Speaking out against silence

In the summer of 1978, Zong Fuxian, the worker and amateur playwright brought a story to director Su Leci, who was training amateur actors at Shanghai Workers Cultural Palace.

Entitled Where There Is Silence, the full-length drama tells of the experiences of a family during the 1976 Tian'anmen incident, during which a commemoration of the late Premier Zhou Enlai was turned into a public demonstration against extreme leftists, led by the Gang of Four.

Impressed by the story, Su and her followers decided to stage it immediately. Under her direction, six amateur actors spent one month rehearsing it and premiered it at the Shanghai Workers' Cultural Palace in September.