20 | Monday, November 4, 2019 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Tales of enduring romance

A new stage production explores three popular Chinese love stories through the mediums of contemporary dance, theater and music, Chen Nan reports.

hen archaeology grad­ Impressed by the love story uates and young cou­ between Fan and Peng, Yu says it ple Fan Jinshi and immediately sprung to mind when Peng Jinzhang left she started to prepare for the stage Peking University in 1963, they soonW production. found themselves separated when “Every time we want to mark the Fan took up her post as a researcher creation of this great musical work at the Dunhuang Academy in Gansu and pass on its legacy, we perform it province, and Peng became a teach­ again and again. It’s great to explain er at Wuhan University in Hubei the piece through a real­life love province. story,” Yu says. When they married on Jan 15, Butterfly Lovers premiered in 1967, they looked on their separa­ Shanghai on May 27, 1959, where Yu tion as a temporary situation. How­ performed as the solo violinist. The ever, their long­distance marriage violin concerto was composed by lasted for 19 years, and only ended Chen Gang and He Zhanhao when when Peng moved to Dunhuang to they were both students at the work alongside Fan at the Dunhu­ Shanghai Conservatory of Music. ang Academy as a researcher in Featuring melodies and musical 1986. elements from traditional Yueju A major stop on the ancient Silk Opera, the musical was inspired by Road, the city of Dunhuang in a tragic love story from an ancient northwest China is best known for Chinese folk tale long considered to the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World be the Chinese equivalent of Romeo Heritage site which is home to a and Juliet. The concerto has been priceless collection of Buddhist hailed as a classic ever since and has sculptures and murals set in 735 been performed all across the caves carved out over the course of a world. millennium. To mark the 50th anniversary of Born in Beijing and raised in the Butterfly Lovers premiere, Yu Shanghai, Fan was the head of the performed the concerto in Beijing Dunhuang Academy between 1998 along with other Chinese violinists and 2018. When she first arrived at of different generations, including the Mogao Caves at the age of 24 in Sheng Zhongguo and his wife, Japa­ 1962, some 25 kilometers southeast nese pianist Hiroko Seta. of Dunhuang city, to start her Directed by Xu Jun, the new internship at the Dunhuang Acade­ show gathers together a group of my, there was no fresh water or elec­ songwriters, including lyricist tricity there. Despite the harsh Liang Mang and Chinese­American conditions, she spent 57 years work­ composer David Fang, to tell three ing in Dunhuang and has devoted Chinese love stories in one pro­ her life to the research and protec­ gram. tion of the Mogao Caves. Chinese dancer­choreographer Peng, born in Suning in Hebei, Wang Yabin and dancer Zhang was one of the co­founders of the Yapeng will perform the section archaeology department of Wuhan devoted to Fan and Peng. University. He was credited with The second story will center on Ba increasing the number of labeled Jin, one of the most prominent Chi­ caves from 492 to 735, from 1988 to nese writers of the 20th century, and 1995. During the excavations, a his wife, Xiao Shan. Chinese actor number of important ruins and pre­ Wang Zhifei and his wife, actress cious relics were discovered, many Zhang Dinghan, will play the cou­ of which provided evidence of cul­ ple. tural exchanges between China and The final story centers on Prin­ other countries. On July 29, 2017, cess Wencheng (628­680), who was Peng died of cancer. sent by a Tang Dynasty (618­907) “Without my husband, I wouldn’t emperor to marry the Tibetan king have become the person I am today. Songtsen Gampo to forge an alli­ He knew my love for Dunhuang and ance. Liao Changyong, an operatic why I couldn’t leave, so he sacrificed Clockwise from top: Fan Jinshi (third from left) talks to her students about the research at one of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu baritone, who is also head of the his career at Wuhan University and province, in 2004; Fan and her husband, Peng Jinzhang, in Dunhuang in the summer of 1965; Fan (right) meets with Yu Lina, creator of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, moved to Dunhuang to support theatrical production Eternity: Butterfly Lovers, in Shanghai in March. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY will play the role of the Tibetan king. me,” says Fan, who is now 81. “When At the end of the show, Yu will per­ we were at university, he bought me form the violin concerto once again. handkerchieves after he noticed me Their love story was recorded in hai on Nov 17 before moving to “Each story will be told through a wrapping one around my wrist. He Fan’s autobiography that was pub­ Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on Nov different art form — a contemporary always saved a seat for me in the lished by Yilin Press in October and What we want to present to the audience are 25 and then onto Beijing on Dec 24. dance work, a play and a musical,” library. During the days when we has been adapted to form part of “The violin concerto Butterfly says director Xu. “What we want to lived apart, he wrote me lots of let­ Eternity: Butterfly Lovers, a stage stories about true love, which is not an Lovers is a celebration of true love, present to the audience are stories ters, which were a great comfort production written to mark the outdated concept, even nowadays.” which is about dedication, uncondi­ about true love, which is not an out­ and helped me to get through those 60th anniversary of the well­known tional love, understanding and fac­ dated concept, even nowadays.” difficult times. My husband was Chinese violin concerto Butterfly Xu Jun, director ing adversity together,” says Yu very romantic although he never Lovers. Lina, 79, the creator of the show, Contact the writer at said ‘I love you’ to me.” The show will premiere in Shang­ during an event in Beijing. [email protected] Japanese audience applauds Chinese classical performance

