Sui

Finnegan Snead, Grant Sawyer, Isabella Rosete, Maddie Tandy, Claire Fitzsimmons, Sheryl Guillen

__Characters__
Finnegan Snead: Narrator Grant Sawyer: Wen Di (aka Yang Jian) and rice farmer/farmer 1 Isabella Rosete: Girl Slave 1, Maddie Tandy: Girl Slave 2, customer Claire Fitzsimmons: Peasant; Yang Di Sheryl Guillen: Girl Slave 3, millet farmer /farmer 2
 * everyone is a warrior--except for Grant, who is leading the warriors.*

Scene 3 __Narrator from Transitions speaks while Sui group acts out...__ {Acting out: Yang Jian leading warriors—battlescene—see Yang Jian w/ warriors defeat the Chen—Chen surrender}

__Yang Jian:__ VICTORY IS OURS! __Yang Jian:__ Call me Wen Di! Warriors: LONG LIVE WEN DI! __Yang Jian:__ FOLLOW ME TO THE CAPITAL! Warriors, chanting: CHANG-AN! CHANG-AN! CHANG-AN! CHANG-AN! CHANG-AN! {We see everyone near the Wei River, where Changan is.} .......................................................................................... (A rice farmer works as the interviewer approaches).
 * cheering*

__Interviewer:__ Here, let's talk to a local. (To local person) Was Wen Di a good ruler? What about his son?

__Peasant:__ They are very harsh rulers. Very, very greedy. They make peasants work as slaves. My father was forced to help on the expanding the palace, and he died in the construction.

__Interviewer:__ They sound harsh.

............................................................................................ __Interviewer__: Another construction project is the Grand Canal. Let's talk to these farmers, maybe they know something about this project. (To the farmers) Excuse me, but could you tell me a little bit about the Grand Canal?

Farmer 1: Yeah we help build but not yet finish. We were forced to leave family and work on Canal. I miss my family so, so much. It is so terrible having to be away from them. The work is so hard and it makes us so tired.

__Interviewer__: So, you were forced to work on the Canal.

__Farmer 2__: Yeah. I used to be a millet farmer and he used to be a rice farmer. We had to leave our farms to work on the Canal, but then sneaked back to our farms for harvest--we almost got caught trying to escape from the canal labor camp. What's more terrible, is we have seen many die during the construction, and we were forced to bury them underwater.

__Interviewer__: I am so sorry. Is there anything you would like to add?

Farmers 1 and 2: No we must get back to work now, before the leader sees us slacking. If we get caught we will be punished and forced to work longer hours than everybody else. (farmers leave)

__Interviewer__: So basically, it was terrible working on the Grand Canal..... ............................................................................................ __Interviewer__: Another project was the Great Wall of China. It was being repaired during this time, and when it was done, it stretched more than 1500 miles. Many died during this construction as well, and they had to be buried inside the bricks of the wall. This earned the Great Wall the nickname "the world's longest cemetery." Even though many died, it also, in a way, saved many lives--protecting the inside of China from invaders from the north, allowing for cultural and economic growth. Let's talk to a few slaves.

Girl Slave 1: Hello.

__Interviewer__: Hello. Can you tell us about the Great Wall?

Girl Slave 2: My very close friend died during the construction. The supervisor made me bury her. When I tried to bury her properly in the ground, he whipped me and threw her into a gap in the bricks.

Girl Slave 3: *sobbing* And she was my sister, too. Interviewer offers girl slave 3 a handkerchief.

(someone yells from backstage [we don't see their actual face]): SLAVES! GET BACK HERE! (we hear a whip cracking, the girls cry in fear as they run away) ............................................................................................. __Interviewer__: We have faced many rebellions, and the government was just overthrown. People are being assassinated here and there, and I have to hide away to make sure that I am away from danger. Oh.... there's some more people... Wait, they're chanting something... Let's listen in. (people chanting from backstage: TANG! TANG! TANG! TANG!)

__//**Back to Transitions**//__