This year marks the 90th anniversary of the publication of Thunderstorm, a classic play by Mr. Cao Yu, a celebrated dramatist and alumnus of Nankai University. Recently, faculty and students of the “Drama in Foreign Language” course group of the School of Foreign Studies of Nankai University were invited to perform the classic parts of Thunderstorm in Italian and Portuguese at the Cultural Center of the Italian Embassy in China.

Picture showing performance at Scene 2 of the Italian version of Thunderstorm

Picture showing performance at Scene 2 of the Portuguese version of Thunderstorm

Niu Wenli, Vice Chancellor of Nankai University; Federico Roberto Antonelli, Cultural Counselor of the Italian Embassy in China, and more than 150 Chinese and foreign audiences watched the performance. 

“With the aid of Chinese subtitles, I found myself immersed in the wonderful performances of the actors. I also deeply feel the infinite possibility of promoting cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and the West through drama and art,” an audience member enthused at the end of the performance.

In an interview, an audience member who works in a Portuguese-related job said: “The students got the pronunciation of lines and the interpretation of the script down to a fine art. The tradition of drama in foreign languages at Nankai University is impressive. I hope it will produce more foreign language talents who can tell Chinese stories well on the world stage.” 

In his welcome speech before the performance, Federico Roberto Antonelli said that China and Italy, as outstanding representations of Eastern and Western civilizations, have long-standing friendship. In recent years, China and Italy have seen increasingly close cooperation in various fields, especially productive results in people-to-people exchanges, bilateral exchanges and mutual learning. He spoke highly of the achievements made by Nankai University in foreign language drama over the years, and looked forward to bilateral exchanges and cooperation in more forms to promote the development of Chinese and Italian culture and friendship.

In the speech, Niu Wenli first expressed his gratitude to the Embassy of Italy in China for the invitation. He said that Nankai University-Italy cooperation goes back a long way. In recent years, the School of Foreign Studies of Nankai University has made great strides in Italian language specialty, an achievement inseparable from the support of the Cultural Office of the Italian Embassy. It is hoped that international cooperation can be deepened to carry forward the tradition of foreign language drama at Nankai University, present more stories about China on the world stage, and build a bridge for exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations.

Letizia Vallini

Maria Martins

Letizia Vallini, the instructor of the Italian version of Thunderstorm, and Maria Martins, the instructor of the Portuguese version of Thunderstorm, introduced the performance respectively.

In 1921, Zhang Pengchun and Hong Shen co-choreographed the English play Mulan Joins the Army, which was performed on the Broadway stage. In the 1980s, the Foreign Language Drama Society of Nankai University was established. The society put up the performances of the Chinese classics Thunderstorm and Rickshaw Boy at more than ten well-known universities in the United States and Japan, blazing a trail for Chinese college students to perform Chinese dramas in foreign languages abroad. In recent years, the School of Foreign Studies of Nankai University has adopted a new model for the cultivation of foreign language talents through the first and second classrooms, offering foreign language drama courses in multiple languages and organizing teachers and students to co-write and translate scrips, learn and put up performances. Foreign language teachers and students in both languages worked together to stage the Italian and Portuguese versions of Thunderstorm (excerpts).

（Edited and translated by Nankai News Team.)