Norway princess 'talks to angels'

Norway princess 'talks to angels'

The princess describes angels as a resource in people's lives

Norway's Princess Martha Louise says she has psychic powers and can teach people to communicate with angels.

The 35-year-old daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja made the announcement on a website promoting her plans for a new alternative therapy centre.

She says she realised as a child that she could read people's inner feelings, while her experiences with horses had helped her make contact with angels.

Princess Martha Louise is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne.

The royal palace says it has no official link to the princess' planned alternative therapy centre, the AFP news agency reports.

The princess, who trained as a physical therapist, says on the website for her Astarte Education centre that she has "always been interested in alternative forms of treatment".

Students at her centre, she says, will learn how to "create miracles" in their lives and harness the powers of their angels, which she describes as "forces that surround us and who are a resource and help in all aspects of our lives".

"It was while I was taking care of the horses that I got in contact with the angels," she says.

"I have lately understood the value of this important gift and I wish to share it with other people, maybe with you."

A three-year programme at her centre costs 24,000 Norwegian crowns ($4,150; 3,000 euros; £2,000) per year.

Re-writing the rules of online ID

Re-writing the rules of online ID

Young people have a very different attitude to online identity

Regular columnist Bill Thompson discovers that forgetting a password might be an opportunity for reinventing yourself.

An employee who forgot their password to log in to the corporate network would probably get a withering look from the support staff as they grovelled to have it reset.

By contrast it seems that young people who forget their MySpace logins are just as likely to make a new account as fret over their lost friends or painstakingly constructed homepage decorations.

I've seen this myself with my daughter, who has been through more user accounts, social sites and e-mail addresses than I could even begin to keep track of and seems to see nothing unusual in abandoning a profile because it doesn't feel right any more.

Recent work by US-based social media researcher Danah Boyd, one of the more astute observers of network behaviour, indicates that it is a more general attitude.

Her observations of young net users have led her to believe that "many teens are content (if not happy) to start over with most of their accounts in most places", and she has noted that for young people an online profile is "not seen as something to build an extensive identity around, but something to use to talk to friends in the moment".

She was particularly impressed by the kids who start a new profile simply because they can't remember their login name or password.

Identity parade

It isn't an attitude I share, perhaps because I'm less willing to spend time setting up new accounts but also because I work hard to manage my online presence and to present a unified identity wherever I happen to be logged on.

But there are many other areas of life online where the fluidity of non-identity, of the carnival mask and the assumed name, are also vital, and not just for furtive encounters in chat rooms. Bill Thompson

I even try to use the same login name for every service I sign up for, but perhaps teenagers, experimenting with their identity in relationships, clothing styles and all other aspects of life are simply extending this playfulness to the virtual realm.

Not all young users are casual about their online identity, of course, and Boyd is at pains to point out that many young people invest heavily in aspects of their online activities. However, the willingness to abandon a profile as a work-in-progress and start over is definitely something I've observed in my children and their friends.

Nor is it a new phenomenon. When my daughter was younger she was hooked on Neopets and had five or six accounts going at the same time, partly because she could then trade with herself and game the system but also because she expressed different aspects of her personality in the different accounts.

This approach to online identity has a number of implications for anyone trying to understand the way the internet is growing, and also carries an important lesson for those trying to build services or make money out of them.

One positive aspect is that it will make it harder to pin online activity onto a real person, since accounts that are created and quickly discarded will contain fewer identifying details.

Many young users abandon social site accounts freely

Given the growing use of online searches to find out more about applicants to college or for jobs, it would wonderfully ironic if the disorganised kids with a dozen MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and DeviantArt profiles end up being the ones who make it to university simply because the admissions tutors can't find enough evidence of their partying.

Number crunching

More importantly, this casualness clearly renders any statistics about the number of signed-up users effectively meaningless, and this could be a big problem for the sites themselves as companies vie for investment and point to sign-ups as an indicator of popularity and future success.

Commentator Clay Shirky has been waging a campaign against the sloppy journalism of those who quote Linden Labs figures for Second Life "residents".

He points out that many happily accept the headline figure of two million users without considering that only 36,000 of those are paid-for accounts while a high but indeterminate proportion of the remainder are inactive, set up for free by people who tried out the service and then moved on.

It is the same with MySpace, Bebo or any of the other social sites, of course, and shows how poor we are at measuring what really goes on online.

Websites, having struggled for years to adapt to the idea of the pageview instead of the server request as the key measure of site activity, are now building interactive pages that occupy user attention and time but don't generate hits or page views - and they don't know how to measure this usage.

Some have questioned Second Life usage stats

Now it seems that the millions of signups on MySpace, Bebo and the other social network sites could be the same set of forgetful teenagers coming back again.

And again.

It may just be that I'm older and therefore more boring, or it may be that I simply have less time for that sort of thing, but there's a part of me that wants a way to match online identity with real-world identity in a solid, straightforward way.

