Brecht in Asia and Africa 
 
 
aesthetic of the theater. The influence of Brecht can be felt in the 
following aspects: 1. In recent years, the change of the Chinese theater

from attempts to appeal to emotion to attempts to appeal to reason is 
closely related to the promulgation of Brechtian theater. In the past, it

had often been the aim of the Chinese theater to "move people with 
emotions." Any work that can move people to tears was acclaimed as 
excellent. Under the banner whereby revolutionary realism was 
combined with revolutionary romanticism, the ideology and appreciative 
standards of the petit-bourgeois overflowed. Works of art became 
teaching aids of vulgar sociology. This eventually limited man's 
imagination and turned art more and more into a formula. In the Eighties,

such works can no longer gain support from the public. More and more 
playwrights liberated their creative power through the vitality of thinking,

and they wrote to inspire people to think. They seek their materials in 
real life and combine reality with philosophical thinking. This has 
resulted in a series of works widely acclaimed by.the public. Brecht's 
understanding of realism was accepted by more and more people. For a 
long time, the understanding of realism in our theater circles was narrow

and fragmented. This was manifested in attempts to take the norm and 
characters of a certain classic as standards to measure all other works.

Any work that happened to diverge from such a norm was condemned 
as traitor to the tradition of realism and considered formalistic. In this

struggle which will continue for a long time, Brecht's discussion on 
realism could become a great materialistic force. 2. Under the influence

of Brecht, more and more artists value the different techniques of 
performance borrowed from the traditional Chinese theater to enrich the 
form and content of creative plays. 
 
Difficulties confronted 
 
     In the first Brecht Symposium in China, many participants voiced 
their views concerning the difficulties we are facing. I personally think

that the responsibility of introducing at present the Brechtian theater 
aesthetic to China on a large scale is huge, and the difficulties are 
numerous. The reasons are as follows: 1. Many of Brecht's works 
transcend the temporal and spatial limits of our nation. This difference

suggests that many of his works would not be easily accepted by the 
large Chinese public. In the first place, there is the obstacle of content.

Next, the aesthetic demands of the audience are different. Brecht 
worked within a highly developed capitalist society and created many 
fine works that criticized the capitalist system. What interested him is

not the personal fate of man, but great social events, and the 
relationship among men themselves and between man and society. The 
characters he created substantially embody the statement "Man is the

sum of all his social relations." And China now is at a time of vigorous

change. Many Marxist artists at present claim that man should be the 
foremost concern. This tide which manifested a thorough breach with 
the Chinese feudalist tradition is undoubtedly an improvement and a 
continuation of the great May Fourth Movement. And the emphasis on 
 
 
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