Chapter 274: Art and Propaganda

However, Dingding was not satisfied with this playwright. The reason was that his “political consciousness” was too poor—of course, it was difficult for a scholar who had taught in a rural private school for thirty years and was so poor that he had to flee from famine to have any political consciousness. He just copied various stories of talented scholars and beautiful ladies and rewrote them. This could not satisfy his idea of using art as a means of propaganda. Performing traditional stories of talented scholars and beautiful ladies, emperors and generals, and gods and ghosts all day long, although very popular with the masses, had no combat effectiveness. The Executive Committee approved his establishment of a puppet troupe not to enrich the amateur life of the people of Lin’gao, but to convey the spirit and ideas of the Transmigration Group.

Dingding now highly praised the view that “art is a weapon,” which he had previously disdained and sneered at. As the saying goes, your position determines your stance.

It was necessary to write some new plays that promoted the policies of the Transmigration Group to reflect the significance of the puppet troupe in the propaganda department. It was no longer feasible to entrust this matter to the playwright or the actors—these people were full of talented scholars and beautiful ladies, emperors and generals, and ghosts and gods, and they couldn’t even grasp this basic spirit.

They must first undergo political study and transform their thinking. So Dingding went to Wei Aiwen of the General Political Department of the army and requested a one-month military training for his puppet troupe, plus ideological study.

“To carry out a thorough transformation of them from body to mind!”

But his foreign girlfriend could not understand his spirit. On the contrary, she became very interested in the new version of the Lin’gao puppet show, which was full of 17th-century Chinese characteristics, and often went to watch it—fully reflecting the love of foreigners for this kind of thing. She was very dissatisfied with Dingding sending the artists to military training.

“Artists don’t need to carry guns,” she proposed to her boyfriend. “Politics should not contaminate art.”

“The Executive Committee established this puppet troupe, of course, not to perform sentimental little plays, but to be our mouthpiece, hmm, yes, mouthpiece,” Dingding thought with satisfaction of this word.

“My dear, you said last time that the newspaper is our mouthpiece…” his girlfriend Panpan’s grasp of this kind of Chinese vocabulary was not very good.

“All of them are.”

“Puppet shows should be art—”

“Art must serve politics,” Dingding quickly stuffed this concept into his foreign girlfriend’s head. “Just like the Times.” Dingding looked at his girlfriend’s confused blue eyes. “I am in charge of the Propaganda Department, not the News Department or the Ministry of Culture.”

“Like Goebbels?”

Dingding was so angry he almost fell to the ground. This comparison was too harsh. He waved his hand: “I can’t explain it to you. You still need to study hard, so you don’t fall behind the times.”

Panpan was so angry she burst into tears. She never expected that the Chinese media person she liked would now degenerate into a thorough bureaucrat, and the worst kind at that.

Dingding had no time to appreciate his girlfriend’s feelings. He had too much to do. While the members of the puppet troupe were in the training camp, carrying wooden guns filled with iron, shouting “one, two, one” and “left turn, right turn,” in order to cooperate with the Transmigration Group’s policy of measuring the land and clarifying the taxes, he personally wrote a synopsis for a puppet show.

Wu De called him to prepare for public opinion propaganda to cooperate with the land survey.

“Recently, we need to concentrate on publishing articles on the Ming Dynasty’s tax problems and reforms in the newspaper,” Wu De took out a file bag. “This is the material from the Great Library and the Intelligence Committee. It’s very comprehensive. You can publish it after a little processing.”

“Publish a main commentary every two or three days, and then a few background articles,” Dingding wrote a few words in his work manual. “Too much is not good.”

“Most of the articles here are compiled from the papers and works of famous domestic and foreign scholars. Their positions and views are different—they have all been classified. Pay attention when publishing,” Wu De said. “Try to create an atmosphere of discussion.”

The newspaper was for the gentry and scholars to read. For the general native population, the method adopted was to send cultural propaganda personnel to the countryside to publicize the policies. This method was cheap and effective, and it spread faster than posting easily damaged notices everywhere in the countryside where the literacy rate was very low. The personnel who carried out this kind of propaganda task, in addition to the civilian personnel under Dingding’s jurisdiction, also included interns assigned to the propaganda department from the National School. Their propaganda style was more modern, and in addition to street lectures, they also used the method of posting cartoons.

“I also have this,” Dingding triumphantly handed his script synopsis to Wu De. Using a puppet show to conduct public opinion propaganda was a new thing. Wu De looked at it for a few minutes.

The synopsis of the newly written play was “Thunder on the South China Sea.” The story was based on the historical fact of Hai Rui measuring the land in Jiangnan and clearing up the hidden land of the gentry. Hai Rui was a famous person from Hainan and was known for his integrity and uprightness. Using his story as a theme was very clever.

“This is a good idea,” Wu De nodded repeatedly. “Hurry up and rehearse it. After it’s done, I’ll send a few ox-carts to perform it from village to village.”