Organisations like the Liberty Alliance offer tools for managing online identity that can limit the information we share with other people and still prove who we are for the situations where assured identity is absolutely vital - like when dealing with a bank, or getting academic credit for an online course.

But there are many other areas of life online where the fluidity of non-identity, of the carnival mask and the assumed name, are also vital, and not just for furtive encounters in chat rooms.

I had always thought that this would involve carefully-chosen pseudonyms and some sort of identity management system, but the answer seems to lie in throwaway accounts and a far more casual approach.

As with so much else about the digital world our kids, having grown up with this stuff all around them, seem to be finding ways to make it work for them that escape those of us who will always be digital immigrants. But at least we can learn from them.

---

Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet

Why UK teenagers struggle to cope

Why UK teenagers struggle to cope

By Mark Easton BBC News home editor

Disconnected and disengaged...

British teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe, a study by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests. Why?

In Britain we have come to both demonise and fear our teenagers: the yobs, the hoodies, the street gangs - the Asbo generation which terrorises neighbourhoods.

"Kids hanging around" is now regarded as the greatest social nuisance of our age.

As the new IPPR report puts it: "Commentators fear that British youth is on the verge of mental breakdown, at risk from anti-social behaviour, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse. These concerns are, to an extent, borne out."

Such gloom is in contrast to evidence that there has never been a better time to be young.

Good times

More British teenagers leave school with good qualifications and go to university than ever before.

Youth unemployment has fallen dramatically in the last 25 years.

Today's parents are richer than ever before and young people have access to an extraordinary range of activities and opportunities undreamt of even a generation ago.

And yet the mental well-being of our adolescents is among the worst in Europe: one in 10 teenage girls has self-harmed. Child obesity is increasing.

Southern European nations with a strong Catholic tradition and a focus on the family do not share the same level of delinquency UK 'among Europe's worst'

Our youngsters are more consumerist in their outlook than the Americans.

Concern about adolescents is not new, but what this research does is put the UK's experience in an international context - and the conclusions are troubling.

The European comparisons, putting our youngsters at or close to the top of every indicator of bad behaviour, suggest the causes are cultural.

Southern European nations with a strong Catholic tradition and a focus on the family do not share the same level of delinquency.

Scandinavian countries with a large welfare state and a strong sense of civic engagement also perform better.

'Hanging out'

But in the UK, where we have seen big changes in family structures - rising rates of divorce and single parenthood - and where the state traditionally resists intervening in domestic life, young people have been left to their own devices.

"Hanging out with mates" is what teenagers do in the UK.

In contrast to their European counterparts, they spend far more time with their peers than with adults where they miss out on the development of what are called "soft skills" - the social and personal development which is increasingly vital in a country built around service industry.

The days of young men leaving school at the first opportunity to go down the pit or into the shipyard have all but disappeared.

Those young men today are struggling to cope in a world which demands high levels of socialisation.

Could sport be an answer?

The IPPR report claims that social skills are as important, if not more important, than the academic qualifications our children are urged to achieve.

The key is that youngsters grow up in a warm, nurturing environment with plenty of adult interaction.

It doesn't have to be the traditional nuclear family although statistically children brought up by two married, biological parents do better than those from single-parent families or people cohabiting.

What the report amounts to is a challenge of traditional youth policy.

It points out that youngsters who go to a youth club are 6% more likely to smoke in adulthood, 1% more likely to be a single parent, 1% more likely to be a victim of crime and 5% more likely to have no qualifications than those who don't.

HAVE YOUR SAY Why do we constantly blame the children? Caroline, London Send us your views

By contrast, those that went to structured sports or community centres are 3% less likely to be depressed; 5% less likely to be single, separated or divorced; 3% less likely to be in social housing and 2% less likely to have no qualifications.

The conclusions are obvious - but far from easy.

We need to repair the disconnect between our adolescents and the adult world.

That is not going to happen in a hurry but as the IPPR report puts it: "Young people who do not have access to the factors that develop their non-cognitive abilities are increasingly vulnerable to failure, while their better socialised peers will increasingly succeed."

So what on earth is respect?

So what on earth is respect?

By Dominic Casciani BBC News Online community affairs

"Give respect, Get respect" says the government's action plan - but what on earth does it mean? Can we really define respect?

It has been talked of for months, and now Prime Minister Tony Blair has launched his respect agenda for his administration's third term.

In his introduction to the plan, Mr Blair says: "What lies at the heart of [anti-social] behaviour is a lack of respect for values that almost everyone in this country shares - consideration for others, a recognition that we all have responsibilities as well as rights, civility and good manners."

The challenge is that this is often very difficult to define. Nobody likes yobbish behaviour, littering and so on.

But what about fast food? Many older people think it is the height of bad manners to walk down the street chomping on a kebab - and even worse to fill the bus with the smells of saturated fats.

At the same time, younger people have grown up in a culture of fast food so for some scoffing on the street may be second nature. But is that disrespectful, rude, a generational divide or simply a crime against your digestive system?

