Sky Tower

Author: He Jiping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: This book collects six self-selected play scripts by the author. Except for Under the Sky, the other five are important plays created and performed by the author in Hong Kong in recent years. The six selected play scripts cover diverse themes, ingenious concepts, rigorous structures, and rich plots, fully demonstrating the profound artistic craftsmanship of the author as a talented contemporary playwright. As the renowned playwright Wu Zuguang once praised: "It is not an exaggeration to call He Jiping a 'talented woman' in the contemporary theater world."
The century-old roast ducking establishment "Fujude," famous in the capital since the Tongzhi era, continued its legacy into the early Republic of China. The shopkeeper Tang Deyuan, elderly and often ill, retired to his inner quarters, leaving the business in the hands of the second assistant shopkeeper, Wang Zixi, who struggled to manage it with two young masters. However, the eldest son was obsessed with the theater, and the second son admired martial arts, causing the shop to incur losses. Wang Zixi recommended his sworn brother, Lu Mengshi, to the old shopkeeper. The two young masters were so furious that Lu Mengshi left behind the words, "Quickly call Lu Mengshi!"
Lu Mengshi was clever and capable. In a short time, he rebuilt the old three-room shop into a two-story building. Ten years later, under the instigation of rumors, the two Tang sons began to compete with Lu Mengshi for control of the business. Lu Mengshi left "Fujude" and returned to his hometown in Shandong. Before leaving, he entrusted Yu Zui to leave a pair of gold-painted hardwood couplets for the owner, saying:
A perilous tower, who is the master, who is the guest?
Only three old rooms, the moon is timely, the wind is timely.
The horizontal couplet reads: No feast lasts forever.