The members of the troupe, who had just returned from military training, immediately threw themselves into rehearsing the new play without catching their breath. Because the script was very simple, it was rehearsed in a few days. Dingding didn’t stop. He specially invited the main members of the Executive Committee to watch. This was also the first play created by the Transmigration Group itself. In Dingding’s view, it had epoch-making significance.

“This play should also have a Mandarin version,” Wen Desi gave instructions after watching it. “It will be performed on the mainland in the future.”

“Okay,” Dingding was very happy. This was a sign of approval.

“Also, the conflict should be more intense,” Ma Qianzhu proposed a revision. “All kinds of opposition should be involved. We should add the suffering of the common people under the old system. I think it would be good to arrange a plot where a poor peasant family is ruined by the grain tax.”

“Just involving poor peasants is too narrow in scope. It can’t represent the reality that the entire Great Ming is gradually collapsing under the old system,” Wen Desi said. “Small and medium-sized landlords are also victims of the unreasonable system. We should also add their experiences.”

“Alright, a wider scope, the broad masses of the people…”

“Hold on, the plot of this script is too simple and boring. Without some content that the masses love to see, will they really like to watch it when it’s performed?” Wu De raised a question.

This was a problem, and Dingding also admitted that Wu De was right.

“We need to add some spice,” Dingding stroked the sparse beard on his chin. “If the play is not enough, add love…”

“How about adding a subplot of a love story between the young master of a small landlord family and the daughter of a tenant farmer, in addition to the main storyline of Hai Rui’s land cleanup?”

“That’s good, but isn’t it a bit off-topic?”

“No, it’s not off-topic,” said Xiao Zishan, who proposed this suggestion. “A love that crosses class boundaries originally has no good result, but the fate of individuals is swept up by the tide of the times, and they end up dying together…”

“What are you talking about…” Ma Qianzhu was confused.

“Anyway, the ending is that everyone dies, right?” Dingding said.

“That’s right, a Shakespearean ending where everyone dies. But they die under the unreasonable system of the Ming government. Whether it’s the landlord or the tenant farmer, they all have to be finished. That’s the message.”

“That’s a bit interesting,” Wen Desi said.

“Should we add a plot where the people rise up in rebellion? A bankrupt landlord, a frustrated scholar, and a starving poor peasant are oppressed and come together to raise the banner.”

“We can add it, but isn’t this a bit like openly advocating rebellion? After all, we are still under the rule of the Great Ming. What if the common people are scared when they see it?” Wu De asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Ma Qianzhu pondered. “Anyway, this kind of spontaneous peasant uprising is doomed to fail because they lack correct theoretical guidance.”

“Okay, we’ll revise it,” Dingding nodded repeatedly, writing quickly in his notebook.

“Hmm, I think we can add a final scene. Hai Rui’s land cleanup is very effective, but he is transferred away by corrupt officials who collude with each other, and his measures gradually lose their effect. In the end, the peasants who failed in their armed struggle gather again on the mountain top to mourn their dead brothers. At this time, the dawn of a new day rises slowly from the sea in the distance…” Ma Qianzhu said.

“Old Ma, this is a puppet show, not a movie. Is it a bit difficult to carry so much content?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Dingding said. “The plot of the Minnan glove puppetry is much more complicated than this, and it can still be performed. I don’t think this plot will be a problem for the artists.”

“Then rehearse it, and be quick,” Wu De said. “The survey has already begun. If there’s not enough time for the full version, make a simplified one.”

The activities of the Propaganda Department quickly spread the content and significance of the land survey throughout the county. The propaganda that the land survey would clarify the taxes brought hope to many common people and small households. Many people had long suffered from the “flying sprinklings” and hoped to get rid of this predicament through this land survey. Some people heard that this land survey could provide free replacement of land deeds. Reclaiming wasteland was very common in Lin’gao, but it was very difficult to get a land deed for the reclaimed land—the clerks would find all kinds of excuses to constantly extort “fees,” and every step required money. Now there was a free lunch to be had, and everyone was very enthusiastic.

To avoid giving the people the impression that this was a “puppet regime” issuing land deeds, Wu De deliberately set up the land declaration location at the Grain Collection Bureau yamen in the county town.

This newly established yamen was a genuine official institution of the Great Ming, established by the Lin’gao County yamen of the Great Ming. Although it was not an official institution, it had a strong official color—Wu De deliberately chose an empty yamen in the county town to be the Grain Collection Bureau.

Like all county towns in the Great Ming, the Lin’gao county town was built according to the unified standards of Zhu Yuanzhang. In addition to the county yamen, there were many other yamen. All the county schools, yin-yang schools, Taoist associations, medical offices, and nursing homes that were in the county towns of the Central Plains were also present. As the saying goes, the sparrow may be small, but it has all the vital organs.