''The Chalk Circle'' (sometimes translated ''The Circle of Chalk''), by

Li Qianfu Li Qianfu (), courtesy name Xingdao (行道), was a 14th-century Chinese playwright of the Yuan dynasty. His works include '' Hui Lan Ji'' (灰闌記) — ''The Chalk Circle — classical zaju verse play and gong'an crime drama,'' which was u ...

, is a

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

(1259–1368) Chinese classical

zaju ''Zaju'' was a form of Chinese opera which provided entertainment through a synthesis of recitations of prose and poetry, dance, singing, and mime, with a certain emphasis on comedy (or, happy endings). Although with diverse and earlier roots, ''za ...

verse play and gong'an

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

drama, in four acts with a prologue."Chalk Circle, The (Hui-Lan Ji)"
''Oxford Dictionary of Plays'', online at Enotes.com. Retrieved May 27, 2008. It was preserved in a collection entitled ''Yuan-chu-po-cheng'', or ''The Hundred Pieces''.''Das Fremde und das Vertraute: Studien zur musiktheoretischen und musikdramatischen Ostasienrezeption''
by

Peter Revers Peter Revers (born 1954) is a German-Austrian musicologist and university lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. Life Born in Würzburg, Revers is the son of the psychologist . He studied musicology, psychology, philosophy ...

, Published 1997

Franz Steiner Verlag Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH is a German academic publishing house, with headquarters in Stuttgart. Founded in 1949 in Wiesbaden, its specialty is history, although it also publishes works in geography, philosophy, law, and musicology. Journals p ...

, , pages 212, 213. Online excerpt at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

retrieved May 27, 2008. The

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

original is known for the beauty of its lyrical verse, and considered a Yuan masterpiece;"The Circle of Chalk"
''Masterplots'', Definitive Revised Edition, online at Enotes.com. Retrieved May 27, 2008."Historicity and Contemporaneity: Adaptations of Yuan Plays in the 1990s"
Wenwei Du, '' Asian Theatre Journal'', Volume 18, Number 2, Fall 2001, pp. 222-237. a series of translations and revisions inspired several popular modern plays.

Plot

A beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, Hai-tang (also transliterated Hai-t'ang, Hi-tang, or Chang-hi-tang), is sold into a house of prostitution by her impoverished family, after her father's death. There she is befriended by Ma Chun-shing, a wealthy and childless tax collector, who takes her into his house as his second wife. She bears him a son, Shoulang, but earns the jealousy of his first wife, Ah-Siu. Ah-Siu accuses Hai-tang of

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

, poisons Ma, blaming Hai-tang for the crime, and claims to a court that Shoulang is her own child, so that she can inherit Ma's fortune. Hai-tang is arrested, and beaten until she confesses. As Hai-tang is about to be hanged, she is rescued by

Bao Zheng Bao Zheng (; 5 March 999 – 3 July 1062), commonly known as Bao Gong (), was a Chinese politician during the reign of Emperor Renzong in China's Song Dynasty. During his twenty-five years in civil service, Bao consistently demonstrated extr ...

in a scene similar to the

Judgment of Solomon The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which Solomon ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting the baby be cut in tw ...

: Shoulang is placed in a circle of chalk between the two women, and each is ordered to pull the child toward her; as Hai-tang can not bear to hurt her child, she gives—and so is judged his true mother."''The Circle of Chalk'' Character Analysis"
''Cyclopedia of Literary Characters'', online at Enotes.com. Retrieved May 28, 2008."The Circle of Chalk"
website for UK staging of Klabund adaptation. Retrieved May 28, 2008.''Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend''
by Graham Russell Hodges, Published 2004,

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

, , page 96. Online excerpt at

retrieved May 28, 2008. ic Paul G. Brewster, ''Folklore Studies'', Vol. 21, (1962), pp. 236-240, Asian Folklore Studies,

Nanzan University is a private, Catholic and coeducational higher education institution run by the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) in the Shōwa Ward of Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious private universiti ...

. Online version accessed June 23, 2015.

Adaptations

The play became first known in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

in a

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...

translation by

Stanislas Julien Stanislas Aignan Julien (13 April 179714 February 1873) was a French sinologist who served as the Chair of Chinese at the Collège de France for over 40 years and was one of the most academically respected sinologists in French scholarship. J ...