By CHEN NAN phonic music with Chinese ethnic Xia studied piano as a child and rary piece Song of the Ocean and folk music.” graduated from the Central Conserv­ Sky, which paints beautiful scenes of Japanese classical music lovers The New Japan Philharmonic was atory of Music with a major in con­ southern Chinese villages. have a deep appreciation for the founded in 1972 by conductor Seiji ducting. He has been working with During the encore, musicians per­ works of Chinese composers, giving Ozawa. China Philharmonic since 2007. formed a well­known Japanese a standing ovation to the New Japan “It was also a risky idea, because During the second half of the con­ song, Flowers Will Bloom, which Philharmonic orchestra at a recent usually when we perform abroad, it cert, erhu player Jiang Jianhua, who turned the audience in the concert concert. Playing under the baton of is Western composers’ works that has been performing and living in hall into a large choir. Xia Xiaotang, principal conductor of receive warm feedback from the Japan since the 1980s, performed “The Japanese musicians inter­ China Philharmonic, the New Japan audience.” Red Plum Capriccio, composed by preted each note with accuracy and Philharmonic delivered a special The obvious appreciation for the Wu Houyuan in 1980 for erhu and they presented this contemporary performance in Japan, marking the music and the long ovation surprised symphony orchestra. piece well. The sound in the hall was 70th anniversary of the founding of Xia. “It proves music’s unique ability Then, Chinese composer Zhao great,” says composer Ye, who is also the People’s Republic of China titled, to transcend national borders.” Jiping’s work, which combines tra­ the chairman of the Chinese Musi­ China Day. During the first half of the concert, ditional Chinese opera with folk cians Association. More than 1,300 audience mem­ the orchestra performed The Sun songs of Northwest China, painted a China Philharmonic kicked off a bers filled the Tokyo Opera City Con­ Shines on Taxkorgan, written by musical picture of the ancient Silk world tour in September to celebrate cert Hall on Oct 22 to hear the Chinese composer Chen Gang in The New Japan Philharmonic orchestra plays Chinese composers’ Road. the 70th anniversary of the PRC, special program that opened with 1976 and inspired by folk music of works under the baton of Xia Xiaotang, principal conductor of China “I enjoyed the opening piece very during which it has performed with Ode to the Red Flag, written by Chi­ Taxkorgan, Northwest China’s Xinji­ Philharmonic, at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall on Oct 22. much, it was very oriental. The world­leading symphony orchestras. nese composer Lyu Qiming in 1965 ang Uygur autonomous region, and PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY sound of violin, along with the The first concert was performed and premiered in Shanghai the same Pastoral Song, written by Sha Han­ orchestra, made the whole piece with Chinese conductor Xu Zhong year. kun in 1953 while he was a student at When Xia led the orchestra to per­ ble pieces is Spring Morning of the powerful,” said one Japanese audi­ and the Royal Philharmonic Orches­ “When we prepared the reperto­ the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. form Spring Morning of the Pamirs Pamirs, in which he portrays the ence member after the concert to tra in London on Sept 16, followed ries, we wanted to portray China Sha wrote the piece as a homage to — the first episode of the symphonic snow­covered mountains and lakes China Central Television. “The by collaborations with the Philadel­ through music,” says Xia, who urtiin duu, a traditional folk long suite, Tune of the Silk Road com­ of the Pamir Plateau,” recalls the music pieces combine Western sym­ phia Orchestra, the Mariinsky worked with the New Japan Philhar­ song of the Inner Mongolia autono­ posed by his father, Xia Zhongtang, 38­year­old maestro. phonic music with unique elements Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica monic for the first time. “The pro­ mous region. in 1992 — it was an emotional “Whenever I conduct this piece, from China, which is picturesque della Scala and Orchestre National gram, featuring pieces written by Chinese violinist Lyu Siqing moment. it takes me back to my childhood, and vivid.” du Capitole de Toulouse. Chinese Chinese composers of different gen­ played as soloist with the orchestra “I grew up listening to my father’s which is very personal and inti­ The concert closed with Chinese conductors, including Tan Dun and erations, combines Western sym­ on the two pieces. work and one of the most memora­ mate,” Xia says. composer Ye Xiaogang’s contempo­ Tang Muhai, joined the tour.