"I'm in the classroom..."

Mobile phones are another example. Tony Blair was reportedly aghast in a session with head teachers when he discovered that pupils had phones in schools. Some heads were not that bothered - particularly those in rural areas where the phones were a useful tool.

This is the dilemma for government, to draw the line in the sand between what it can justifiably champion as decent right-thinking activity and that which it can say is thoroughly beastly and anti-social.

Do unto others

So how does it set about doing this? The cover of the government action plan is not just a neat piece of graphic design, it is also a philosophical statement.

The cycle of respect

The logo of two arrows circling each other very consciously borrows from recycling. What goes around, comes around, do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Here Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his "social contract" comes in. The 18th century French philosopher argued that people should give up their natural rights to do whatever they jolly well please so that society can function.

That idea (also similarly devised by Plato, Hobbes and other great thinkers) is a key element of the modern state. So when Tony Blair talks about respect, or of "rights and responsibilities", he is talking about our contract with each other - and with government.

But if this balanced contract has indeed gone wrong, what happened?

Children are encouraged to think that they are the equals of their parents, their teachers and people in authority Roger Scruton Respect: Roger Scruton

Philosopher Roger Scruton says that the reason why respect has disappeared is because it is no longer taught.

Insolence goes unpunished in the young, and what starts in the playground is translated into adulthood.

However, Richard Sennett, one of Britain's leading sociologists, argues the contrary: We should ask whether institutions treat individuals with respect, particularly those who are not powerful.

Shape up

The prime minister isn't being choosy about his definition as both of these arguments in some shape or form make it into his package, along with a third idea: that government has a responsibility to intervene on behalf of society if it believes individuals are failing in their personal duties.

In other words, if a local family from hell break the social contract, the authorities will enforce it.

Hardly respectful?

This is usually tricky territory for politicians. John Major's ill-fated Back to Basics drive in 1993 fell down quicker than the trousers of some of his MPs caught by tabloid photographers.

The reason why politicians face a tough time on this wicket is because of an entirely different word: deference.

If government packs people off on parenting classes, is that just helping them get on in life, or a case of: "We know better than you - so just be thankful".

Mr Blair appears confident that he can avoid being accused of demanding deference, saying: "It is not in my gift or anyone in central government to guarantee good behaviour or to impose a set of common values about acceptable behaviour".

He adds that his respect agenda is "not about returning to the days of 'knowing your place'."

Yet, confusingly, he then says that if people who need help will not take it, "we will make them".

Two-fingered salute

Which brings us back to a question left unanswered by the title of the action plan: If Mr Blair is demanding respect, is he also giving it?

There's an idea among some criminologists and sociologists that if respect isn't a two-way street, you create something they call "asymmetric citizenship".

They warn that unless the young are treated decently, they are likely to react in precisely in the ways society most fears.

This isn't just about manners. Studies have found that benefit cheats often believe they have a de facto right to rip off the state because they believe the state has failed them; they have nothing left to lose so decide to stick two fingers up to society.

The irony is that the very same people have also been found to be socially conservative, expressing shock and outrage when they witness the anti-social behaviour of others.

A case of "do as I say, don't do as I do" - another circular philosophy many associate with politicians.

Donor boom after TV kidney hoax

Donor boom after TV kidney hoax

The "contestants" were all in on the Donor Show hoax

Some 12,000 more people have registered as organ donors in the Netherlands since a Dutch TV hoax that featured a "competition" for a kidney.

The Big Donor Show was revealed to be a hoax as the fake donor was apparently about to reveal her choice of patient.

But Dutch media say the number of people registering as organ donors has jumped since the hoax. The usual monthly figure is just 3-4,000.

The three real patients vying for a kidney knew the show was a hoax.

The show, broadcast on 1 June, featured a terminally-ill woman selecting one of three patients to receive one of her kidneys.

Before the broadcast political parties called for it to be scrapped, but broadcaster BNN said the show would highlight the country's shortage of organ donors.

The programme was made by Big Brother creators Endemol.

The 37-year-old "donor" - an actress playing the part of a terminally-ill woman - had to make a choice based on conversations with the family and friends of the contestants, as well as personal history and profile.

The Dutch donor authority condemned the show before it was revealed to be a hoax.

Girl could give birth to sibling

Girl could give birth to sibling

By Michelle Roberts BBC News, Health reporter in Lyon

Melanie Boivin's daughter has a genetic condition

A Canadian mother has frozen her eggs for use by her seven-year-old daughter, who is likely to become infertile.

Should the girl opt to use the eggs and gain regulatory approval, she would effectively have a baby that was her half-brother or sister.

Critics said the work, presented at a fertility conference in Lyon, was deeply concerning.

But the doctors from the McGill Reproductive Center, Montreal, called the donation an act of motherly love.

Would I look at the child as my grandchild or as my own? Melanie Boivin

Also, the girl and any future partner would have a choice as to whether to use the eggs or not, they said.

