CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Friday, March 12, 2021 | 17 LIFE
Keeping the show on the road Artists find innovative ways to entertain audiences in challenging circumstances, Chen Nan reports.
Xi’an Symphony Orchestra holds a concert on the west peak of Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi province, on July 4, 2020. The concert, titled XSO Meets Huashan Mountain Summit Clouds Rhapsody, which streamed live, attracted over 50 million viewers. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
t may not be the final curtain, Evolving traditions but the coronavirus pandemic Traditional Chinese art forms also and various safety precautions faced challenges brought by the have had a huge impact on the virus. Iperforming arts. Audiences have Due to the pandemic, a popular been encouraged to stay at home venue in the capital’s downtown for and not gather indoors. Venues have xiangsheng, or crosstalk, perform closed. Performances have been ances, closed down, much to the dis canceled or postponed. may of its owner and founder Gao However, artists know more than Xiaopan. Gao, himself a xiangsheng anyone that the show must go on. performer, has been practicing the They have found alternative ways to art since he was 8. He founded the connect with their audiences with Beijingbased Hiphop Crosstalk various online events. Club, a performing troupe popular Since early February 2020, the among young people due to its crea Xi’an Symphony Orchestra has been tive way of giving the art form a mod finding creative ways to engage with ern twist. its audience. Within two months the Launched in 2013, the small thea orchestra chorus presented about 80 ter is situated in Jiaodaokou, a popu shows via livestream and the sym lous hutong, or alleyway, area near phony orchestra performed 11 online the Drum Tower and Nanluoguxiang, shows. The shows have attracted both popular tourist attractions. more than 23 million online viewers Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, in total. it attracted audiences of about 200 To their surprise, their online pro people every weeknight, and even grams not only stabilized their rela more on weekends. tionship with their audience but also “I was depressed when all the helped build a new fan base. shows were canceled due to the out The symphony orchestra, which break. However, I didn’t expect the was founded in 2012 in Shaanxi prov situation to worsen,” says Gao, 35. ince, is home to musicians from On March 28, 2020, Gao and around the country, most of whom xiangsheng performers from the are younger than 30. club held their first online show on “We had to figure out ways to keep Douyin, one of the country’s most in touch with our fans since many of popular shortvideo platforms. The our live performances were canceled debut performance was watched by due to the pandemic, which was very more than 1.2 million people, far disappointing,” says Cao Jiwen, beyond Gao’s expectations. branding director of the Xi’an orches “It was all new to me, as I had rare tra. “For us, it was a new experience ly watched shows streamed online to launch online the programs since before I started to do it myself,” he our musicians usually perform in says. “But, when I realized that this front of a live audience. With the first Performing in that concert are conductor Tang Muhai (top left) and a female choir (top right) of the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, and artists was a way to connect with audiences, online concert, we saw many fans, (above right) from Huayin Laoqiang, a local opera troupe. Above left: Erhu player Song Fei performs with the Beijing Chinese Orchestra at a I decided to do it every day.” who may have never listened to clas concert held at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Feb 27. The livestreamed concert has been viewed over 30 million Shen Lihui, founder of Modern sical music before, become interested times. Sky, echoes Gao’s idea. in the genre. It’s an unexpected “Online streaming seems to be our reward. We then tried to come up only choice currently to keep the with more ideas to get classical music As well as online indoor concerts, Orchestra in performing English Feb 22 to 28, 2020, nearly 100 acts, friends. I like reading the messages music playing,” says Shen. The com closer to more people.” the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra also composer Edward Elgar’s piece, Sal including ChineseAmerican rapper fans tap out on the screen. I also pany also launched online concerts The fact that online concerts are a put on outdoor performances at icon ut d’Amour. The orchestra released a Victor Ma, and pop rock band Dada, respond to their questions. It’s a fresh using a payperview model to sup solution for symphony orchestras to ic sites in the province. For example, a series of online concerts before it joined in the second round of online experience for us,” says Cao. port indie rock musicians with all the connect with their fans also inspired concert, titled XSO Meets Huashan gave its first public performance in performances. The total number of The pandemic also became a revenue going to the bands. musicians to design shows specifical Mountain Summit Clouds Rhapso front of a live audience on July 31, views exceeded 2 million. source of inspiration to indie musi Artists of Peking Opera, known as ly for online audiences. dy, took place in July 2020, which 2020, at the Forbidden City Concert “We would often perform at small cians. On Feb 25, 2020, singersong jingju in Chinese, a 200yearold In April and May 2020, the orches saw more than 200 musicians from Hall in Beijing. live music venues in front of fans, writer Peng Lei, the frontman of ancient art form, also made use of tra launched a series of online con the orchestra, under the baton of con who sang along with us and cheered Beijingbased rock band New Pants, social media platforms to get certs by working with major video ductor Tang Muhai, perform on Independent movement loudly. When performances moved released a new single, Just Dance, through the crisis brought by the sites Youku and Bilibili, which are Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi prov For the country’s indie musicians, online, I spent some time adjusting Wherever You Can, on social media pandemic. For example, 16 Peking popular among younger users. The