This Coffin was played to critical acclaim at last year's Tokyo Asian Art Festival, When Petals Fall Like Snow: The World of Kuo Pao Kun - The Playwright, an event dedicated to Kuo Pao Kun. It was well received by the audience and was hailed as "an avant-garde shadow play".
"A very grand coffin was built for my grandfather who passed away. On the day of my grandfather's funeral many people came to see the grand coffin. However, on attempting to bury the coffin, it appeared that the grave was too small. The funeral parlour workers exclaimed, "The grave is not too small, the coffin is too big!" Owing to my country's dense population, the government's national planning committee sets out on the size allocated for graves. The matter could not be settled with the funeral parlour so we both went to see the office in charge of national planning. The officer listened to my argument and approved my plea with all but one exception.
My story later was voted one of the top 10 national news stories of the year and the officer in charge was voted the most Humane Personality of the Year!
And so my grandfather was safely put to rest in his grave but for the one exception we made. But whenever I see the rows and rows of standard size graves in the cemetery, I..."
