The Hanging on Union Square Read online

  FLOYD CHEUNG

  Chronology

  1899: The son of a grain store worker and a maid, H. T. Tsiang (Jiang Xizeng) is born on May 3 in Qi’an, a village in the district of Nantong, Jiangsu Province in China.

  1908: Tsiang’s father dies.

  1911: Chinese Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen ends rule of Qing Dynasty; Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) established.

  1912: Tsiang’s mother dies.

  1913: According to his sister, Tsiang could read English by this time. He attends the Tongzhou Teachers’ School in Jiangsu on scholarship.

  1915: Besides studying, Tsiang protests against the practice of female foot-binding and the Twenty-One Demands issued by the Japanese government to the Chinese government on January 18. Many Chinese detested these demands that lands, resources, and rights be given over to Japan. Tsiang is arrested but freed thanks to his schoolmaster.

  1917: Bolshevik Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin inspires Tsiang. He is particularly taken with Lenin’s idea of “world revolution,” expressed in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.

  1918: Sun Yat-sen sends congratulations to Lenin.

  1925: Tsiang earns a bachelor’s degree in political economy at Southeastern University in Nanjing.

  He works briefly as secretary to Sun Yat-sen before the latter dies of cancer in March. Chiang Kai-shek takes over control of the Kuomintang and swings the party away from communism. Tsiang critiques this move and receives threats to his life. He faces “the executioner’s axe at home.”

  1926: Fails to migrate to the Soviet Union and so enters the United States as a student, enrolling at Stanford University.

  Tsiang works for a short time as associate editor for the Kuomintang organ Young China and then helps to found a bilingual periodical, Chinese Guide in America, which is critical of the Kuomintang and goes so far as to call Chiang Kai-shek a “traitor.”

  1927: The May 1 issue of the Chinese Guide in America reports that a mob attacked Tsiang and others while they were distributing leaflets critical of the Chinese government.

  1928: On February 26, Tsiang is arrested for planning a demonstration against Chow Loo, a Kuomintang official. The Los Angeles Times calls Tsiang, “the leader of the radicals.”

  Tsiang moves to New York and enrolls at Columbia, where he takes courses in public law, economics, history, and literature.

  1928: Self-publishes Poems of the Chinese Revolution after having published five individual poems in the Daily Worker and the New Masses. Upton Sinclair writes, “What he has written is not perfect poetry, but it is the perfect voice of Young China, protesting against the lot of the underdog.”

  1931: Self-publishes China Red. Tsiang works as a dishwasher at the Howdy Club in Greenwich Village, where he is permitted to give a reading from his novel.

  1933: Radiana Pazmor sings arrangements of Tsiang’s poems “Chinaman, Laundryman” as well as “Sacco, Vanzetti” by Ruth Crawford Seeger at the Mellon Gallery in Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall in New York.

  On May 21, Tsiang, along with 30 other poets, posts his poems in Washington Square in New York and discusses them with passers-by.

  1934: Pete Seeger sets Tsiang’s poem “Lenin! Who’s That Guy” to music and includes it in the Workers Song Book.

  1935: Self-publishes The Hanging on Union Square.

  1937: Robert Speller publishes And China Has Hands.

  On July 7, the Second Sino-Japanese War officially begins. The two countries had been fighting intermittently since 1931.

  Tsiang lectures on the question “Should the U.S. interfere in the Chinese-Japanese Conflict?” at the Thomas Paine Society on December 10.

  1938: Self-publishes China Marches On. The play adapts the legend of Fa Mulan to tell the story of the dare-to-die military squad that valiantly defended its position in Shanghai against an overwhelming Japanese force in 1937.

  On January 4, Tsiang speaks on “The Arts in China Today” for the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration on radio station WQXR.

  1939: Produces China Marches On and The Hanging on Union Square as plays at the Irving Plaza in New York.

  Beginning in October, Tsiang is imprisoned at the Ellis Island detention center, ostensibly for failing to re-enroll at Columbia University and hence maintain his exemption status as a student. The American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born retains attorney Ira Gollobin to aid him.

  1940: Released from detention and granted a six-month reprieve.

  1941: Imprisoned again at the Ellis Island detention center while awaiting deportation. Tsiang begins correspondence with Rockwell Kent, appealing for his help. While in detention, Tsiang also composes poetry, some on toilet paper. He also writes President Franklin Roosevelt on May 30 to criticize U.S. arms sales to Japan. Through Kent’s connections and the efforts of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, Tsiang is released. In August, he visits Kent in Ausable Forks, New York. On scholarship, he enrolls at the New School for Social Research to work with Erwin Piscator, innovator of the agitprop play.

  1942: Acts in a 5-minute version of China Marches On and a 41-minute version of The Hanging on Union Square in Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop.

  1943: Acts in the film Behind the Rising Sun.

  1944: Plays Mr. Nut in The Hanging on Union Square in Los Angeles.

  Also acts in films The Purple Heart, The Keys of the Kingdom, and Thirty Seconds over Tokyo.

