E.B.White in this is New York, likens New York to a poem: New York is like a poem: it compresses all life, all nations and races on an island, adding rhythm and internal combustion rhythm to it. Manhattan is undoubtedly the most spectacular human settlement on earth, and millions of permanent residents can feel the magic of the poem, but no one knows what they mean.
When I first went to New York in 2011, I saw Shelley's manuscript from the public library of the city, sat in the small square of Bryan Park, and looked at the people with different colors, languages and hurried. At once, I felt that the people in the street were not a mobile museum, a museum of personal type, The mobility and complexity of ethnic groups make it difficult to understand the whole meaning.
From August 2014 to September 2015, I was a Fulbright researcher at Columbia University. Over the course of a year, search around New York's historical and cultural landmarks, including brown building in Greenwich Village, on the east side of Washington Square and on the corner of green street. On March 25, 1911, the fire at the triangle shirtwaist factory fire, which killed 146 workers, mostly poor immigrants, took place here. The fire is believed to awaken New York's conscience, change the government's regulation of businesses, and promote the birth of the labor law in the United States. After President Franklin Roosevelt came to power in 1933, he began to implement the three R new policies of relief, recovery and reform. His labor minister, Frances per kins, declared that on March 25, 1911, the new deal had begun on that day. Indeed, in addition to the bright places such as time square, Fifth Avenue, Central Park and Lincoln Center, there are many places that embarrass modern civilization in this strange melting pot in New York, which constitutes a huge gap between the legend and reality of New York. In addition to the fire sites in the triangle clothing yard, the same is true for five points.
If you type "New York five point zone" on Google map, it will show that this is a "historic site". On the map, it can be seen that this is lower Manhattan, in the southwest corner of Columbus Park, at the intersection of Baxter street and worth street. The exact location given by Google map is 158 worth street. The reason why it is called five point area is that it was the intersection of four streets (Anthony, cross, orange and little water, which have been renamed now). It is just divided into five points, forming an irregular five corner area. The neighborhood, also known as five point Park, Paradise square, is a famous 19th century urban slum. Charles Dickens visited the United States at the invitation of Washington Irving in 1842. During his visit to New York, he specially proposed to visit the five point zone and recorded the frightening poverty, misery and sin he saw in the subsequent American notes. He climbed a wobbly staircase, where there was no light or ventilation at all... The American notes won some attention for the five point zone. Before that, many New Yorkers had not dared to step into the five point zone, and Dickens himself was the five point zone visited by two New York police officers. In the history, the five point area has the ethnic diversity and functional complexity rare in other parts of the United States. Ethnic groups live here, conduct business and start factories. In a sense, the five point slum is a miniature of the original development of the New York metropolis. In the 21st century, the history of five point district has attracted more attention, which is directed by Martin Scorsese, the gangs of New York (2002). The five point area and surrounding areas 200 years ago mainly include Irish immigrants and black people. In addition, a small number of Italian immigrants, Jewish poor and Chinese workers also work and live here. Because of its convenient location and low rent, ethnic immigrants regard this as their first stop in the new continent. In the new continent where characters lived, immigrants also formed various gangs of names here. The New York gangs tells about the gang struggle between the Irish gangs and Italian gangs in five points around 1846.
For a long time, when it comes to the five point zone, people think about poverty, backwardness and even danger. At the end of 2018, a history of the less understood five point zone was put on the stage of Berkeley, western California, USA. As part of the 50th anniversary of Berkeley rep- reserve theatre, it is also the most expensive play in the history of the theatre (US $5.7 million). The global Premiere of Paradise square kicked off on December 27, 2008 at the Rhode theatre, which reserved the theatre in Berkeley. It is quite different from the story of five points told by Dickens and skoses. As the drama name shows, it is a beautiful past with heaven. However, heaven can only be heaven, it does not exist in the world; However, although heaven is far away, some people have witnessed the beauty of heaven, and constantly inspire people to continue to yearn for and pursue it unremittingly.
Before the performance, the first thing that attracted the audience was a black and white curtain hanging from top to bottom on the stage. Looking closely, it would have been a map, a map of lower Manhattan, and a part of Brooklyn, which is separated from the East River and water. There are two areas above which are illuminated by high light, one is the five point area in the middle of the suspended map, and the other is the lower left corner. The brightness here is slightly higher than the five point area in the center of the map. The words "five point area" are written in bold. We know that maps build the world. For example, the medieval map was mainly made up of the world under Christian ideas, rather than actual geographic information. The map was mainly designed to "inspire believers to meditate on a pilgrimage trip and praise the piety of pilgrims on their pilgrimage journey, Thus, it is a popular idea in the middle ages that Christian life itself is a pilgrimage journey. Obviously, the opening map curtain announced the theme of heaven square in a high-profile way: to reproduce and construct the history of five point area, and to guide the audience to rethink its value in history and reality by "highlighting" the five point area.