The girl, Flavie Boivin, cannot have children naturally because of a chromosomal condition called Turner's syndrome.

Desperate to help, mum Melanie, who is 35 and a lawyer, investigated whether she could donate her own eggs.

After much research, she came across Professor Seang Lin Tan's team at McGill who run an egg freezing programme for cancer patients and those who want to delay childbearing.

Melanie said she discussed the decision with her partner and Flavie's father, Martin Cote, also 35 and a financial analyst.

Emotional impact

"We were concerned about the ethical questions - would I look at the child as my grandchild or as my own? We were also concerned about the financial impact, the physical impact on me and the emotional impact on the family."

After a year they decided to go ahead.

Could it possibly get more bewildering than this? Josephine Quintavalle Comment on Reproductive Ethics Send us your comments

"What made us sure was the fact that I was there to help my daughter. If I could do anything in my power to help her I had to do it and because of my age I had to do it now.

"I told myself if she had needed another organ like a kidney I would volunteer without any hesitation and it is the same kind of thought process for this."

Melanie said her daughter would be the real mother as she would be caring for the child.

"I do not want to oblige her to use the eggs; I want to give her the option."

Professor Tan said they had asked for the advice of an independent ethics committee.

"The ethic committee agreed to it because the mother giving to a daughter is out of love and it is up to the daughter and partner in future years to decide whether to use the eggs or not.

"And ethical considerations change with time. Who knows what the ethics will be in 20 years from now."

Identity problems

Professor Tan said this was the first case of mother-to-daughter egg donation. There have been cases of donation from sister to sister.

TURNER'S SYNDROME A genetic condition that causes impaired growth and learning difficulties Destroys eggs, leading to an unusually early menopause

Dr Richard Kennedy, of the British Fertility Society, said: "This altruistic behaviour is not dissimilar to the scenario where a parent donates a kidney to a child.

"In this case, instead of using eggs from an unknown donor, she will get the opportunity to know the source.

"Although this means the resulting offspring will be similar in genetics, an unrelated sperm will be used - and this means that the offspring will not be a true sister."

Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, expressed sympathy with the family, but could not support storing the mother's eggs.

She said: "The psychological welfare of the baby itself has to be the principal concern.

"Such a baby would be a sibling of the birth mother at the same time as the direct genetic offspring of the grandmother donor.

"In psychiatry we are hearing more and more of children suffering from identity problems, and specifically a condition called 'genealogical bewilderment'. Could it possibly get more bewildering than this?

"We have to stop thinking of women only in terms of their reproductive potential.

"The daughter could live a full and happy life without having children of her own."

历史真实与艺术虚构

历史真实与艺术虚构

——浅谈太平天国史研究与电视剧《太平天国》

危兆盖 整理

　　编者按： 最近十几年来，历史题材的影视剧充斥荧屏，或称演义，
或为戏说，或谓纪实，或称正剧，影响都较大。最近播出的大型历史
连续剧《太平天国》再次引起广大观众的关注，并激起人们了解太平
天国历史真象的浓厚兴趣。有鉴于此，本刊特邀近代史专家戴逸、苏
双碧、何瑜和电视剧《太平天国》的编导张笑天等四位先生举行了座
谈，他们就太平天国的历史真实与电视剧《太平天国》的艺术虚构等
问题各抒己见。现将这次座谈的内容整理刊发，以飨读者。

　　

太平天国史的研究、评价

　　及其在《太平天国》中的反映

　　戴逸（中国人民大学清史所教授、电视剧《太平天国》历史顾问）：
新中国成立以来，太平天国史曾经是历史研究的热点，研究成果很突
出，著作几百部，文章数万篇，全国性与国际性的学术研讨会也举办
过多次。在80年代，全国各省市共成立了七个太平天国史研究会，可
见研究队伍之庞大。在研究中，史学工作者挖掘和整理了许多原始资
料，考证和弄清了许多历史事实，深入讨论和评价了许多重大事件与
历史人物。应该说，半个世纪以来，太平天国史研究的成绩十分巨大。

　　苏双碧（《求是》杂志社高级编辑、原副总编）：太平天国革命
虽然是一场农民革命，但它发生在近代中国，离现实很近，因此，学
术界对它的评价难免受到政治气候的影响，前后波动起伏比较大。譬
如，50年代讲阶级斗争，对农民战争只有赞扬，没有批评；十年动乱
中，洪秀全更被说成是法家的代表、反儒的英雄，被无限拔高。十年
动乱结束后，历史科学也进行了拨乱反正，“百家争鸣”的学风得到
贯彻，太平天国史的研究和讨论开始向健康的方向发展，但不同意见
的学术争鸣也比较多。最近几年又出现一种新的研究动向，即全盘否
定太平天国革命，认为太平天国革命是开历史的倒车，而曾国藩镇压
太平天国反而有功等等。持这种意见的人虽少，但它却从一个极端走
向了另一极端。

