A stage for precious words

A revived play salutes a Qin Dynasty hero who saved Confucian texts for future generations. Han Bingbin follows the dramatic tension.

For its final show of 2013, the National Theater of China has decided to put on some cultural attitude. They picked up a script from 10 years ago that pays tribute to an almost forgotten historical hero, Fu Sheng. The Confucian scholar saved one of the Five Classics, Shang Shu, while risking his own life, from a burning campaign that the first emperor (Qin Shihuang) of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) launched to eliminate dissent.

During Qin Shihuang's reign, some officials questioned his policies and advocated systems of previous dynasties that were recorded in Confucian classics. As a result, in 213 BC the emperor ordered that all historical records except the Qin records be burned. In the following year, more than 400 Confucian scholars were buried alive for libel after they scolded the emperor.