Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny was brought to the stage of the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1988, translated by Ying Ruocheng and directed by Charlton Heston. A play sustained entirely by dialogue, it is hailed as a model of "drama defined by speech". Powerful actors including Feng Yuanzheng, Wu Gang, Wang Gang and Wang Lei portray the heated verbal battles of the court-martial aboard the USS Caine. The film adaptation leverages the shift from stage space to cinematic perspective to present an intense confrontation waged with language as its weapon. Amid the trial, the complexity of human nature and the limits of truth are gradually laid bare, with a distinctive dramatic tension bursting forth beyond the stage.

Zhang Juzheng, a play written by Xiong Zhaozheng, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, and co-directed by Feng Yuanzheng and Yan Rui, adopts an alternating dual narrative of reality and unreality to depict the inner journey of Zhang Juzheng, grand secretary of the Ming Dynasty, during his reforms. From the mortal world to the wider realm, from the rivers and lakes to the imperial court, dramatic conflict runs throughout the work, which, amid echoes of history, inquires into the fate and aspirations of the reformer.On stage, three dragon thrones of different sizes and eight red pillars form a freehand stage design. The cinematic theatre production uses distinctive narrative shots to capture the cast’s delicate and precise performances, fully amplifying the stage audio-visual effects and creating a beauty of oriental artistic conception.

As the Year of Gengzi arrives, drastic changes unfold one after another...Within the legacy of the Manchu banners, sheltered by their ancestors, they indulge day after day in bygone glories, helpless and resigned.At the foot of the imperial city, swept along in the torrent of history, they follow hesitantly, struggling to make choices that shape their lives.They embody the blood and tears of a nation’s past; they are the common folk immortalized in the writings of later generations.