The stage lights up and the show begins. The audience is seen in the crowded and dilapidated houses in lower Manhattan, where a black woman walks the streets of dusk. In a flash, the map curtain rolled up and the bar in heaven square appeared on the stage. Paradise square is not only the nickname for the five point area, but also the name of the bar that people often meet. Black woman Nelly sang as she walked, singing deeply and sorrowfully: moonlight night / I walk in the streets of the day / our men are walking to the battlefield / the light of heaven shines / in this place we call home / we know why to fight. Nelly's song depicts the time and background of the story: This is 1863 New York, during the American Civil War, five point men will soon rush to the battlefield and leave their paradise like home. With moving music and singing, in the dancing crowd, the audience can see black and white couples holding hands, same-sex partners holding each other tightly, and a trans woman and her lover are slowly rocking. It's not bohemian, these people are not artists, they are only poor people living and working in five point area, most of them are immigrants. Heaven square is their common home, their most holy sanctuary. Whether it's black, white, gay or cross sexual, here, everyone is an independent individual, who can drink and chat equally, sing and dance“ With common pain and love for music, they have established a harmonious community. Here, "race, culture, gender, money, personal circumstances are all dissolved, replaced by totality, love and compassion. Heaven square belongs to everyone, the people who seek shelter, the people who seek security, those who seek self discovery, and those who seek new life. " It is unbelievable that this racial harmony was the biggest slum in the United States (and even the world) in the mid-19th century. As the director of the show, mois6s Kaufman, said, I was particularly shocked from the beginning that we were so ignorant of the history of the five point zone. This is the original national melting furnace, which was once a collection of other《 Paradise square, where the majority of the five points live are black and Irish. As early as 1827, New York abolished slavery, more than 30 years earlier than the Declaration on the liberation of slaves issued by President Lincoln in September 1863 (effective on January 1, 1863). Therefore, New York gathered a considerable number of black people, most of whom lived in five point areas. New York was also an important city of the underground railway that helped the black movement in American history《 William Henry and his girlfriend in heaven square came to New York through the underground railway and were taken in and rescued by the bar salon in paradise square. The Irish came to the United States to escape the great Irish Famine (also known as potato famine) which began in 1845, which led to a reduction of nearly a quarter of the Irish population under British rule, about a million of whom emigrated. Almost as Henry was taken to heaven square by the pastor, Owen also came to heaven square to run to his aunt Anne O'Brien (Anne married a black priest, both of whom were "ticket sellers" of the underground railway). It is in this extremely difficult material and political environment that black and Irish people who are the other in mainstream society work together, live in harmony, and even love and marry each other. The bar salon at Paradise square, originally from Irish Willie O'Brien, proposed to black girl Nelly before he went to the battlefield and asked her to run heaven square with her sister Anne. Henry from the plantation and Owen from Ireland both work in paradise bars, often dancing with the guests. Henry was inspired by Irving's Irish step dancing, combining it with the African American Juba dancing, and created the tap dance. From the beginning to the end, dance has always been involved in the evolution of the story and the promotion of narrative. With the dance steps of music rhythm and the movement of body itself, it has become a dialogue form compatible with music and plot. Irish dance and African dance form are both independent and integrated, and they seem to share each other's emotions and never lose their characteristics. Dance step is not only the movement of body or the jump of foot, but part of the whole stage building. In the most physical way, white Irish and African blacks tell the audience their own history and their closely connected destiny.
