremony of the "China Dramaturgy Practice Base" and, in the meantime, carry out the inspiration collection activities as part of the "Workshop on Playwriting for Short, Medium and Full Length Scripts" course. The group was led by Professor Lu Jun, Director of Dramaturgy Studies Centre, and Professor Yao Kougen, Head of Shanghai Comprehensive Art Education Micro Film Project. Professor Su Chen, Secretary-General of Shanghai Education Society, also joined the trip.
After the one-hour tour of the Jinshan Peasant Paining Village, the group departed by bus for the nearby Fengjing Scientific Innovation Town to participate in the plaque unveiling ceremony of the “China Dramaturgy Practice Base”. The event was presided over by Ms Gu Xuefang, Deputy Director of Fengjing Township People’s Government. Hu Jigen, Member of CPC Fengjing Township Committee, delivered the congratulatory message, and Professor Lu Jun of Dramaturgy Studies Centre provided an introduction about the establishment of the base. Professor Yao Kougen, Head of Shanghai Comprehensive Art Education Micro Film Project, and professor, PhD student supervisor and former Director of Scientific Research Division of STA, and Zhang Di, Member of CPC Committee and Deputy Director of Jinshan District Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and TV, unveiled the plaque for the “China Dramaturgy Practice Base. Professor Su Chen, Secretary-General of Shanghai Education Society, and Yu Cuibao, Deputy Secretary of CPC Fengjing Township Committee, gave speeches and expressed congratulations. Also, Professor Lu Jun and Yu Linxing, Vice Chairman of Jinshan District Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Director of Fengjing Town Culture and Sport Centre, signed the cooperation agreement aiming for the prosperous development of dramatic playwriting and creation.
In afternoon, the group had a sightseeing tour of the ancient town of Fengjing which has a long historical standing. The ancient town of Fengjing stands by the water and what distinguishes it from other ancient towns which are crowed, noisy and heavily commercial is its simple, quiet and leisurely flavor of life. What Fengjing delivers to people is indeed this simple, tender and warm spirit of life.
After dinner, the group gathered in the conference room on the fifth floor of the New Changing Hotel for the eighth session of the dramaturgy lecture series and listened to the inspiring lecture given by Mr. Yu Linxing, member of judging panel of “Mountain Flower Award” of China Folk Art and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of “Folktale” magazine. On the next day, upon completion of the inspiration collection trip of one day and one night, the group left Fengjing for STA where the ninth session of the dramaturgy lecture series would be held in the afternoon.
What was special about this inspiration collection trip was that it got rid of the teaching and learning model of “from school to school, from classroom to classroom, and from textbook to textbook” that had been commonly adopted by higher education institutions in the past. On the contrary, it gave the classroom back to life and got the students to go into life. As Dostoevsky said, “what is important is not the meaning of life, but the life itself”. Perhaps, this is just the gist of education and life. It is hoped that there will be more opportunities in the future like the inspiration trip on this occasion, and it is also hoped that the dramaturgy base in Fengjing will be able to supply more and richer nourishment for our future playwrights.