　　何瑜（中国人民大学清史所教授、电视剧《太平天国》历史顾问）：
在历时14年、遍及18省的战斗中，太平天国的英雄们确实为历史提供
了许多新的东西，谱写了中国近代史上的重要篇章。它提出的《天朝
田亩制度》代表了广大农民阶级的利益，它提出的《资政新篇》代表
了中国社会的发展方向，这不是谁想抹煞就抹煞得了的。当然，我们
在充分肯定太平天国的历史功绩和进步作用的同时，也要看到农民毕
竟不是先进生产力的代表，他们在取得一定的胜利之后，就暴露出自
己的弱点，如缺乏长远的战略考虑、不能正确处理内部矛盾、不能长
期保持团结精神和纯朴作风等等。正是因为有这些难以克服的弱点，
最后才导致失败的结局，这是令人惋惜的。

　　苏：电视剧《太平天国》是在学术界对太平天国革命众说纷纭、
见仁见智的情况下完成的，看来剧作者对学术界的不同观点还是有所
了解的，在创作中又渗透了自己对这一段历史的理解。从历史的角度
看，这部电视剧对不同学术观点的处理是慎重的，基本反映了太平天
国历史的真实面貌，可以说是一部比较好的历史正剧。

　　戴：历史学家之间对许多历史人物、历史事件往往存在分歧意见，
这是很正常的。很多意见一下子很难断定谁是谁非，必须通过深入研
究和长期讨论才能逐渐加以解决。电视剧碰到这种情形，当然不可能
把不同的观点都包容进去，而只能择一而从。我以为，只要能够言之
成理、持之有故就可以。例如：太平军北伐，很多专家认为太平军应
该全军北上，攻打北京，击破清朝的巢穴，只派二万人北伐是战略错
误。但还有一种观点就认为，太平天国打下南京之后，并无全军北上
的实力和可能。当时，太平天国人数虽不少，但很多是家属，老弱妇
孺较多，还有新入伍的群众，需要有编组训练的时间，不可能抽调大
批兵力北伐。当然，对北伐评价的分歧纯属学术问题，见仁见智，可
以各抒己见，长期讨论。而电视剧《太平天国》的编剧和导演也完全
有权利根据自己对历史的认识选择其中的一说。现在观众看到的这个
版本采用了北伐是战略失误的观点，有关太平军北伐的戏也是在这种
基调下组织拍摄的。只要观众接受它，就是成功的。

　　张笑天（吉林省作家协会主席、电视剧《太平天国》编导）：从
某种意义上说，历史也不是一成不变的。一是在史料未充分发掘之前，
人们的认识总要受到史料的局限，二是不同的人对于同样的史料也可
能产生不同的认识。史学界对李秀成、曾国藩这样的历史人物，历来
褒贬不一，恐怕就有这两方面的原因。我在编写《太平天国》这部剧
本时，不想为任何一派观点作图解，更不可能为所有的观点作图解。
艺术创作的内在要求促使我深入到太平天国英雄们的心灵中去，把他
们的内心世界通过艺术的形式表现出来，使他们寻常化、人性化、感
情化、个性化。这样就打破了简单肯定或否定的模式，从而使太平天
国的英雄人物一个个血肉丰满、能爱能憎、生动鲜活，让人们看了之
后还能久久回味，余韵未歇。

　　

《太平天国》的史与戏

　　戴：从总体上看，电视剧《太平天国》基本遵循了太平天国的历
史发展脉络。它先是描写了会众营救冯云山、团营与金田起义、永安
封王建制等历史事件，接着向观众展示出太平军攻桂林、围长沙、克
武昌、破金陵等气势恢弘的战争场面，然后刻画了建都天京、北伐西
征、攻破江北、江南大营等重大历史事件，接下来又用浓墨重彩描绘
了杨秀清杖责天王、逼封万岁、天京事变、石达开出走等历史悲剧，
继之刻画了太平军二破江南大营、东征苏常、再克杭州、围攻上海以
及庐州失守、天京被围、洪秀全病逝、天京失陷等历史场面。由此，
凡属太平天国史上重大的历史事件，剧中刻画虽详略不一，但几乎全
部演示给了观众。其中虽穿插有很多虚构的情节，但大部分虚构与历
史的真实并不矛盾，反而增加了许多艺术的感染力。如陈玉成与曾晚
妹、天长金、胡玉蓉三位女性的一组戏，就虚构得有情有趣，生动感
人。但有些虚构明显露出“戏说”的成分，使正剧不“正”。如在太
平军北伐失败的一场戏中，编导插进洪宣娇与其牌刀手江元拔毅然北
上救援、劫囚、欲殉情而不得等一大段曲折离奇的情节，就是明显的
“戏说”，既无助于树立太平天国人物的英雄形象，又严重损害了历
史的真实性，使观众不容易接受。