, published in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1832 as ''Le Cercle de Craie''. This was liberally re-translated into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Klabund Alfred Henschke (4 November 1890 – 14 August 1928), better known by his pseudonym Klabund, was a German writer. Life Klabund, born Alfred Henschke in 1890 in Crossen, was the son of an apothecary. At the age of 16 he came down with tuberculo ...

as ''Der Kreidekreis'' in 1924, which was very popular."Klabund"
The

Columbia Encyclopedia The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University Columbi ...

, Sixth Edition, 2008. Retrieved May 27, 2008. In Klabund's version, the Emperor marries the heroine at the end of the play, while in the original she returns to live with her brother, who is now a court official. Based on Klabund's play, the Austrian composer

Alexander von Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton S ...

adapted a libretto for his '' Der Kreidekreis'', performed in Zurich in 1933. Klabund's version was translated into English by

James Laver James Laver, CBE, FRSA (14 March 1899 – 3 June 1975) was an English author, critic, art historian, and museum curator who acted as Keeper of Prints, Drawings and Paintings for the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1938 and 1959. He was al ...

as ''The Circle of Chalk'', in five acts, published in London by

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...

in 1929. It was put on stage in March of that year, produced by

Basil Dean Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unof ...

, starring the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actress

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain interna ...

, Australian actress Rose Quong, and British actor

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage ...

.This was possibly Laurence Olivier's first

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194� ...

role; Hodges (above), claims it was, but his work wasn't really focused on Olivier, rather on Wong. Our article Laurence Olivier chronology of stage and film performances differs. As of 2008, this version is still being produced by various theatre groups. In 1940,

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

wrote ''

Der Augsburger Kreidekreis "The Augsburg Chalk Circle" (german: Der Augsburger Kreidekreis) is a short story written in 1940 by Bertolt Brecht. The story derives from '' The Chalk Circle'', a 14th-century play by Li Xingdao, and can be seen as a "first draft" for Brecht's s ...

'', a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

based on ''Der Kreidekreis'', which reworks the story by omitting any Imperial intervention and making the first wife the biological mother, but having her abandon the child. The heroine is a serving girl who rescues and raises him, becoming the "real" mother. In 1944, he further reworked the story as the play, ''

The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' (german: Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a ...

'', moving the events to medieval

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, adding a prologue set in

Soviet Georgia The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

, and greatly elaborating the narrative. In 2000, ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' in turn was rewritten as ''Full Circle'', or ''The Berlin Circle'', by

Charles L. Mee Charles L. Mee (born September 15, 1938) is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts. He is also a Special Lecturer of theater at Col ...

, set in 1989

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

after the

fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

."All About Mee"
Gideon Lester, January 2000,

American Repertory Theatre The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to n ...

. The famous Kyrgyz author and novelist

Chinghiz Aitmatov Chinghiz Torekulovich Aitmatov (as transliterated from Russian; ky, Чыңгыз Төрөкулович Айтматов, translit=Chynggyz Törökulovich Aytmatov; 12 December 1928 – 10 June 2008) was a Kyrgyz author who wrote mainly in Russia ...

was also indirectly inspired from the Chalk Circle, while writing his 1960 book, The Red Scarf. He used some indirect elements from the tale very loosely. In Turkey, plot of the legendary Turkish movie " Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım" was based on The Red Scarf. The movie has since been an ageless favourite for turkish cinema critics and popular choice and a unique example of

Turkish cinema Cinema of Turkey or Turkish cinema (also old known as ''Yeşilçam'' literally means ''The Green Pine'' in Turkish language), () or Türk sineması is the sobriquet that refers to the Turkish film art and industry. It is an important part of ...

. In 2018, Claire Conceison wrote and directed a play called The Chalk Cycle based on the original Yuan drama The Chalk Circle, the Brecht adaptation The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and the Custody battle for Anna Mae He.

References

External links

''Full Circle''
script by

at his site. {{Yuan dynasty topics Gong'an fiction Yuan dynasty plays Fictional depictions of Bao Zheng in literature Plays set in the Song dynasty Plays set in the 11th century