ince, one of China’s five most famous the pandemic has left them jobless as to the new way of interacting with platform Sina Weibo, hoping to bring Opera companies from around the online concert series, When Museum mountains, known for its pictur financial problems mounted with the fans,” says Cao Shi, founder and lead cheer to fans with its upbeat message. country, such as the National Peking Meets XSO, was staged at museums esque, steep and perilous peaks. loss of income from tours. On Feb 4, vocalist with Chinese rock band In the music video, the singer Opera Company, the Hubei Provin in Shaanxi province, such as the Over 50 million people watched 2020, Modern Sky, one of the biggest Black Head, who also joined Mod songwriter performs with his guitar cial China Peking Opera and Tianjin Shaanxi History Museum, the the virtual concert. record companies of China, which is ern Sky’s online streaming pro against the backdrop of his living Jingju Theatre Company, launched Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum “If there is one good thing that has home to over 100 indie rock bands, gram. room and balcony. The video was an online program, which offered Site Museum, and the Xi’an Museum. come of this pandemic, it’s that peo launched an online streaming pro As well as singing and playing gui viewed more than 1.2 million times, audiences online streaming of 26 A team from the orchestra shot ple are desperately longing to hear gram, titled Hi, I Am at Home Too. tar, Cao also shared his daily life at and the lyrics record Peng’s exis classic and contemporary Peking videos of the museums and items on music performed live again. It is as More than 70 indie music groups, home during the lockdown, such as tence at the time, which was just like Opera pieces from Aug 8 to Sept 4, display, which were broadcast during though many only now fully appreci including pop rock band New Pants, cooking and exercising. that of many people, who had to stay 2020. the concerts. Millions of viewers ate just how much of a gift music is,” joined in the first round of online per “It feels more intimate when I at home to contain the spread of the watched the When Museum Meets says conductor Li Biao, who, on Feb 5, formances, which received positive communicate with the audience novel coronavirus, and his longing Contact the writer at XSO online concert series. 2020, led the Beijing Symphony feedback from the fans. Then from online. It’s more like talking to my for life to return to normal. [email protected] SinoFrench green cooperation symbolized by visionary ecocity
BEIJING — In an ecofriendly Up to January, the project that cov mental plan suggests that, by 2025, of CGN Europe Energy, a branch of 2010. The facility boasts six turbines nership, the two countries have been demo city in China’s central province ers 39 square kilometers in Caidian the city will have a residential capac the China General Nuclear Power with a total installed capacity of 12 working together to tackle climate of Hubei, a futuristic, eyecatching district, Wuhan city, had secured as ity of 120,000 people and provide Group, or CGN, in Paris on Dec 31, megawatts. change and have achieved important building has become a new urban much as 38 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) 60,000 job opportunities. and referring to the field of wind Meanwhile, construction started results through their cooperation. landmark. in fixed asset investment, according The ecocity project will not only generated energy, Telot expressed on China’s first offshore wind power Former French prime minister The SinoFrench City Planning to official figure of the ecocity’s man help promote SinoFrench coopera his admiration, noting, “what sur project with foreign investment last JeanPierre Raffarin said in an earli Hall, designed by French architect agement committee. tion in energysaving technologies, prised me was that China has great October — a joint venture between er interview that China and France Denis Laming and preserved as a Small neighborhoods and a but also strengthen mutual political technological knowledge”. the China Energy Investment Cor have undertaken fruitful coopera local heritage site marking bilater dense road network, as seen in the trust and deepen exchanges in cul During the event, JeanBaptiste poration (China Energy) and French tion under the Paris Agreement and al joint efforts in ecofriendly city plan jointly developed by ture and tourism, Zeng Yingying, Breban, team leader of CGN Europe’s energy giant EDF Group — in the that China is an indispensable part urbanism, attests to the two coun French and Chinese experts, reflect associate professor at Zhongnan control center, greeted the students sea off Dongtai city in East China’s ner in the field of addressing climate tries’ close cooperation in green both French urban elements and University of Economics and Law, of the University of Versailles Saint Jiangsu province. change. development. low carbon emission features, says told Xinhua News Agency in a QuentinenYvelines, and presented As climate change becomes a In 2018, the ChinaFrance Year of The SinoFrench Wuhan Ecologi Ma Wangtao, the committee’s recent interview. the use of artificial intelligence and major challenge facing the world, the Environment, a joint oceano cal Demonstration City, initiated in director of land use planning and As for the green energy sector, digitization in the company’s safety tackling it becomes a priority for graphic satellite was sent into space, 2014 by the governments of both construction. China’s techsavvy approach took management of wind farms. global sustainable development and allowing scientists of the two coun countries, aims to facilitate Architecture in the ecocity is some French people, including Aude CGN Europe Energy has a wind one of the United Nations Sustaina tries to cooperate in the study of exchange of Chinese and French required to meet green building Telot, a college student in Paris, by farm in CharmontsousBarbuise, ble Development Goals. windwave dynamics on the surface experience and knowhow in green standards, according to the commit surprise. which has been propelling electrici Under the framework of the China of the oceans. urbanism. tee and the city’s 201827 develop While attending the opening day ty for 7,500 local households since France comprehensive strategic part XINHUA