　　苏：虽说电视剧是艺术而不是历史，但作为历史剧，人们还是希
望它能把艺术的真实和历史的真实结合得更好一些。应当说，电视剧
《太平天国》对二者的结合还是比较好的。但历史与艺术毕竟有差别，
这正如郭沫若所说，历史研究是“实事求是”，而史剧创作是“失事
求似”；史学家是“发掘历史的精神”，而史剧家是“发展历史的精
神”。既然如此，艺术家就可以在不违背大的历史背景的前提下，充
分发挥艺术创作的手段。电视剧《太平天国》塑造的一大批妇女形象
就很耐人寻味。从历史上看，这些妇女形象有的并无其人，有的事迹
不详，唯苏三娘确是一名战将，但她的事迹也只记载到与罗大纲去攻
镇江和守镇江时，此后再无下文。过去的史籍虽然没有留下太平天国
英雄女性的名字和事迹，但对她们的社会地位和某些活动还是留下了
蛛丝蚂迹。如太平天国主张男女平等，允许妇女当兵打仗，还设置了
女丞相、女检点、女指挥等文武官职，一些到过天京的外国人也见到
了“妇女随便游行，或乘马通衢大道”的情形。有这样一个历史大前
提，《太平天国》的剧作者自然可以塑造出一群生动活泼的女性。这
里的问题不在于能不能、应该不应该塑造，而在于如何塑造。归结到
一点，就是艺术加工应该做到“发展”历史的精神，而不是随便“戏
说”历史。

　　何：我补充一点。太平天国的典章制度、宗教文化、社会风俗、
礼仪称谓等，具有十分丰富又十分复杂的内容，其中有许多地方还有
待于史家进一步挖掘、整理和研究。电视剧《太平天国》对太平天国
的军制、旗帜、冠服、宫室、科举、礼仪、称谓以及仪仗舆马、登闻
鼓制等均作了程度不同的反映，其中对天国的冠服、旗帜、军制等方
面表现得最丰富，也最准确。譬如，剧中出现的天国旗帜，既再现了
战场上太平军“黄旗遍野”，克城时“无数黄旗分门站立”的壮观场
面，也表现了军中掌旗手英勇无畏的气概和天国旗帜色彩鲜明、尊卑
有别的特点。而对于太平天国的冠服、朝靴、号衣等服饰更是按照史
料记载复制，加上真景拍摄，确实给人一种如临其境的真实感觉。但
在这方面也有一些不尽如人意的地方，如在礼仪称谓上，太平军内对
上和对尊的礼节主要是长跪，而视俗之打拱、作揖、叩头等为妖礼，
而在剧中，却不分朝内朝外、男女老幼，多次出现拱手、揖拜、叩头
等镜头，结果与清方礼节完全一样，表现不出太平天国独特的礼仪特
点。

　　张：无论是写历史小说，还是编历史剧本，我始终是把《太平天
国》当成一部历史正剧来创作的。我认为，正剧的重要标志是不伪造
历史、不曲解历史。但也正如几位专家所说，正剧也可以在作家掌握
到的史料和史学界研究成果的基础上进行艺术虚构、艺术创作，只要
能尽量保持和再现历史的真实精神，不但形似，而且神似，就无可厚
非。就电视剧《太平天国》而言，太平天国历史上重大的历史事件及
其发生的时代背景、主要历史人物的活动轨迹、重要的战役、典章制
度、礼仪以及人物的语言、服饰、风俗等，基本上都遵循了历史的真
实。但即使是历史正剧，也不应该排斥艺术的虚构。如果说真实是历
史研究的生命线，那么虚构则是艺术创作的生命线。否则，人们去查
阅史书就是了，何必再去看历史小说、历史剧等艺术作品呢？

　　

《太平天国》人物的实与虚

　　苏：电视剧《太平天国》在刻画正面人物方面，洪秀全、陈玉成、
石达开是精心刻画的，而在反面人物方面，对曾国藩、左宗棠等的描
写也用了力。总的来说，对太平天国历史上重要人物的塑造还是比较
成功的，个别的地方尚有商榷的余地。譬如，对杨秀清和陈玉成这两
个人物的塑造，在某些方面还可以打磨得更完美些。先说杨秀清。在
太平天国革命中，从组织起义到进军金陵直至天京事变之前，起主要
作用的是杨秀清。电视剧为了塑造和突出洪秀全的形象，把实际指挥
作战的杨秀清的业绩移到洪秀全身上。这样处理的好处是突出了洪秀
全，使天王成了名实相符的天王，但缺点是和历史事实出入较大，也
使杨秀清后来的“居功自傲”失去了资本，为观众理解和接受杨秀清
制造了障碍。再说陈玉成。陈玉成在电视剧中被塑造成性格完美的第
一号英雄。他骁勇善战，屡立战功，是太平天国后期的第一号大将，
但在实际作战中，应是与李秀成齐名。李秀成活动面积大，加上在苏、
杭活动时间长，在中外都有很大影响。天京变乱之后，李秀成为争取
石达开回朝辅政，犯颜直谏，要求洪秀全严整朝纲，减轻粮税，重用
翼王，不用安王、福王等。李秀成的直谏激怒了洪秀全，被革职，但
却取得朝中文武大臣的支持。电视剧把这些内容移到了陈玉成名下。
再加上陈玉成一位部下曾说过英王“生平有三样好处：第一爱读书人，
第二爱百姓，第三不好色”，电视剧把这段话也移到洪秀全名下，作
为洪秀全对陈玉成的评价。这样处理当然对塑造陈玉成的形象起了重
要的作用，但却淡化了对李秀成的描写。

