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masses. The heroes were to provide exemplars for the masses to imitate, and the villains were to teach the masses how to identify “criminal” behaviour in people, so that such people could be immediately reported to the authorities. The book earned him celebrity status in intellectual circles, a status that was consolidated when his plays Juedui xinhao (1982; tr. Absolute Signal, 1996) and Chezhan (1983; tr. The Bus Stop, 1996; also tr. Bus Stop, 1998) were staged before wildly ecstatic audiences at the People’s Art Theatre in Beijing.
The sensational staging of Absolute Signal was reported internationally by foreign journalists who were in Beijing to observe the unfolding of events as China emerged after many years of self-imposed isolation from the rest of the world. However, though the Cultural Revolution had ended, the custodians of China’s socialist-realist literary and art traditions continued to wield power at the highest levels of the nation’s cultural and propaganda infrastructure. In “Geri huanghua” (1991; tr. “Wilted Chrysanthemums,” 2006) Gao recalled that in early 1983 he was summoned to appear at writers’ rallies where he was denounced as the “insignificant author” of a booklet that was causing young writers to deviate from the nation’s socialist-realist traditions. A number of veteran writers spoke out in his defence, and the meetings failed to achieve the expected outcome. Thus emboldened, Gao went on to stage his second play, Bus Stop, which was banned after the tenth performance. With the passage of a few months, the arbiters of cultural policy had gained the necessary backing at the top political echelons, and Gao Xingjian heard from reliable sources that he was to be sent to some labour camp in Qinghai Province for reeducation. He did not wait to be sent but immediately fled Beijing, remaining away for several months until the campaign had run its course and it was safe for him to return. His short-story manuscripts, which had been shelved in the interim, were released for publication. However, during the staging of his play Yeren (1985; tr. Wild Man; 1990) at the People’s Art Theatre, actors were individually cautioned against performing in any future Gao Xingjian productions. In 1986 his play Bi’an (1986; tr. The Other Shore, 1999) was stopped during