  1945: Produces China Marches On and The Hanging on Union Square with the Chinese American Theater at the California Labor School in San Francisco, working with actors Benson Fong, Keye Luke, Richard Loo, and James Wong Howe.

  Also acts in films China Sky and China’s Little Devils.

  1946: Acts in films Tokyo Rose and In Old Sacramento.

  1947: Acts in films Black Gold, Singapore, Little Mister Jim, and The Beginning or the End.

  1948: Produces The Hanging on Union Square and Canton Rickshaw at the Rainbow-Etienne Studio in Hollywood.

  Also acts in the film The Babe Ruth Story.

  1949: Acts in films State Department: File 649 and Chicken Every Sunday.

  1950-60s: Continues to act in films like Panic in the Streets and Oceans Eleven, as well as television series like Gunsmoke, I Spy, My Three Sons, and Bonanza.

  Variety reports that for twelve years, Tsiang performs a “one-hour, one-man performance of Hamlet at the Rainbow Theatre [in Hollywood] every Friday night.”

  1971: Dies in Los Angeles on July 16.

  What is unsaid

  Says,

  And says more

  Than what is said.

  SAYS I

  ACT I

  I:

  HE WAS GROUCHING

  . . . A ten-cent check,

  I had my coffee an’

  I have only a nickel

  In my hand.

  * * *

  —

  Money makes money; no money makes no money.

  Money talks; no money, no talking; talking produces no money.

  * * *

  —

  He is worrying; he has no money.

  He is crying; he lost money.

  He is smiling; he made money.

  * * *

  —

  Isn’t she a beautiful girl? I wish I had money.

  He is a nice-looking fellow. Has he any money?

  He marries an old maid; the old maid has money.

  She marries an old bald-head, fat-belly; the old bald-head, fat-belly has money.

  He likes this girl. He likes the other girl. He likes the other girl better than this girl. The other girl has more money than this girl.

  She likes this fellow. She likes the other fellow. She likes the other fellow better than this fellow. The other fellow has more money than this fellow.r />
  * * *

  —

  It is the same girl. Today she has money. She is a Honey Darling. Tomorrow she has no money. She is a Daughter of a Bitch.

  It is the same fellow. Today he has money. He is a Honey Darling. Tomorrow he has no money. He is a Son Of . . .

  * * *

  —

  An old fellow kneeling in front of a young fellow. Fooling with his shoes. The old fellow wants to make a nickel of money. Rubbing. Brushing. Carefully! Respectfully! The old fellow expects a nickel tip-money.

  The girls in the next door burlesque show with nothing on except their natural skins. Shaking breasts. Moving hips. Sparkling eyes. Front going up and down. Before a lip-parted and mouth-watering audience. Making money.

  * * *

  —

  That fellow doesn’t talk to me any more. I didn’t let him have a nickel of money.

  This fellow is so friendly to me. I once treated him to coffee. One nickel of money.

  * * *

  —

  He smokes no more cigarettes. Cigarettes cost too much money. He smokes a pipe now. Pipes cost less money.

  * * *

  —

  Smoke cigarettes, somebody spends your money. Smoke a pipe, you alone spend your money.

  * * *

  —

  The guy writes no more poetry. In poetry, there is no money.

  The fellow writes sex stories. Sex is depression proof.

  * * *

  —

  He hangs around Union Square. He has no money.

  He disappears from Union Square. He has made a little money.

  * * *

  —

  Bedbugs bite me. I have no money. Bedbugs don’t bite Rockefeller.1 Rockefeller has money.

  Rich men go to Heaven. Rich men have money. Poor men don’t go to Heaven. Poor men have no money.

  * * *

  —

  Three-dollar shoes; three-dollar feet. Ten-dollar shoes; ten-dollar feet. There are million-dollar feet. There are no million-dollar shoes. The shoemakers must be crazy. They don’t know how to make money!

  He has money: he lives on Park Avenue. He lives on Park Avenue: he sees no one who has no money. He sees no one who has no money: he thinks everywhere is Park Avenue and everyone, everywhere, has as much money as everyone who lives on Park Avenue.

  * * *

  —

  He is radical; he has no money.

  He is conservative; he has money.

  He is wishy-washy; he has a wishy-washy amount of money.

  * * *

  —

  He has more money; he is more conservative.

  He has more more money; he is more more conservative.

  He has more more and more money; he is more more and

  more conservative.

  * * *

  —

  He has no money. Yet he is conservative. He expects someday to have money. He expects someday to have lots of money.

  He has money. He has lots of money. Yet he is radical. Radical talk costs him no money.

  I don’t like money. You don’t like money. He doesn’t like money.

  You have money. He has money. I must have money.

  * * *

  —

  It’s under this system!

  It’s under this system!

  * * *

  —

  Mr. System

  Beware:

  The Hanging

  On

  Union Square! . . .

  II:

  ONCE IN A COMMUNIST CAFETERIA

  “A ten-cent check,

  I had my coffee an’

  I have only a nickel

  In my hand.”

  It was Mr. Nut grouching.

  * * *

  —

  Mr. Nut was grouching about his being stuck in a cafeteria on Fourteenth Street.

