Last semester, THIS Chinese Drama Club captivated audiences with Universitas, a grand play that transported them back to the turbulent year of 1919. On stage, three professors convened over four Peking University exam papers, setting the tone for a moment of intellectual and historical tension.
From debates on classical versus vernacular Chinese to discussions on women's education, from the nation's future to the path of civilization, their all-night clash of wits and eloquent arguments won thunderous applause.
This semester, THIS Chinese Drama Club proudly presents Wotou Guild Hall. In this production, our student actors and actresses shift their gaze beyond textbooks, focusing on the struggles and dignity of ordinary people in Beijing's hutongs in 1948.
More than a continuation of a classic drama, this production represents a conscious effort by THIS students to peer through the mist of history and explore the human condition. As youthful sentiment encounters the tides of historical change, how will they interpret the nation and life within Wotou Guild Hall?
Spoiler Alert
In 1948, the city of Beijing was still known as Beiping. Beyond the city walls came the distant rumble of artillery, while inside, prices soared, the Gold Yuan currency lost its value, and hunger and fear hung heavy in the air. History was being written in bold, sweeping strokes. THIS Chinese Drama Club's Wotou Guild Hall is deeply entwined with these monumental times and the people who lived through them.
The play narrows its focus to Beiping in the year before its liberation, centering on a humble courtyard known as Wotou Guild Hall. Its landlord, Yuan Guozhong, clings to his ancestral home and to his only son, who suffers from tuberculosis.
Struggling to survive on rental income, he desperately saves every possible coin for his son's medicine. The courtyard fills with a diverse cast of tenants—a fallen Qing Dynasty scholar, a struggling street vendor, a plainspoken bone-setter… Amid rampant inflation, they fight each day for a meal, a dose of medicine, and a chance to survive, unfolding a vivid, chaotic, and darkly comic chronicle of life within the courtyard.
Within the cramped, dilapidated guild hall, kindness persists amid hardship, and warmth endures beneath calculation. Through the joys and sorrows, hopes and despairs of a few ordinary families, the play unfolds a vivid tapestry of old Beiping. The myriad stories contained within these walls stand as a true measure of ordinary lives caught in the torrent of history.
For this production, the members of THIS Chinese Drama Club have dedicated themselves with immense effort. The props team crafted every detail by hand, while the cast devoted countless spare hours to relentless rehearsal. All poured their hearts into the pursuit of a flawless final presentation.
Performance Info
The performance will be held on January 23 and 24, 2026, with two consecutive shows at the auditorium of Tsinghua University High School. The specific performance schedule will be announced separately once confirmed. Please stay tuned.
Like last year's highly acclaimed Universitas, this production of Wotou Guild Hall is a public welfare performance open to anyone and is free of charge.
We warmly invite you to bring your family and friends to immerse yourselves in the world on stage, to share in the dreams and dramas of a bygone era and its ordinary people. We look forward to seeing you there!
