Quad, Questions in Theater: *The Xi'an Flower Car*

On a train heading toward the Yishan Mausoleum in Xi'an, China, Sang-gon is filled with anticipation for the underground palace of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and the countless terracotta warriors he is about to encounter. As Sang-gon reflects on Qin Shi Huang—who yearned for eternity within his finite life—and on the things he has “never fully possessed” in his own life, the train arrives in Xi’an before he knows it. A Korean man with a Chinese mother, a man whose love has never been fully reciprocated. Standing before Qin Shi Huang’s desire for immortality, what is Sang-gon’s own desire in life? Having lived his entire life “on the periphery,” Sang-gon now stands before the grandest of stories and looks at himself. Faced with that immense desire, he finally begins to examine his own story.