''Roar, China!'' was an artistic theme and the title of various artistic works authored from the 1920s through the 1930s which expressed

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

with China. Significant works include the poem and play by Soviet Futurist Sergei Tretyakov,

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

' poem of the same name, and a wood cut by

Li Hua Li Hua () March 6, 1907 − May 5, 1994), was a Chinese woodcut artist and communist known for his participation in left-wing activities, was born in Panyu, Guangdong. Career He graduated from the Municipal Guangzhou Art School in 1926 and ...

''Roar, China!'' works

Sergei Tretyakov poem and play

In 1924, Soviet futurist poet and playwright Sergei Tretyakov wrote a poem titled, ''Roar, China!'' Shortly afterwards, he turned the poem into a play depicting fictional events similar to those which happened later in the 1926 Wanxian Incident, when the British military massacred hundreds of Chinese civilians. In Tokyo, the Tsukiji Theatre performed Tretyakov's ''Roar, China!'' from 31 August to 4 September 1929, when authorities shut down the performances.

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of ...

's 1930 production of ''Roar, China!'' was

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

's first play with a majority Asian cast. Chinese performers were recruited by the Chinese Benevolent and Dramatic Association. The cast included economist Ji Chaoding. A British production of the play was banned by from being performed at the Cambridge Festival Theatre, but the play was later staged by The Unnamed Society in Manchester in November 1931. The play was also performed in Berlin, Vienna, and Frankfurt.

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

described the global spread of the play as part of a historical process in which the throngs of workers would become revolutionaries. Tretyakov's ''Roar, China!'' poem and play also became popular in China, where they were translated multiple times. In 1933, on the second anniversary of the Mukden incident, a production of ''Roar, China!'' was staged at the Hung King Theatre in Shanghai's French Concession. Increasing pressure from the Japanese led authorities to censor the play, both in the foreign concessions and elsewhere in China. A production which included

Jiang Qing Jiang Qing (March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and political figure. She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Communis ...

was among those banned by British authorities.

Li Hua woodcut

In 1935,

produced the

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

''Roar, China!'' (怒吼吧中国). The woodcut depicts the front view of a "taut, muscular, and naked male body, bound and blindfolded". The incisions create dark and angular lines, which academic Xiaobing Tang describes as giving "the constrained body a translucent quality, suggesting a radiating force that charges and electrifies the physical body".

Langston Hughes poem

On 29 August 1937,

wrote a poem titled ''Roar, China!'' which called for China's resistance to the full-scale invasion which Japan had launched less than two months earlier. Hughes biographer and translator of his works into Chinese, Luo Xingqun, writes that Hughes was inspired to write the poem by his experiences in Shanghai and his encounters with

Soong Ching-ling Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981), Christian name Rosamonde or Rosamond, was a Chinese political figure. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, therefore known by Madame Sun Yat-sen and the "''Father of the Nation, Mother of Mode ...

and

Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...

. Hughes used China as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

for the "global colour line." According to academic Gao Yunxiang, Hughes' poem was integral to the global circulation of ''Roar, China!'' as an artistic theme. Hughes later wrote, but did not publish, a poem called ''China''. Academic Selina Lai-Henderson writes that the brief poem, which begins ''

in medias res A narrative work beginning ''in medias res'' (, "into the middle of things") opens in the chronological middle of the plot, rather than at the beginning (cf. '' ab ovo'', '' ab initio''). Often, exposition is initially bypassed, instead filled i ...

'', may have been intended as a sequel to Hughes' ''Roar, China!''

References

{{Reflist Chinese art American poetry Soviet art