a Oh tl A

Above is a scene called “Lotus Dance” being performed by the Peking Opera Company
Which opens its North American tour at the Vancouver International Festival, August
10-13 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Famed Peking artists
Visit city in August

By BERT WHYTE

Pacific Tribune
Correspondent

Canadians have a rare
treat in store for them when
% Peking Opera company
‘ours from Vancouver to
Ontreal this summer.

The theatre troupe, plus a

Song ang dance ensemble, will
Make their first North Amer-

i

(2 appearance Aug. 10 at
ne - Vancouver _International
 stival. Later in the month

*Y will be featured at the
tratford Festival. On their
a’y east they are scheduled to
corm in Calgary and Ed-
pon, and perhaps Winni-
* 8. Toronto and Montreal
Sure to see them, however,
the also, in’ all probability
Y will stop over in Ottawa.

phe troupe, numbering close
100, will give Canadian

tion ees a glimpse of tradi- |
tae Chinese Opera, with!
ae from In the Wild Boar
eis” an opera based on an

Sede from the classical
"hese novel Water Margin.

Other numbers performed
inet ge Opera players will
ae The White Snake,
road ful fairy tale; The Cross-
Ih a Wu Sung Riots in the
Mont, he Magic Pearl; The
are King; The Drunken
Vita Y; The Cowherd and the

i; a Girl; and the famous

Ung Kills the Tiger.

kills

Chinese story tellers and taken
from the ancient romance,
Water Margin) has challenged
the talents of China’s most
skilled mimics and story tell-
ers for generations.

Briefly, the episode tells of
Wu Sung’s arrival at a ‘wine-
shop near the Chingyang
Ridge. He is on his way home
to see his brother Wu Ta and
being slightly drunk, decides
to cross the ridge before night-
fall, despite a warning that a
ferocious tiger lurks in the
mountain, He meets the tiger,
and after a terrific struggle
kills it with his bare hands,
thus liberating the: local peo-
ple froma great evil.

The song and dance ensem-
ple will perform these, among
other popular numbers which
have earned them internation-
al fame:

@ The Peacock Dance. Based
on a folk dance of the Tai
people in Yunnan, the dance
represents the peacoc ks
spreading their tails, drinking,
bathing, etc., and portrays the
people’s desire for a free and
happy life.

@ Parasol Dance. Based on
a folk dance of Honan Prov-
ince, it depicts the happy
girls of China’s new country-
side as they make merry after
working in the fields.

@ Taming a Vicious Horse. A
Mongolian youth tames a wild
horse and rides it on the grass-
Jand.

@ Red Silk Dance. A portray-

The tale of how Wu Sung]al of the happy mood of the
a tiger (a favorite of people, combining the yanko

| dance of Northeast. China with
red skill ribbons, much admir-
ed by the Chinese people.

@ Bumper Harvest. Based on
the folk dances of Kiangsi, it
depicts a group of children
playing hide-and-seek in the
fields from which a bountiful
harvest has been reaped.

@ March the Third. This is
the festival day of the Li peo-
ple on Hainan Island; on that
day they go by twos and threes
to the hill slopes. festooned
with myriads of flowers to (so
says the program) ‘‘make mer-
ry or for love-making.”

@® Drum Dance. This is a
Uighur dance usually —per-
formed at harvest festivals.

I have only mentioned some:
of the numbers to be presented
by the Peking Opera company
and the Central Song and
Dance Ensemble during their
Canadian tour. But enough, I
thik, to whet your appetite.

Largest open-air
sfage in world

The world’s. largest open-air
stage which can accommodate
a 30,000 voice choir was com-
pleted recently outside Tallin,
capital of Soviet Esthonia.

The stage is in the middle of
a long field of over 17 acres
on the Baltic Sea shore. The
hillslope in front of the stage
has been covereed with open-
air stands to seat 70,000. An
exhibition hall, broadcasting
and television premises have
been installed beneath the

stands.