　　戴：《太平天国》在刻画反面人物方面，力求客观，减少了简单
化、脸谱化。就剧中的曾国藩而言，主要是揭露他镇压太平天国的罪
行，但有几场戏是作者精心加进去的，属于艺术虚构，是褒是贬很难
说。譬如，三河战役后，湘军悍将李续宾以及曾国藩的弟弟曾国华等
被太平军陈玉成、李秀成部击毙。电视剧在这里虚构了一场戏，即陈
玉成给曾国藩去信，表示要亲自把李续宾、曾国华等三人的尸体交给
清军，而曾国藩也表示可以约个地方和陈玉成接触，但部将坚决反对，
怕陈玉成出尔反尔，有危险。此时，剧中的曾国藩说了一段颇具气魄
的话，大意是：部将为国捐躯，我怎能不去，如果我不去，就表明我
没胆量；即使陈玉成杀了我，也算我为朝廷尽忠。等到曾、陈见面时，
又是一番唇枪舌剑，陈玉成指责清廷腐败，苛政猛于虎，是官逼民才
反的；曾国藩则搬出孔孟之道，指责陈玉成不该造反，诱劝他们放下
武器。这场戏纯属虚构，原型可能取自李秀成攻克杭州、清将王有龄
自杀之后，李秀成送其棺木，归还朝服，并点派王有龄亲兵五百人，
费银三千两，送其归乡。但这是李秀成所为，并非陈玉成所为。这样
虚构从艺术创造的角度看，也许有它的合理性，但从艺术效果和历史
真实的角度看，观众会产生疑问，这是美化陈玉成呢？还是美化曾国
藩？

　　何：在人物刻画上，《太平天国》中的主要男角除小曾宪是完全
虚构的人物之外，其余历史上还都有其人。而剧中塑造的十个女性形
象（洪宣娇、曾晚妹、天长金、胡玉蓉、石益阳、谢满妹、傅善祥、
程岭南、韦玉娟、苏三娘），除苏三娘、傅善祥、谢满妹历史上确有
其人及洪宣娇实为杨秀清妹杨云娇之外，其余均属虚构。从艺术的角
度看，这十位女性都刻画得相当成功，每个人都美丽善良，有情有义，
但又天生芳菲，性格各异，结局命运也全然不同。但从实际的效果及
编导的意图看，过多过赘的女人戏，不仅冲淡了金戈铁马、沙场鏖战
等精彩画面，而且有的虚构确属败笔，如洪秀全逼奸苏三娘的一场戏，
就过分丑化了天国领袖洪秀全的形象。

　　张：在《太平天国》的人物塑造中，我主要虚构了这样几个类型：
一是底层人物。于史有征的大人物不好虚构，然而底层人物就较易虚
构，因为任何史书都不会为所有的人作传。剧中的曾晚妹、曾宪就是
我虚构的小人物。前者被塑造成陈玉成两小无猜的恋人，又是由女扮
男妆开始，中间几经曲折，曾晚妹甚至为陈玉成当不当驸马的事情几
乎殉情，直至在陈玉成英勇就义时，她还赶赴刑场与他举行刑场婚礼。
这当中，陈玉成这个人物是真实的，而曾晚妹则代表了千千万万的童
子军、女营战士，她身上聚合了太平天国女性的执着、热烈、悲壮的
人生色彩。这种虚构不但有故事性，而且使历史真实有所强化、有所
升华，使历史人物情绪化、个性化、人性化。二是重要人物的某些细
节。剧中的洪秀全、杨秀清也好，石达开、韦昌辉也罢，都被设置在
理性与感情的矛盾冲突中间，战争、军事与伦理道德互为映衬，互为
补充，虚实并举，这样做的目的是使人物完美，虚是为实服务的。三
是女性群体。太平天国是中国农民战争中首次提出并实施妇女解放的，
写好女性形象便显得尤为重要。剧中用了相当的篇幅和气力来丰满、
补充和完备天国女性群体的英烈、纯真形象。有人认为多写女性可能
是出于调剂“和尚戏”的需要，其实这是误解。剧中的女性不是可有
可无的佐料，更不是某些人猜想的“卖点”，而是描绘太平天国群像
的需要，也是丰富作品色彩的需要，更是结构的需要。譬如，剧中虚
构的石益阳前期是石达开的爱女，尽可以言语无忌又顺理成章地带出
石达开的内心世界，这是别人无法替代的。后来她与李秀成有了异乎
寻常的关系，于是这位后来写了“自述”被后人争论不休的人物的隐
忧与心路历程，也通过石益阳牵出并展现在观众面前。