However, the Utopia of the Qin and Sequin union between the white and the black did not last long, and a terrible riot soon destroyed all this. On July 12, 1863, President Lincoln issued a military recruitment order to ease the shortage of soldiers in the battlefield, which stipulated that all married men between the ages of 20 and 35, American citizens, and unmarried men between the ages of 35 and 45, must go to the battlefield. Although all eligible people are to draw lots to join the army, they are exempt from military service if they are handed over to the government for 300 dollars (roughly equivalent to $5800 today). Three hundred dollars was the income of ordinary Americans for a year, and most people were unable to pay for it. At this time, it was the middle of the war that many Irish people had been on the battlefield. Some of them had died in the war and never returned. They included the owner of Paradise square bar, Nelly's fiance Willie. Many Irish people are reluctant to go to the battlefield, on the one hand, because they work in the United States to send money back to their families who can't come out there; On the other hand, Irish who returned from the battlefield to New York found that many of their pre war jobs had now been occupied by black people who were less than their hourly wage requirements. In addition, immigrants from other ethnic groups, including Germans, have also expressed their reluctance to be recruited. After the recruitment order was issued, the docker, camp, asked on the spot, "can we finally register（ Are we finally allowed to sign up，Sir?)” Levi was on the spot to sign up for the Army: I am ready to join. But he was told: "no, people of color cannot participate. Only citizens and immigrants are eligible（ No，no col-oreds. Only citizens and immigrants)”。 The day after the military order was issued, on July 13, 1863, thousands of white workers launched a riot, attacking government buildings, military agencies, etc. in Manhattan. They soon turned their anger to anyone who tried to stop their attacks, including the police and the soldiers. At noon, however, the targets of the riots began to target black people, black homes and business places, which were targeted by angry workers, and 59 houses were destroyed, including an orphanage. The attack was not subsided until July 16, killing at least 119 black people. The American conscription uprising in New York in 1863 is still the most brutal in American history, which is more severe than that of Los Angeles in 1992. After the riots subsided, many black people like Nelly, the mistress of Paradise square, had to move out of Manhattan, move to Brooklyn and other places to reopen their business and life.
Paradise square is a musical play. Besides the historical and cultural background and plot above, music is an indispensable and important factor. In fact, the ultimate origin of the play is from the famous musician Stephen Forster in the 19th century, which is known as the father of American pop music. The main songs in the play are all created under the inspiration of foster music, Especially the "difficult times" and the last "Beautiful Dreamer" when the riot happened. Foster also appeared in the play as a character. A poor musician abandoned his wife and daughter's nickname.Playing piano in Nelly's paradise square bar without his wife and daughter's pseudonym. Using Foster's music and perspective to reproduce the history of Wudian district has its historical basis, but it has to face the question of "cultural appropriation". Who should tell the story of immigrants? Or, in foster's case, can white people speak for black people? Foster had faced questioning before he died. As a white man, some of his songs about the southern plantations are considered to belittle the pain of the black people and turn them into the entertainment of the white people. Foster's hometown Pittsburgh once had a bronze sculpture of foster, which was designed by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti in 1900: foster in a suit was sitting there with a notebook in his hand, and beside his right leg, a ragged black man was playing a banjo with a smile on his face. On April 26, 2008, this sculpture, once regarded as a landmark of Pittsburgh, was removed because some people objected to the misappropriation of black culture and the symbol of discrimination against black people《 There is also a scene in paradise square, when Nelly discovers Foster's real identity, criticizes foster for composing music for the black minstrel show group, and scolds him for misappropriating the black culture and turning their real pain into music for the white people to enjoy. Foster explained to her that he was just writing songs for the orchestra, not performing. He also told Nelly: one of my most famous songs, "old black Joe," is about a person I know and love, "it may sound like a plantation song, but it's a tribute to a friend.". Obviously, Paradise square does not want to avoid the criticism of Forster's misappropriation of black culture for music creation. In fact, there is another example of cultural misappropriation in the play. That is to say, the black Henry mentioned above drew lessons from Irish tap dance and created American tap dance. Through Forster's own defense and Africans' misappropriation of Irish white dance, Paradise square shows its attitude: the harmony of culture lies in its communication, and the power of culture comes from each other's openness. As the writer of this play said, when you rewrite a song in African American music and borrow a music form from them, which culture does the music belong to? In the discussion of cultural misappropriation, the really important problem is that African American culture has never been given the praise they deserve in the past《 Through Forster's music and his last experience of music enlightenment in the five o'clock area, Paradise square gives African American culture and music the praises and crowns they deserve.
Paradise square is a utopian poem full of magic, which is connected by the experience of a white musician in five o'clock district and his music. Today, when the racial issue has become a grim reality again, the events in New York may give some enlightenment to the United States and the world. These people in the story, just as the last song of the whole play "beautiful dreamers" sings, are all beautiful dreamers, "a group of Americans living in the future, a future that has not yet come.". Their stories are about Irish immigrants and African immigrants, as well as about all human beings; It's a New York story, and it's also a global narrative that brings us to think about the possibility of a community of shared destiny.
(Zhou Min, Professor, Shanghai Foreign Studies University)
