DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Friday, March 29, 2019 | 23 LIFE

CLASSIC TALES GET A REBOOT Chinese opera series features two works updated for contemporary audiences, Zhang Kun reports from Shanghai.

ai Hsien­yung, a renowned Shanghai’s local Huju opera and a judge to have him executed, says Yu he says: “Today, we view her fate writer and scholar from contemporary percussion music Jiulin, a seasoned Kunqu performer with tolerance and look at things Taiwan will be presenting theater show of Mulan. and the deputy director of the Suz­ from her point of view — she is just two new Kunqu opera pro­ Pai’s productions of the two tradi­ hou Kunqu Opera Theatre. an unfortunate woman in pursuit of Pductions, The White Silk Robe and tional Kunqu operas are among the In order to play the role, Yu went love.” The Story of Golden Lotus in Shang­ most anticipated of the series this under the tutelage of Yue Meiti, a Liang Guyin of the Shanghai Kun­ hai. According to Pai, while The year. But the renowned writer and 78­year­old female Kunqu singer qu Opera Theatre is best known for White Silk Robe is “a grave tragedy scholar from Taiwan is best known from the Shanghai Kunqu Opera her portrayal of Pan. The 77­year­old of humanity”, The Story of Golden for Taipei People, a representative Theatre who helped him to find artist was first trained for this role Lotus is about a beautiful woman’s work of Chinese modernism. more depth in his expressions. when she was just 14. journey through deception and Over the past 15 years, Pai has The lessons with Yue “completely Recalling how she was picked for despair. gone to great lengths to promote transformed me”, says Yu who was the part, she says: “Jiao Huang, a The 81­year­old is the producer Kunqu Opera by designing a new primarily a jinsheng actor who per­ renowned theater artist, visited our for both plays which completed a aesthetic that can take the 600­year­ formed the roles of young men in school one day and watched us successful tour of Taiwan in Janu­ old art form to theater stages in the romantic stories. rehearsing. And he commented that ary. 21st century and attract young audi­ As for The Story of the Golden ‘this girl is a natural­born Pan Jinli­ The two plays, performed by the ences. Lotus, it is partly based on the Chi­ an’. Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre from In 2004, he created his first Kun­ nese classic novel Water Margin by “I was offended at that time. But Jiangsu province, will be staged at qu piece Peony Pavilion, which fea­ Shi Nai’an (1296­1372). many years later I realized that it the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on tured young artists from the Suzhou In this story, Pan Jinlian is a sultry was indeed high praise.” April 4 and 6, respectively. Kunqu Opera Theatre. And since young woman who is forced to mar­ Liang will present her production These plays are part of the Classic then he has done The Jade Hairpin ry a dwarf. of The Story of Golden Lotus which Chinese Operas Series festival at in 2009 before The White Silk Robe Renowned writer and scholar Pai Hsien­yung (top center) brings Then, unhappy with her disabled she describes as one of the most SHOAC. in 2016 and The Story of Golden his two new Kunqu Opera productions, The White Silk Robe (top and timid husband, she has an important plays in the repertoire of The showcasing of traditional Lotus in 2018. right) and The Story of Golden Lotus (above and top left), as high­ extramarital affair and eventually the Liang school of Kunqu on March Chinese operas at SHOAC has taken Pai compares the story of The lights to the Classic Chinese Operas Series festival in Shanghai. murders him when he discovers her 31. place annually, since it was founded White Silk Robe to ancient Greek PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY transgression. Liang’s disciple Lyu Jia will take in 2008. tragedies and plays by William For hundreds of years, Pan’s Chi­ the lead role in the Suzhou Kunqu According to Lei Wen, the general Shakespeare. nese name was the equivalent of a Opera Theatre production. manager of SHOAC, the festival is In the story, a young judge needs Traditionally viewed as a simple torn between his emotions and rea­ “morally­depraved and murderous Speaking of her role, Lyu says: “As the only one of its kind in China fea­ to make a difficult choice when he story of revenge and justice, The son, good and evil” when he finds woman”, but Wang Yueyang, the a new generation of Liang school turing classical Chinese operas. realizes that the man he has known White Silk Robe was given a new out about the dark past of the man playwright of this new Kunqu play, artists, it is my mission to keep the This year, the festival running as his father for the past 18 years is interpretation for contemporary he once respected and loved as his believes that “although her sins are play alive and popular.” from March 11 to April 20 is show­ actually a villain who once attempt­ audiences, especially the young, Pai father. But even when faced with the beyond forgiveness, her plight must casing 13 productions at SHOAC, ed to murder his birth father and says. evidence of the grim crime he com­ be viewed sympathetically”. Contact the writer at including Kunqu, Peking operas, forced his mother into a nunnery. In the production, the hero “is mitted, it is no easy decision for the Speaking about how he sees her, [email protected] Tribute to artists play New Dragon who shaped Inn to debut in Shanghai

