Theme1:Story with Chinese traditional elements/Oriental background feature elements.
Narratives and creative pieces imbued with stylistic, ethnic, and regional elements possess a captivating allure, offering immense value forcreativity, both visually and narratively. Simultaneously, they ignite the audience’s imagination, transporting them to diverse and vibrant worlds.In China, a myriad of myths and legends abound, steeped in ethnic diversity and imbued with magical allure. Simplifying and adhering to typical story themes can enhance the performance’s effectiveness. While impresses people, it also makes the cultural themes more obvious.
Theme2:Oppose gender discrimination(From ancient China story-the “abandoned infant tower”).
During the waning years of the Qing Dynasty, the populace bore a heavy burden, grappling with scarcity of essentials like food and clothes, as well as a multitude of other challenges. Influenced by feudal ideals, families often viewed the birth of a girl as a burden, leading to their abandonment. This real story recoreded a stark picture of the plight faced by baby girls at the time.An ancient adage underscores the societal preference for sons, neglecting the value of daughters.In most cases,midwives wouldn’t even inquire about the mother’s wishes, instead, waiting for the husband’s consent before condemning newborn girls to a tragic fate of drowning.Some family members couldn’t bear to harm their own flesh and blood, so they opted to leave their children at a place known as the “abandoned infant tower,” allowing them to fend for themselves. Perhaps there were families eager to have a child who would take in these baby girls and raise them with care, but such occurrences were exceedingly rare at the time.
True to its name, the “abandoned infant tower” serves as a refuge for discarded babies. Its rudimentary structure, often comprising only tree stumps and piled stones, is typically found in remote wilderness areas. This grim reality reflects the peak of feudal ideology, where infants face myriad dangers within the tower. However, their parents devoid of affection for their offspring, console themselves with the notion that their fate is sealed. Furthermore, impoverished couples may resort to leaving their sickly baby girls in these towers, unable to provide the necessary care. In ancient times, peopple belief that babies were not fully formed, thus eschewing the need for elaborate burials in coffins. Consequently, by abandoning infants in the tower, parents spared themselves the expense of burial, as if the babies had never entered the world, it is rumored that every three days, someone would come to dispose of the bodies.
Indeed, the practice of abandoning babies in the tower reflects a troubling aspect of ancient society. It reveals the profound helplessness experienced by some individuals during that era. Economic constraints often left families unable to afford the costs of child-rearing and medical treatment, exacerbated by the limited advancements in medical technology at the time. Additionally, the pervasive cultural preference for sons played a central role in the abandonment of baby girls. In a society where women held lower social status, they faced grim prospects such as being sold, forced into brothels, or subjected to early and unhappy marriages as they grew older. These factors collectively underscore the harsh realities endured by womenand children in ancient times.