New Buck

tract shows

need for neutrality

By B. MAGNUSON
Canada can stay out of war.
This is the key message .con-

tained in a popular pocket-size |

tract entitled “Neutrality
Now”. The tract is written by
Tim Buck and published by

Progress Books for the Com- |

munist Party of Canada.

The real danger of war is
emphasized by pointing up the
concrete happenings during
the past few months. It expos-
es the fact that United States
imperialists and their hangers-

on are determined to intensify |

the arms drive.

On the other ‘naud, Tim Buck
points to the new and general
upsurge of public demand for

action to stop the drift to war |

by means of general and com-
plete disarmament and Cana-
dian neutrality.

This public demand is rapid-
ly becoming .an_ irresistable
force for peace. It is both nec-

essary and desirable that the
main organizations of the
working people. should be-

come actively involved in the
leadership of this movement
for Canadian neutrality and
world disarmament.

The pamphlet shows clearly
what a policy of neutrality
will do for Canada.

For example, it will widen
the trade and intercourse with
all countries. As Tim Buck
puts it:

“With a foreign policy
neutrality Canada could sell
her products to every country
that is prepared to buy them,

of |

|negotiate trade deals with in-
| dividual countries on the basis
|of mutual advantage, establish
relationships of long-term ec-
|Onomic co-operation with the
| peoples of a number of under-
| developed ‘countries, and gen-
|erally adjust Canada’s foreign
| trade to the changing pattern
;0f world trade and world ec-
| onomy.”

Tim Buck mentions the lim-
its within which a policy of

; neutrality would operate and

| states clearly what it will not
do for Canada. For example:
it will not abolish class poli-
cies, nor the profit system, nor
| make the capitalist class and
| their governments neutral in
their attitude to the working
people.

A policy of neurality will
|not be a novelty in the Com-
|monwealth. No other country’s
| Soversignty will be infringed
| upon by Canada’s adoption of
|such a policy of Canadian neu-
trality or be associated with
hostility to any country.

This timely and informative
pamphlet is a great contribu-
tion to the growing public de-
bate and rising struggle for a
new Canadian foreign policy
of peace, world disarmament,
Canadian neutrality and inde-
pendence.

This tract should enjoy a
Wide mass circulation in every
area of our far-flung country.
Orders can be placed with
Peoples’ Co-Op Bookstore,
;307 W. Pender. The price is
five cents per copy.

HISTORY OF MODERN
CHINESE REVOLUTION

(By Ho Kan Chih. Pub-
lished by Foreign Language
Press, 1960, 620 pages.
Available at Co-op Book-
store, 307 West Pender,
Vancouver.)

All those who would like
to gain a good grounding in
the motive forces that shaped
the history of modern China
will find this book immensely
interesting and rewarding. It

is an account of the different |

stages of the Chinesee revolu-
tion from the May 4th move-
ment in 1919 to the*successful
building of socialism up _ to
and including the first half of
1956.

It outlines the struggle of
the Chinese people, led by the
Communist Party, against im-
perialism, feudalism and bur-
eaucratic capitalism through
three civil wars and the war

of resistance against Japanese |
aggressicn to victory in Octo- |

ber, 1949,

Written in a forceful, clear
and easy-to-understand _ style,
this history will hold your at-

{tention throughout. It is re-
| vealing and inspiring to learn
| how the Communist Party of
China, which had but 57 mem-
bers at the time of its first
Congress in 1921 and only 123
members at the time of its sec-
ond Congress in 1922, rapidly
grew in both strength and in-
fluence in the course of cour-
ageous leadership of the Chi-
nese peoples’ struggles until,
not without painful errors, it
matured and won the leader-
ship of the most populous
country in the world.

The book is instructive in
its explanation of how the
Communist Party at each
stage of the struggle made a
careful and concrete analysis
of the class forces at work,
and direction of each class or
evaluated the role, strength
section of a class and then for-
mulated its tactics according-
ly.

For us in Canada there is
much to be learned. from a
study of this history.

—BEN SWANKEY

August 5, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5