  This situation made Mr. Nut think more or less differently from when, three months ago, he visited a Communist Cafeteria on Thirteenth Street.

  * * *

  —

  Everybody there called him “Comrade.” “Comrade” this. “Comrade” that. To people in the Communist Cafeteria, Mr. Nut wasn’t “Mister” anymore. It did not please him; for how could they take for granted so much that he was their “comrade”—a Communist?

  Sometimes they called Mr. Nut “Fellow-Worker.” That made him madder still. How could they know that he was a worker? Did they not see that he had a black derby on! Yes, he was a worker. Now. For the time being! But how could they tell that he would not, someday, by saving some money, establish a business of his own?

  * * *

  —

  In the Communist Cafeteria, there were so many literature agents, so many pamphlet-salesmen and so many contribution-seekers. One after the other.

  If a panhandler came to you, all you needed was to show him your face—he would go away. No argument. But these agents, salesmen and contribution-seekers gave you more trouble than panhandlers. Why? Because, they said, they themselves would get nothing out of it. Every cent would go to the cause. Was it true? Yes. It was true. For all these sealed tin-boxes with coin-spaces at the tops and the contribution-lists were their spokesmen. Besides, they wouldn’t ask you to buy or to contribute right away. They just sat at your table and made friends with you. And explained things to you. A few seconds or a minute later, the boxes, the pamphlet and the contribution-list appeared from some unseen source.

  With your hand, you said, “I won’t give.” But your conscience said, “I must do my share.” And you lost money.

  * * *

  —

  On the wall there was a sign: “Don’t shout so loud, your comrade can hear you!” Mr. Nut thought: “If the Communists don’t shout, how can they make a revolution?”

  * * *

  —

  Again, he saw on the wall many figures, painted on cardboard; figures with overalls on. Shirt-sleeves rolled up. Chests bare. Black hair could be seen. Caps incorrectly placed. Shoes out of shape. Yes, these figures looked like him when he was working. But he did not understand why the fellow who made those posters could not do the worker a favor by giving him a necktie, a coat, pressed trousers, a nice, soft, felt hat or a derby. It needn’t have cost him more than a few strokes.

  * * *

  —

  About six o’clock, the floor-manager, moving from one table to another, was propagandizing: “This is no private business. This is your restaurant.” (Does that mean that Nut will not have to pay for all he ate?) “After you eat, don’t hang around. Give your seats to others. We’re not capitalists. We can’t afford to lose money. Comrades!” (Again Comrade.) “Fellow-workers!” (Again Fellow-worker).

  If the so-called “comrade’” floor-manager had had a butcher face, Mr. Nut would have had a chance to show his anger. But the so-called “comrade” was smiling. What could Mr. Nut do? The point was, however, that while Mr. Nut came here to get some Communistic atmosphere, although two hours had elapsed, he hadn’t seen the whole thing yet. But Mr. Nut had to move.

  * * *

  —

  As to one thing he felt he had been educated.

  * * *

  —

  While he was conversing with a young fellow in the cafeteria, Nut interrogated him with: “How’s business?” Upon hearing this, the color of the young fellow’s face suddenly changed and his eyebrows rose. The dark spots of his eyes became steady and because of the steadiness it made the surrounding white parts appear smaller. Mr. Nut knew that the young fellow was angry. But Mr. Nut didn’t know why.

  The young fellow saw that that Mr. Nut was shooting back with a steady face, too, and he became more angry. Because of his doubled anger, the young fellow pointed to Mr. Nut saying: “You a
re a Mister! You are a Boss! You are a Capitalist!” and “You are a Business Man!”

  Now Mr. Nut stood up and shouted with joy. For it was the first time in his life that there was a person who didn’t call him “Nut” and gave him instead such respectable titles as “Boss,” “Business Man” and even “Capitalist.”

  He held the pointing fingers of the outstretched hand of the young fellow warmly and tightly and said to him: “You know me better than my father and mother when they were alive, and you are my friend—my best friend. You know that I am not a Nut. I will have my day. In return, I, too, wish you success and that you will make lots of money.”

  The young fellow having heard all that Mr. Nut said to him, every word, didn’t like it. But the young fellow understood that Mr. Nut was not sarcastic or sneering, nor had any bad feeling; for the young fellow saw his face blank, his eyes sincere, his forehead perspiring. And he felt his hand warm and heard his breath short.

  Then the young fellow replied with the same sincerity and said: “Please call me ‘Thief,’ ‘Robber,’ and all kinds of other names, but not ‘Business Man’ or ‘Capitalist.’ I am a League member;2 I am a young Communist!”

  Mr. Nut didn’t know what that was all about. But Mr. Nut did know that Communists do not like the daily compliment: “How is business!”

  * * *

  —

  Then he heard a girl call out to that young fellow, “We have to be at the meeting earlier. So the boys can not say we girls are inferior. Comrade Stubborn: Hurry up.” Nut now understood that that young fellow was not a fellow but a girl. A girl in a certain kind of uniform. He suddenly felt that this talking, finger-holding, eye-to-eye-looking and all this sorrow, joy, sentiment and emotion should not have been expressed.