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20 | Tuesday, July 9, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE A hero’s tale heads home An opera production, The Diaries of John Rabe, that tells a tale of humanitarian heroism during the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 has opened in the German hometown of its protagonist to rave reviews, Chen Weihua reports in Hamburg, Germany. hen the Imperial Japa­ rin, an American missionary and nese Army advanced educator. toward Nanjing in its “I was just carrying on what Iris all­out invasion of Chi­ Chang and many others have start­ na, John Rabe, a German business­W ed,” Zhou says. man working for Siemens in China, The current show, The Diaries of and 20 other foreigners established John Rabe, has been created by a the Nanjing Safety Zone that shel­ team of artists from more than a tered 200,000 Chinese refugees. dozen countries. A total of 300,000 Chinese civil­ Anna Isabel Lasso, a soprano ians and unarmed soldiers were from Guatemala who played the slaughtered by the Japanese army role of Vautrin, says she had never over a period of six weeks from heard of the story before. “We had December 1937, when Japan cap­ heard about the Holocaust of the tured Nanjing, then the capital of Jews but never this,” she says. China. The event is widely known as “When I started to read about it, I the Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of felt so impressed and I fell in love Nanking. with the role.” Rabe witnessed the Japanese Vautrin first came to China as a atrocities firsthand and recorded missionary and teacher in 1912. She them in his diary. later became the acting president of On July 6, The Diaries of John Ginling Women’s College in Nanjing Rabe, a concert opera that tells of and was working there when the the tragedy of the massacre and of Japanese army invaded the city in the heroic actions of Rabe and other 1937. She is credited for saving the foreigners, was staged in the Elb­ lives of 10,000 Chinese refugees dur­ philharmonie, a landmark concert ing the Nanjing Massacre and was hall along the river Elbe in the Ger­ given the nickname, “the Goddess of man port city of Hamburg, where Mercy”. Rabe was born on Nov 23, 1882. Lasso admits that it was a very dif­ It was a joint production by the ficult job of learning to sing in Chi­ Jiangsu Center of the Performing nese. “It’s not singing an aria or a Arts and the Jiangsu Performing Arts Nanjing. Sievers has watched the have been constantly improving the song. It’s singing the whole opera. Group for its European tour. An movie about Rabe online and has show since it was first staged in That’s completely different,” she says. opera version was staged at the Ber­ also visited the Nanjing Massacre Nanjing on Dec 13, 2017, the annual She was pleased that the German lin State Opera on July 3 and 4, and Museum. National Memorial Day for Victims audience liked the show. “In Berlin, will be shown again in the Ronacher “Germany has a history of war of the Nanjing Massacre. they liked it so much, there were Theater in Vienna, Austria, on July 9 and tragedy, so there is interest in “At that time, we were already people crying,” she says. and 10. these kinds of stories,” he adds. thinking about how to take the show Tian Haojiang, who plays the role The music of German composer One of the biggest rounds of to John Rabe’s hometown,” he says. of American missionary John Johann Sebastian Bach, including applause on Saturday night went to Liao praises the current version Magee, has lived in the US for 36 the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Thomas Rabe, the grandson of John for “being more compact and having years, including many years per­ minor, is used heavily in the telling of Rabe, when he appeared on the a clearer theme and better character forming as a bass at the Metropoli­ the story. stage during the curtain calls. portrayal”. He describes the Europe­ tan Opera House in New York. He The concert, with 17 chapters in “Understanding the past is very an tour as expressing gratitude to says it was not difficult for him to 95 minutes, is relatively short com­ important if you want to talk about John Rabe for his humanitarian play the role, since he has always pared with the opera version of the peace in the future,” he tells China love. paid attention to things related to story. However, that did not stop it Daily. He also attended the opera in Zhou Mo, the director, describes the Nanjing Massacre, including from moving the largely German Berlin last week but says, “the orches­ the show as “an unforgettable, life­ attending commemorative events audience. Their applause lasted for tra version is also perfect”. long experience”. in New York and visiting the muse­ about 20 minutes over five curtain His grandfather died in Berlin on The Nanjing native left to study in um in Nanjing a couple of years calls on Saturday. Jan 5, 1950, a little more than a year Top: A scene from the concert opera, The Diaries of John Rabe, at the the United States at the age of 18 and ago. Carsten Wiesbrock, an audience before he was born. Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany, on July 6. later graduated from Columbia Uni­ He describes the attendance of member, says he had never heard of Thomas says the opera is impor­ Above: Tian Haojiang (left) plays John Magee, tenor Han Peng versity with a master’s in fine arts the mostly German audience as Rabe before the show. tant to illustrate the historical event (center) plays John Rabe and soprano Anna Isabel Lasso portrays with a focus on stage directing. proof of the success of the shows. “I am surprised that we don’t know and to help people think about what Minnie Vautrin in the concert opera, The Diaries of John Rabe. She was surprised that few people Magee is also credited for saving about him in Germany,” he says. can be done to aid the friendship PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY in the US knew anything about the thousands of Chinese, and he filmed “I am proud of what he did, saving between China and Japan. He has Nanjing Massacre, so she started to the aftermath of the Japanese atroc­ Chinese people.” been an advocate for China and think how that story could be effec­ ities in Nanjing. Wiesbrock says he liked the con­ Japan to come to terms with their based military. Rabe returned to Thomas, whose father was born tively told to the rest of the world. Han Peng played the role of John cert. “The music is very good,” he history. Germany in 1938 and was forced to in China, where he spent his first 14 In 2016, she got the opportunity to Rabe in the concert opera on Satur­ says. “We, too, have a very bad history, undergo the very lengthy process of years, now also travels frequently to direct a stage play based on the life of day. He called Rabe “good man” and Kristian Sievers, a native of Ham­ and my grandfather lived through renouncing his Nazi affiliations fol­ the country in his role as a guest Chinese­American author and jour­ “full of love for humanity”. burg, says he is excited to learn that part of that. It was Nazi Germany lowing World War II. professor of gynecology at a univer­ nalist Iris Chang, who wrote The “I was deeply moved when I sang,” Rabe’s story was presented as both here. We are also not allowed to for­ While Rabe is widely honored in sity in Beijing. His son also works in New York Times best­seller, The says Han, a tenor with the Shanghai an opera and a concert opera. get this,” he says. China, a monument dedicated to China. Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Opera House. “It’s impressive, very powerful … Being a member of the Nazi Party him was also unveiled in Berlin on Liao Yi, general manager of the Holocaust of World War II. During very emotional and heroic music,” helped Rabe negotiate with the Jap­ Dec 12, 2013, by the Nanjing city gov­ Jiangsu Center for the Performing her research, Chang found the dia­ Contact the writer at says Sievers, whose wife is from anese embassy and the Nanjing­ ernment. Arts Management Co, says they ries of John Rabe and Minnie Vaut­ [email protected] Chinese master’s rare art to be housed at Tsinghua University By LIN QI father returned to China from [email protected] France in 1950, he carried three iron cases filled with painting albums Master painter Wu Guanzhong with him. (1919­2010) is known for integrating “He went to study (at Ecole the techniques of Western art with nationale superieure des Beaux­ the aesthetic and philosophy of Chi­ Arts) on government scholarships. nese culture. He lived on a tight allowance. Still, The artist, who was trained at the he saved money to buy the albums Hangzhou Fine Art School, now the and brought them home.” China Academy of Art, and later at Wu Keyu says his father would the prestigious Ecole nationale take an album to class and talk superieure des Beaux­Arts in Paris, about the great painter featured created a distinguished, dynamic and within. poetic style that helped shape the art “I was a child and could not landscape of 20th­century China.

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