Golden jubilee of the bard's May night

Students of Nanjing University's English department perform The Merchant of Venice at the school. [Photo/China Daily]

On a Friday night in May, when an audience of mostly young people are watching Shylock and Portia argue onstage in a scene from The Merchant of Venice, Liu Haiping, 70, keeps glancing at a handwritten speech he is holding.

He looks nervous as he waits for the play to end so that he can address the crowd.

Liu, an English professor from Nanjing University in Jiangsu province, is emotional during his address. He recalls how, 50 years ago, he and other members of an amateur troupe from the university had performed scenes from Hamlet, King Lear, Julius Caesar, and The Merchant of Venice, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth.

On May 16, 1964, the university's English department became the first big institution on the Chinese mainland to perform Shakespeare in English. This year, Nanjing University celebrates the world's most famous playwright through a series of activities, including plays, on its campus.

"I was just a freshman (then)," Liu says, pointing to his gray hair. "I never expected that moment to be a milestone."

The department wasn't equipped to handle the many Shakespeare fans who wanted to see the plays. "The ceremony room was too small. But the audience was too excited and we had to give extra performances in the provincial auditorium."

The troupe's popularity rose in the next few years but fell during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), when they faced heavy criticism for trying to promote Shakespeare, a figure of suspicion for many involved in the country's anti-capitalist social movements.

"It was almost mission impossible under China's political atmosphere at the time," Liu says, adding that the performances were halted for over a decade.

"If people criticizing us got the chance to see our shows and truly understand the beauty and love that the works portrayed, they probably would not have accused William Shakespeare at that time."

The troupe resumed its public shows in 2005. Nanjing University is keen to keep the tradition of its English department alive and has organized events this year to honor the men and women who brought Shakespeare to homes in China. Fans of the troupe miss its original director Chen Jia, a top scholar on Shakespeare, who passed away in 1986.

In the past few years, although the troupe's performances have reflected the changing times, Shakespeare has remained both universal and relevant.

"What attracts me most about Shakespeare is that his works reveal some fundamental emotions commonly understood by all human beings," says Hua Chaorong, a graduate student from Nanjing University's English department. He presents a modern adaption of Twelfth Night onstage.

Since 2005 Hong Kong has been holding China's annual competition of Shakespeare's plays for students who study English literature as a major subject in colleges and universities. Nanjing University makes it to the contest finals almost every year.

"Our country's English teaching in college is becoming more and more pragmatic," says Zhu Gang, dean of the School of Foreign Studies at the university.

But he feels that young Chinese people studying English literature need to know Shakespeare better to nurture their "humanitarian spirit". "Without understanding his work, an English major student will not be qualified."