太平天国时期的天京（南京）

黃河：“陳玉成”是我從小就崇拜的人

黃河：“陳玉成”是我從小就崇拜的人

從陳家林導演手上接到《太平天國》的劇本時，黃河興奮不已，很有點夢想成真的感覺，因為，陳玉成是他從小就特別喜愛和欽佩的歷史人物。他還記得很小的 時候看過一本連環畫，名字就叫《陳玉成》，主人公勇冠三軍、智計過人、忠誠坦蕩的形象讓他一直無法忘懷。沒想到多年之后，他自己搖身一變，成了熒屏上的陳 玉成了。 　 　黃河算得上是演藝世家出身，他的父親是中央戲劇學院的科班生，對黃河的人生方向影響頗大。黃河17歲那年考入沈陽藝朮學院，當年就接戲，出演中國第一部 反映中學生生活的電視劇《中學生》，接下來一發不可收拾，《離開廣島的日子》、《岳飛》、《遠東陰謀》、《賀蘭雪》等30多部電視劇里都有他的身影。他比 較得意的是在25集電視劇《風雨梅家樓》中的表演，他扮演一個留法歸來的年輕人，外表文雅卻內心狠毒，性格頗具張力，演起來很是過癮。 　 　在采訪時，記者剛說到陳玉成在劇中算不上是個主要人物，黃河就出言表示反對。他認為，陳玉成的成長史就是太平天國從起事、壯大到潰敗的歷史，他是太平天 國后期極為重要的將領，其戲分在電視劇中也很重。他不光有軍事戲，也有感情戲，對青梅竹馬的曾晚妹他非常執著，對愛慕他的儀美公主十分坦誠，對藥店老板的 女兒則是一種深深的感恩，這種丰富的情感線索讓陳玉成的形象比較丰滿。在黃河的眼里，陳玉成是一個近似完美的人，他不光是個文武全才，更重要的是他內心坦 蕩，為人倜儻但不風流，對太平天國的事業無限忠誠，沒有個人野心。翼王石達開殺了陳玉成的叔叔之后，陳玉成與翼王有一場戲，他承受著內心悲痛卻顧全大局的 精神實在令人欽佩。 　　黃河與陳家林導演多次合作，從陳導的身上獲益頗多。雖然是個大導演，陳家林卻沒有任何架子，在現場非常善于引導演員，既不高聲贊揚也從不出言指責，一切都處理得很策略。在《太平天國》拍攝的十個月里，黃河自覺收獲多多。 　　■文／蔡方華

New recruit joins Terracotta Army

New recruit joins Terracotta Army

The terracotta soldiers were created for an imperial Chinese tomb 2,200 years ago Enlarge Image

A German art student briefly fooled police by posing as one of China's terracotta warriors at the heritage site in the ancient capital, Xian.

Pablo Wendel, made up like an ancient warrior, jumped into a pit showcasing the 2,200-year-old pottery soldiers and stood motionless for several minutes.

The 26-year-old was eventually spotted by police and removed from the scene.

Unearthed in 1974, the statues are said to be one of the 20th Century's greatest archaeological finds.

The ancient clay soldiers were created to protect the nearby tomb of the legendary Emperor Qinshihuang who united China over 2,200 years ago.

Police confiscated Mr Wendel's costume and sent him home

Mr Wendel is reported to have entered the museum on Saturday where he changed into his outfit, jumped over a barrier and took up a position on a pedestal he had taken along.

"I got to the area where he was supposed to be, looked around and didn't see him - he looked too much like a terracotta warrior," Hong Kong newspapers quoted a security guard as saying.

As Mr Wendel's "performance art" did not harm any of the ancient relics, he was not arrested or charged but given "serious criticism", the reports said.

Mr Wendel had his costume confiscated and was sent back to the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where he is studying.

China finds secret tomb chamber

China finds secret tomb chamber

The chamber is close to the tomb's terracotta warriors

A mysterious underground chamber has been found inside the Chinese imperial tomb guarded by the famous Terracotta Army, Chinese archaeologists say.

Historical records describing the tomb of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China's Qin dynasty, do not mention the room which is 30 metres (98 feet) deep.

The unopened chamber was found at the site near the old imperial capital of Xian using remote sensing technology.

One expert says it may have been built for the soul of the emperor.

More than 2,000 years old, the chamber is buried inside a pyramidal earth mound 51m (170 feet) high on top of Qin's tomb.

It is situated near the life-size terracotta warriors and has four stair-like walls, says Duan Qingbo, a researcher with the Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology.

The Chinese authorities have not given permission to excavate the site.

It is believed that they wish to perfect archaeological techniques before probing any further, and archaeologists have had to use the sensing technology at the site since 2002.

Despite his brutal methods, Emperor Qin is remembered as a hero in China for forging a unified state.