By ZHANG KUN musical in the West, and he believes the opera’s story and pur­ modern art A new Peking Opera production, suit of aesthetics will resonate with New Dragon Inn, which has been audiences everywhere. By ZHANG KUN China have traveled to France in adapted from a movie by the same In contrast to the simple settings pursuit of their dreams, says Zhang name, will premiere at the Shang­ and choreography found in tradi­ An ongoing exhibition at the Long Zikang, director of the CAFA. hai Grand Theatre on April 30. tional Peking Opera, New Dragon Museum (West Bund) in Shanghai “The impact they had was unpar­ The 1992 movie starring Lin Inn will feature innovative martial reflects how 20th­century Chinese alleled in Chinese art history. They Ching­hsia, Tony Leung, Maggie arts moves and stage and costume artists who studied abroad have had brought back systematic methods Cheung and Donnie Yen is recog­ designs. a strong influence on modern Chi­ for art education and, more impor­ Two Sisters in the Parlor, an oil nized as one of the best martial arts Lyu Xiang, deputy director of the nese art. tantly, ignited a passion and ideal­ painting by Chinese artist Chang movies that was produced during a company, says the martial arts The exhibition, Pioneering: Chi­ ism for revitalizing Chinese art,” he Shuhong, is on show at Pioneer­ revival of the genre in the 1980s “As an innkeeper, she is used to team will perform new moves nese Artists Abroad in France and says. ing: Chinese Artists Abroad in and ’90s. dealing with all kinds of people, using specially designed props in Chinese Modern Art (1911­1949), Guo Hongmei, the executive cura­ France and Chinese Modern Art The new production is a joint taking advantage of them by any the play. opened on March 16 and will run tor of the show, says the first Chi­ (1911­1949) at the Long Museum venture between HYM Culture means. She is sharp and intuitive, “Audiences are no longer satis­ through June 9 at the museum nese students to study art in Europe in Shanghai. Media Co, which was founded by unrestrained and independent, fied with just an excellent vocal located in the West Bund cultural registered at Ecole Nationale Super­ PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY renowned Peking Opera artist Shi and often unpredictable.” performance,” Shi says. hub on the western bank of the ieure des Beaux­Arts in Paris, or the Yihong, and the Shanghai Peking Hu Xuehua, a veteran director of “Singing, performing, action Huangpu River. National High School of Fine Arts, Opera Theatre. film and theater shows, says and dialogue — this play will be the Supported by the China National in 1911. Guo says the early 20th century The film depicts a swordsman Peking Opera in China is akin to complete package.” Arts Fund of 2018 and jointly hosted “Of the 100 Chinese artists who was a time of exploration in the named Zhou Huai’an and his by the Central Academy of Fine Arts, studied in France, we picked the global art scene and these Chinese fiancee Moyan who protect two the CAFA Art Museum and the Long most important ones who made the artists were inspired by the modern­ orphaned children who are being Museum in Shanghai, the event greatest impact on Chinese art his­ ist ideas which fueled their pursuit persecuted by a power­hungry showcases over 160 works by more tory during the 20th century, and of the classical, realist and tradition­ eunuch and his elite army. than 40 artists. inspired more people to take an al methodologies of the Western art At the Dragon Gate Inn, the According to the organizers, more interest in the study of Chinese art world. heroes meet the innkeeper Jin than 40 of the exhibits came directly in the early 20th century,” she says. She says in search of artistic direc­ Xiangyu, who later falls in love from the collection of the Long Artists such as Xu Beihong, Lin tion, many artists revisited their with Zhou and becomes involved Museum, while the other 120 art­ Fengmian and Liu Haisu learned connections with Chinese philoso­ with his cause. works were borrowed from nearly about classical, realism and natu­ phy, aesthetics and art. The film, which centers around 40 public and private institutions ralism at art academies in Wang Wei, the director and themes of love and righteousness, and individuals. Europe. They later introduced co­founder of the Long Museum, also has fast­paced action sequen­ The exhibition first opened at the artistic genres such as oil paint­ says oil paintings by Chinese artists ces and martial arts stunts, which CAFA Art Museum in Beijing from ing, sculpture and drawing as from the early 20th century are one should provide the right ingredi­ Jan 12 to March 3. After the show­ well as other new ideas to Chi­ of the earliest and most important ents for a Peking Opera produc­ case in Shanghai, the exhibition will nese art that were then still limit­ works in the museum’s collection. tion, says Shi, who is especially be held in the Chongqing and ed to calligraphy and painting. It “It was because of them that Chi­ fascinated by the role of Jin. Wuhan branches of the Long Muse­ was also this group of artists who na’s art scene went through unprec­ “Jin is different from any other um. founded, developed, changed and edented changes, and stepped into women in the Peking Opera reper­ Peking Opera artists Shi Yihong (left) and Fu Xiru (right) will play Since the beginning of the 20th enriched Chinese art during the an open and diverse modern peri­ toire. Like a wild rose in the desert, the leading roles in the new Peking Opera production, New century, around 100 artists from first half of the 20th century. od,” Wang says. she is fierce and fervent,” Shi says. Dragon Inn. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY