House Of The Flying Water-Sleeves

Guess Who Are They!

2011-02-17T16:12:00.000+08:00

For those into Xiangju opera, make a guess who are they!

In the Mood for "Yuan Xiao"

2011-02-16T20:15:00.001+08:00

It is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year tomorrow, and that marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebration for this year.

The 15th day of the Lunar New Year, known as "Yuan Xiao" in Chinese, can be said to be the ancient Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, because this is the time of the year whereby young unmarried women can get out of their homes to attend lantern fairs, to be seen by young unmarried men, and thereby increasing the chance of finding their perfect soulmate.

In Chinese opera, there is quite a number of well known romantic stories set during "Yuan Xiao", and one of which is the short excerpt "Watching the Lanterns" from the Liyuan opera show "The Legend of Chen San and Wu Niang". In conjunction with this festive occasion, I decided to sing this excerpt for all to hear. But I am not going to sing just one role, but all roles in this excerpt. Hence, you will hear me sing Chen San (the male lead), Wu Niang (the female lead), Yi Chun (the maid of the female lead) and Sister Li (the clownish matchmaker), and also double-up as the backup singers.

Of course, this is all done for the sake of entertainment, and please pardon me if my singing is not up to standard, but I have already tried my best!

Yueju Crossover - Again!

2010-12-23T23:55:00.000+08:00

Well browsing the web randomly and came across this picture which made my eyes almost dropped out of their sockets.

Yes, it's a Yueju crossover act again. Nothing new already, I supposed, but then again, having Zhao Zhigang as Lin Daiyu and Qian Huili as Zi Juan just seems very weird!

Interesting Du Ma Diao Song

2010-06-18T23:29:00.004+08:00

I'm not sure if I've blogged about this before or not, but very long ago, there was this Taiwanese singer by the name of Lin Jun that sang a very interesting song based on the melody of "Du Ma Diao" (one of the major melodies of Taiwanese opera). Recently I happened to chanced upon a MV (self-made one of course) of this song on Youtube, and hence I'm sharing with all the Taiwanese opera fans out there. Enjoy!

Red Mansion Blow Wind Blow

2010-05-27T20:23:00.003+08:00

Lately I saw this clip on Tudou.com featuring old-time Yueju partners Qian Huili and Wang Zhiping singing arias from "Dreams of the Red Mansion". However, they did not reprise their respective roles as Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. For example, Wang Zhiping sang the role of Jia Baoyu and Jia Zheng, while Qian Huili sang the role of Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. How do you think they would fare? Watch on to find out!

Orchestral Nan Yin

2010-05-18T22:50:00.004+08:00

Previously I have blogged about fusion of liyuan opera and western orchestra. Well, now nan yin had done the same thing.

Recently, Xiamen Jin Lian Sheng Gaojia Opera Troupe's Wu Jingjing and Li Li had teamed up with Xiamen's philharmonic orchestra and choir to put up an orchestral version of nan yin drama "Chen San and Wuniang". Well, strictly speaking it is not really nan yin drama, but gaojia opera being staged as a musical concert. So you see the orchestra playing in the background and the main characters playing in the foreground, each having almost equal amount of limelight on stage. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of the video footage of the actual show, but here's a news clip of this event:

And here're the pictures of the actors in action. The costumes are nice!

Thai Drama, Chinese Opera Theme 2

2010-04-27T08:26:00.001+08:00

Gee, now I'm spoilt for choices. So it appears there is another remake of "Saneh Nang Ngiew", although I suspect the storyline is not entirely the same, that is done by Channel 7.. a glimpse of it here:

That Drama, Chinese Opera Theme

2010-04-26T23:09:00.003+08:00

Okay this is a very old drama serial titled "Saneh Nang Ngiew", roughly translated as "The Charm of the Chinese Opera Actress" (according to my understanding of the Thai characters to the title; I could be wrong!), but it only caught my attention just recently.

I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I know the main plot revolves around a touring Teochew opera troupe in Thailand. A glimpse of it for you guys:

Riding On The White Horse... Again...

2009-12-06T20:56:00.005+08:00

Not long ago I've posted about this singer Xiao Hongren who incorporated "Riding On The White Horse" (身骑白马) in a pop song.

Quite some time back, Amai had posted about Guo Chunmei who had done a Electronica version of "Riding On The White Horse" as well.

A few months back, a female singer by the name of Xu Jiaying had done a similar act as well (though she'd already sang it in a singing competition last year), which coincidentally was produced by the same person who did the Guo Chunmei version. Take a look at the MV here:

It's rather surprising how a simple 4-liner song in the tune of "Qi Zi Diao" can become so immensely popular among the Gezi opera scene, so much so that it is almost a representation of the whole genre itself. If Gezi opera is a nation, then this song will definitely be it's national anthem!

The Fashionable Miss Tao

2009-12-06T19:57:00.002+08:00

No, I don't know any lady whose surname is Tao. This title is but the main gist of a song from modern Yueju "Early Spring in February" featuring Xu Biaoxin, Zhang Weizhong and Zhang Yongmei. I quite like this song, titled "I Like You, Fashionable Miss Tao" because I think it is really cute and funny, especially the way Xu Biaoxin used English in his song (though it's only one word - "Miss", which was repeated over and over again as he sang about his infatuation with Miss Tao). Enjoy!

Familiar Faces

2009-12-05T22:14:00.002+08:00

This is a Xiangju opera clip by an unknown troupe (actually I didn't bother to find out what is the troupe that performed in this show), but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few familiar faces. Of course, these actors had matured a lot in terms of acting and singing, hence this production could jolly well be their graduation showcase in opera school. How many faces can you recognise?

Hainanese Opera "Traveling Down South"

2009-11-12T09:31:00.004+08:00

"Traveling Down South" is a very new modern Hainanese opera production by Haikou City Qiongju Opera Troupe. Having just been showcased in Beijing not long ago, it is going to take part in nationwide drama festival at Xiamen next month.

Unfortunately, I am unable to fly over to Xiamen to watch, but I hope this show will come to Singapore, for after all, this is a production about Hainanese ancestors traveling down south to Singapore to look for work. Hopefully the Hainanese clan association will bring it in soon. The pictures I've found on the net for this production looks promising enough for me to spend my money on the ticket.

Gezi Opera "Love of the Butterflies" Wins the Hearts Of Xiamen Audience

2009-11-09T21:07:00.005+08:00

The very high profile production of "Love of the Butterflies" co-presented by Xiamen Minicipality Gezi Opera Troupe and Taiwan's Tang Meiyun Opera Company was finally staged on 29 October and winning the hearts of many Xiamen audience members.

Written by famous Gezi opera playwright Zeng Xuewen, this opera tells the story of a pair of Gezi opera actors in the 40s. Yu Qinlin is a male Gezi opera actor from Taiwan while Yun Zhongqing is a female Gezi opera actress from Xiamen. (I'm not sure if Yun Zhongqing is a real figure, but for those who had watched "Shao Jianghai" before, Shao had a opera teacher who was also called Yun Zhongqing, but she was from Taiwan) They were in love and were about to get married, but Yu had to return to Taiwan to raise money for the marriage ceremony. It was during his absence that the relationship between Mainland China and Taiwan got strained and the ill-fated lover became the victims of the political situation. In 1987, when family members from both sides of the straits finally get the chance to meet again, Yu, who had waited patiently for his lover, was shocked to know that Yun had married to someone who had loved her, but whom she did not love after a long 30-year wait.

This production might have a chance to be showcased in Taiwan next year. I hope this show will have a chance to staged here too, but somehow I just have a feeling that it will never be materialised. So for now, I just wish that a DVD of this show will be available soon..

Lady Precious Stream Waiting For Her Husband For Eighteen Years

2009-11-09T19:42:00.005+08:00

It has been ages since I last bought a Mandarin pop album, and recently, I actually bought the debut album of Xiao Hongren. Interesting for me, I've never heard of him before, and never have I ever heard of his songs in anywhere. Some more, I bought it off the net.

Okay, you might be asking now, what does it got to do with Chinese opera (with such a heading for this post some more), and why did I even post this in my blog instead of my other one? Well, the reason why I bought this album is because of one song which caught my attention, and the title is "王宝钏苦守寒窑十八年", which translated into English is as per my title for this post. No, it is not a Hokkien opera song, but this song is somewhat inspired by Gezi opera, and in particular the plot for "Lady Precious Stream". Take a look at this MV for this song:

[KTV] 蕭閎仁 - 王寶釧苦守寒窯十八年
Uploaded by asiacitybeat.

Only a short segment of the song is sung in Gezi opera, but then I think it's a beautiful fusion of the opera with Mandarin pop, and I think he sings the Hokkien part very nicely. What do you think?

Tony Leung and Carina Lau Singing Cantonese Opera

2009-10-17T18:23:00.001+08:00

Just saw this video on youtube, featuring Tony Leung and Carina Lau singing Cantonese opera. Alright, their actions may appear awkward and funny, but nevertheless, I think they'd put in quite a lot of effort already. So, enjoy!

Xiamen and Taiwan's Collaborative Gezi Opera "Love of the Butterflies"

2009-10-17T17:24:00.004+08:00

This is a major news in the Hokkien (Gezi) opera scene, but apparently nobody has covered this before in English, and so I shall have the honour of doing it.

Taiwan's Tang Mei Yun Taiwanese Opera Troupe and Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe has signed a contract last year to produce a collaborative performance titled "Love of the Butterflies", which would be staged as the finale for 2009 Cross-straits folk art festival held in Xiamen at the end of this month.

This excerpt here is performed by Xiamen's Zhuang Hairong and Taiwan's Lin Fangyi for CCTV's mid-autumn festival gala not long ago. For those who understand Mandarin or Hokkien, do not be mistaken that this production is a readaptation of "The Butterfly Lovers", although the lyrics did mention the names of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. From what I've researched upon, this production is about the half-century long love story of a pair of Gezi opera practitioners who were separated by the Taiwan straits. Whether or not this production has got any political undertones to it, I'm not sure, but nevertheless I feel this is a major breakthrough for the development of Hokkien opera. No doubt troupes from China had frequently performed in Taiwan and vice versa in recent years, but as far as I can remember, there has never been a case of total collaboration between troupes from both sides of the straits, other than once a few years back whereby Tang Meiyun performed a duet with Huang Juanjuan (also from Xiamen) for a TV concert.

Hopefully there'll be more of such collaborations following this, and who knows, many other new possibilities can spark out of such collaborations, pushing Hokkien opera to greater heights.

American Singing Yueju

2009-09-16T13:05:00.002+08:00

I was searching the net for information regarding adapting an existing theatrical work into Chinese opera for History of Visual Arts module in school a few moment ago and chanced upon this video of an American singing Yueju:

I think he sounds great, not just his diction sounds authentic, his Yin-style flavour is strong too, much better than a particular "famous" Yin-style actress who always appear in the annual CCTV Chinese opera gala. Come to think of it, if someone of a foreign origin can sing Chinese opera so well, does that make us Chinese, regardless of whether amateur or professional Chinese opera actors, without an excuse not to learn to sing well?

Another "Thunderous" Chinese Periodic Drama Serial: "The Lotus Lantern: the Prequel"

2009-06-19T18:42:00.004+08:00

I believe many people (local) will probably know that our Mediacorp is having a rerun of "The Lotus Lantern" on channel 8 at 5.30pm on weekdays. Now, apparently, there's a prequel to this serial and is already showing on China's national TV.

As if "Dream of the Red Mansion" is not "thunderous" (Mainland Chinese slang for shocking) enough, this production is equally thunderous, at least to me. Here're the pictures I've found:

Didn't people complain about the half-evolved-monkey-like and "opela"-flavoured hairstyle of Er-lang Deity (human form) simply too ugly?

I personally find this outfit and hairdo acceptable, but I think she simply don't have the classic out-of-the-world look required for Goddess of Huashan (Er-lang Deity's sister)

Is she acting in Madam White Snake again? No, this is Goddess Yaochi, Er-lang Deity's mother!

This Yang Tianyou (Goddess Yaochi's husband, Erlang Deity's mortal father) looked too much like a beggar than a poor scholar

I think this personal maid of Goddess of Huashan looked too sci-fiction; a cross breed of Species and Cirque du Soleil?

On a side note, this show is like a "rojak" as well, as it incorporated plots from "Journey to the West", "Seventh Fairy and Dong Yang", "Ne Zha Creates Havoc in the East Sea" and "Investiture of the Gods". How imaginative TV producers in China are!

Anhui Luju opera: The Teacher's Salary

2009-06-16T15:00:00.004+08:00

Recently I saw this Luju short opera titled "The Teacher's Salary" as below:

This show has been adapted into Xiangju decades back by the late Shao Jianghai, but it is no longer performed for a very long time already as many traditional shows had been gradually forgotten since it's reform in the 60s. If not because of Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe's "Shao Jianghai", in which a small section of this piece was featured, maybe nobody would even remember there's such a show in Xiangju repertiore.

"Old Skool" Yueju

2009-06-15T21:03:00.002+08:00

Yueju has been around for a century already. Since the 50s when Yuan Xuefen started her own style of singing, many other her peers followed suit, and then started a revolution in Yueju. In present day, Yueju has already shed its "regional opera" status and became one of the major opera genres in Chinese culture.

However, in recent years, there has been growing concern within the Chinese opera circle of trying to preserve the traditional style of Yueju opera, which can no longer be found in major cities like Shanghai, but still triving in small towns and rural areas.

Below here is a portion of a traditional Yueju opera show performed in the traditional style by an unknown troupe in recent years. The relevant authorities had originally wanted to archive 100 of such shows in the form of VCDs, but due to lack of fundings, the project was stopped after producing about 30 odd shows.

Chinese Opera Myths and Facts: Wang Kui the Unfortunate Scholar

2009-06-13T18:00:00.003+08:00

In Zhaoyuan city of Yantai, Shandong province, there is a street called "Street of the Scholar". Not many natives know how this street was named, but historical record showed that this street was named after a top scholar of the region in the Song dynasty named Wang Junming, better known as Wang Kui now.

For those who have not watched "Wang Kui Abandons Guiying", the story is about a talented young men Wang Kui who was too obsessed with courtesan Jiao Guiying that he used up all his money initially meant to finance him for the imperial examination. In order to let Wang Kui sit for the imperial examination, Jiao Guiying gave him a sum of money she had secretly saved. Wang Kui felt indebted to Jiao Guiying initially, and vowed at the Temple of the Sea God that he would return to marry her if he made it through the imperial examination. However, the moment he became the top scholar, his character changed drastically and started to despise Jiao Guiying for her low status. He then wrote a divorce letter and had it sent back to Jiao Guiying. Jiao Guiying was devastated, and went to the Temple of the Sea God, begging the Sea God to punish the heartless man. The Sea God told Jiao Guiying that he was unable to do anything to Wang Kui because he was the top scholar and was blessed. Shocked that the Gods were not helping her, she decided to end her life and take revenge on Wang Kui personally as a ghost. After becoming a ghost, Jiao Guiying turned up at Wang Kui's mansion. Wang Kui thought that Jiao Guiying was still a human and tried to chase her away. Jiao Guiying showed her true self and had Wang Kui's spirit chained away.

Based on the above-mentioned plot (it should be noted that the Yueju version is slightly different in some of the scenes, but the general plot and the ending are the same), why on earth is a notorious baddie like him being honoured in such a way? The truth is, Wang Kui was wrongly slandered. The real Wang Kui is named Wang Junming, who lived in the era of Renzong Emperor. He was a capable official with a upright character. However, one day, he suffered from some strange illness (I believed should be stress and depression), which caused him to scream at pillars for no reason. He was under medication, but passed away within the next few years. His sudden rise to fame and subsequent death became topic for speculation, and the most "believable" reason for his death later became what we now know as Jiao Guiying coming back to seek revenge on Wang Kui (The word "Kui" is often used to refer the top scholar). What was unknown to them at that point of time was that Wang Junming had died due to wrong usage of medication and not of supernatural causes.

30 years after Wang Junming's death, renowned physician Chu Yushi, friend of Wang Junming, got frustrated with the slander made against his friend and wrote in one of his medical journals about the side effects of a particular drug, warning people that if they consume it, they might end up just like Wang Junming dying a "mysterious" death and being slandered for a crime that wasn't even commited in the first place.

Chinese Opera Myths and Facts: When One Person Became Two - Xue Ren'gui and Xue Ping'gui

2009-06-13T11:39:00.004+08:00

Since young I was quite confused with Xue Ren'gui and Xue Ping'gui due to their almost identical sounding names. Both are even generals from the same era, adding on to my confusion.

Xue Ren'gui is usually portrayed as the father of Xue Ding'shan in "Thrice Begging of Fan Lihua", and is a historically famous general in the Tang dynasty. Xue Ping'gui on the other hand is a well-known character in "Lady Wang Baochuan", a Tang dynasty general who was forced to serve the army, got caught by the Princess of Western Liang Kingdom and made the Princess Consort while his wife Lady Wang was waiting for his return by a broken hut.

There is no Xue Ping'gui in history, so how did this figure came about in Chinese opera? The fact is, Xue Ping'gui is derived from Xue Ren'gui himself. As a young man, Xue Ren'gui was a very poor man, and on the advice of his wife Lady Liu, he decided to join the army. Lady Liu had not expected that this move would meant that Xue would be away for many years, and before Xue was to return to his hometown in glamour, Lady Liu had already died of starvation by their broken hut.

This story was adapted into Yuan opera "Xue Ren'gui Returns in Glamour", and was subsequently revised into various folk opera shows. There are two rather possible sayings as to how the original opera became "Lady Wang Baochuan" as we know now. The first was that once upon a time, a wealthy family once invited an opera troupe to perform, and one of the shows was a revised version of "Xue Ren'gui Returns in Glamour". After the show ended, the matriarch of the family went up to the troupe leader to ask about how the story of Xue Ren'gui and Lady Liu ended, and was disappointed that Lady Liu had such a tragic ending. She was so grieved that soon after she fell ill. In order to make her well again, the family started seeking playwrights to amend the ending to a more joyous one. An unnamed playwright did just that, and in order not to twist the historical facts around, he decided to change the names of the lead characters, but still giving out hints on who the original reference was by retaining two out of three characters in the male leading role's name. Surprisingly, the martriarch's illness was cured completely after watching the new revised opera.

Another version of the saying was that after Xue Ren'gui's return in glory, the native folks in his hometown of Shanxi were very proud that a famous general was born in their district and hence wrote operas about him to sing in his glory. People in Shaanxi were dissatisfied with that, because Xue Ren'gui moved to Shaanxi after his rose to fame but it was the people from Shanxi that received all the attention. Therefore, people in Shaanxi wrote a new play based on Xue Ren'gui's story as a retaliation, but in order not to rewrite history, they decided to change the name of the leading character slightly.

Chinese Opera Myths and Facts: The Mutated Perception of Li San'niang

2009-06-13T10:19:00.005+08:00

The character of Li San'niang is particularly well-known in Hokkien and Teochew opera. She is portrayed as a bitter, strong-willed woman who suffered a lot for eighteen years without her husband and son by her side.

"Li San'niang", also known as "The Tale of the Rabbit" or "Reunion by the Well", started off with Li San'niang, the daughter of Squire Li, who married her poor cousin Liu Zhiyuan, and was tortured by her sister-in-law Madam Diao (in Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe's version, the latter role was change to Li's step-mother) after Squire Li's death. Frustrated with Madam Diao's behaviour, Liu Zhiyuan decided to enlist himself in the army, hoping to return in glory so as to provide San'niang with a better life. However, not long after Liu Zhiyuan's departure, San'niang was thrown into the milling hut by Diao, and it was in there that San'niang gave birth to a son. The heartless Diao refused to give San'niang a pair of scissors, causing the latter to bite off the umbilical cord of her newborn son with her teeth, hence her son was named Liu Yaoqi (literally meaning biting off the umbilical cord). That wasn't the end of San'niang's ordeal: before she was well enough again, Diao decided to marry her off so that San'niang will get none of Squire Li's inheritance. San'niang refused to remarry and ran away from home. Being too weak to go to the military camp Zhiyuan was in, she entrusted her son to her brother to be carried to Zhiyuan. However, the brother died soon after reaching the camp, and Zhiyuan could not find out from his brother-in-law where San'niang was putting up at. Eighteen years had passed, and Zhiyuan had married his god-sister Yue Xiuying because he saw that Yaoqi needed a motherly figure in place of San'niang. One day, Yaoqi was out hunting when he saw a rabbit and gave chase. The rabbit disappeared by a well and Yaoqi saw San'niang instead. Seeing how bad state San'niang was in, the curious Yaoqi asked San'niang about her family background, and was shocked when San'niang mentioned Liu Zhiyuan as her husband. With doubts in his mind, Yaoqi went home and asked his father and the truth about his identity came to light. Li San'niang was finally reunited with her family, and at the same time, Madam Diao, who had misused her inherited fortune, became a poor beggar roaming around in the streets. The virtuous San'niang forgave Diao despite of her shortcomings, much to the shame of the latter.

That is what the typical impression of Li San'niang is, but some fans of Teochew opera may have another totally different opinion of her: a vicious woman who tried to murder her family members. This is how she is portrayed instead in Teochew opera "Liu Yaoqi Succeeds the Throne". In this supposedly sequel to the above-mentioned story, Liu Zhiyuan became the Emperor but was soon murdered by Li San'niang who had wanted the throne all to herself. As if the murder of her husband was not enough, she even planned to kill her only son Yaoqi. Fortunately, Yaoqi escaped and was saved by his subject Guo Wei. Subsequently, after building up a strong military force, Yaoqi returned to the palace, had Li San'niang beheaded and had his foster mother Yue Xiuying promoted to the rank of Empress Dowager.

Looking at these two shows, it is totally absurd that a role can be portrayed in such opposing characteristics. No doubt a person can change in terms of character over time, but such drastic change is very unrealistic, and furthermore the sequel made little, if not no attempt to justify why the change in Li San'niang character. So, how is the actual Li San'niang like?

Looking at historical records, Li San'niang is neither the pathetic tortured soul in "Li San'niang", nor the ruthless power-hungry witch of "Liu Yaoqi Succeeds the Throne". However, her real background is highlighted subtly in both shows.

Li San'niang was born in a farming family during the Five Dynasties period, whereas Liu Zhiyuan, who was older than the former by 20 years, was a horse slave. Liu proposed his intention to marry Li to her father but was rejected, so he resorted to abducting her with the help of his friends. Not long after, Li gave birth to a son, and Liu, after serving the army for a period of time, became a Duke. As the wife of the Duke, she was praised for being a virtuous and thoughtful assistant to Liu when on one occasion, Liu had wanted to impose heavy tax due to the shortages of funds for the military but Li opposed, and instead forked out all the jewelries she had to be used for military usage. This move greatly impressed everyone and not long after Liu subsequently founded the later Han dynasty, and Li was made the Empress. The later Han dynasty did not last for long as Liu died the following year, and their only son, Liu Chengyou (not Liu Yaoqi), was not a capable Emperor, thus causing Guo Wei, the relative of Li, to rebel against the court and soon established the Northern Zhou dynasty. As Li had once opposed Chengyou from killing Guo Wei, she was spared from death and was instead still made the Empress Dowager. San'niang lived on as the Empress Dowager for a few more years before passing away at the age of 42.

"Li San'niang" was adapted from a Southern Play classic from Ming dynasty named "Liu Zhiyuan and the Legend of the Rabbit". The legend of Li San'niang was twisted as such most likely to enhance the virtue of Li San'niang, so as to "educate" how a woman of virtue should behave like. Probably too, that this show was inspired by a Yuan dynasty opera "Xue Ren'gui Returns in Glamour" as well. In this show, Lady Liu, the wife of Tang general Xue Ren'gui, endured the hardship of living alone in a broken hut for years while waiting for her husband to return from war. Another informal source which I remembered quite clearly, was a tale of a middle-aged woman who was so poor that she couldn't afford funeral fees to bury her late husband and hence had to sell off her new-born son to a rich Squire. The greedy Squire wanted her to work in his household too as a servant too, but she was not to acknowledge the baby as her son. Out of desperation, this lady agreed. Eighteen years later, this son met his birth mother by a well after giving chase to a rabbit. Curious about her identity, this young man asked her about her identity, and not knowing that this young man was in fact her son, she went on to speak about how she lost her only son. This young man was shocked that the account of the lady's lost son matched his own background, and after much investigation, he realised that this lady was actual his mother and quickly went back to acknowledge her. Judging from this folktale, it could jolly well be that this folktale had somehow fused together with the actual story of Li San'niang at some point in time.

"Liu Yaoqi Succeeds the Throne", on the other hand, is a more contemporary piece of work which I believe exist only in Teochew opera. I have no idea what the intention of the playwright is in writing this opera, but I believe it is a total deviation from history and is a defamation of the real Empress Li. It is a direct consequence of an artistic individual who abused his artistic integrity to write anything he/ she wish without a conscience,

Chinese Opera Myths and Facts: The Defamed Empress Liu

2009-06-12T08:47:00.003+08:00

In my previous post, I'd talked about the fictitious case of Chen Shimei that had been wrongly credited to Justice Bao. That is just one of the many urban legends that the great Justice Bao was related to. Another famous case was “The Case of the Cat".

"The Case of the Cat", also known as "Justice Bao Hitting the Dragon Robe", spoke of how concubine Liu substituted concubine Li's newborn son with a de-skinned cat, hence defaming the later of giving birth to a demon and thus causing her to be banished to the Cold Court (similar to being under house arrest in modern terms). Palace maid Kou Zhu was ordered by Concubine Liu to throw the crown prince into the river, but she hesitated, and subsequently passed the baby to Eunuch Chen Lin, who then had the baby sent to Nanqing Palace whereby the prince was secretly adopted as the son of Prince Xian. Ten years later, still without a heir, Prince Xian decided to let Emperor Zhenzong adopt his son as an apparent heir, using this as an opportunity to restore the rights to the throne back to the crown prince. Concubine Liu, who was by now the Empress, grew wary of the past when she discovered how much this adopted crown prince resembled Lady Li. She interrogated Kou Zhu without success, and hence ordered Chen Lin to subject her to physical punishment. Kou Zhu stood by her oath not to reveal anything and committed suicide. Thinking that Kou Zhu was indeed innocent, Empress Liu decided then to let the matter rest. Empress Liu then tried to burn down the Cold Court to completely eliminate her rival, but Lady Li escaped. Another ten years passed and Justice Bao, who was on his way back to the palace after sending ration to Chenzhou, passed by the district Lady Li had been hiding. Lady Li seeked an audience with Justice Bao and had her grievances explained. With the help of Chen Lin, Justice Bao managed to get hold of evidences of the evil plot of Empress Liu and her subordinate Guo Huai, and subjected them to their due punishments, hence restoring justice to the wronged Lady Li.

This story, like Chen Shimei's, is widely popular in Chinese opera and had appeared in many genres. However, there is one very discrepancy that nobody seemed to have realised: Justice Bao and Emperor Renzong (the child of Lady Li who had later become the foster son of Lady Liu and became the Emperor after the death of his "foster father") were born just years apart, but in almost all Chinese opera renditions, the Emperor looked very young (beardless), whereas Justice Bao is portrayed as a middle-aged, full-bearded man. How is that possible?

Side-tracking a bit, Emperor Zhenzong, Renzong's father, did have a concubine with the surname of Liu that made it as an Empress in the end, but there was not record of any concubine by the surname of Li. Emperor Renzong's birth mother, however, was really a lady with the surname of Li, just that she was not a concubine, but a palace maid. According to the imperial law, the palace maid was not fit to become an Empress despite having given birth to Emperor Zhenzong's one and only son due to her status. Accordingly, this son was to be given to Lady Liu to be raised up as her son because she was the next best lady to the post of the Empress.

Emperor Renzong did not know about his birth mother until the death of Empress Liu. By then, he had heard from several senior ministers that Li had not died of natural causes, but after visiting her tomb, Emperor Renzong was surprised that Li's corpse had not decomposed, and had in fact been given a grand burial like those of Empresses. It was then Renzong realised that the accusations he had heard were all false and that Empress Liu had did her bit in giving Li a posthumous Empress rank.

This is how the real story of Renzong realisation of his birth mother. As to how it had mutated into the legend as we all see on the opera stage now, I believe it had to be attributed to how ancient Chinese mentality of women in power. Empress Liu had became the Regent after Emperor Zhenzong passed away as Emperor Renzong was too young to handle court affairs. Being the woman in power, she had the authority to do whatever she wanted or deem fit. This naturally would make many of the male officials unhappy, and she had been constantly been compared to Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty. Malicious words of Empress Liu could have been spread during this time secretly among the officials, and some of which somehow went beyond the palace, mutated and became a totally different story. This urban legend was mentioned in the Chinese classical novel "The Three Swordsmen and the Five Mice", suggesting the highly probable link, and it was from this novel that this twisted "historical fact" subsequently became "The Case of the Cat" that we know of now.

Chinese Opera Myths and Facts: The Grievances of Chen Shimei

2009-06-11T18:21:00.004+08:00

You didn't see wrongly; the title is indeed "The Grievances of Chen Shimei", instead of "The Grievances of Qin Xianglian".

For those who doesn't know, Chen Shimei is the lead character and big-time villain in "Justice Bao Slays Chen Shimei", "Legend of Qin Xianglian" and "Chen Shimei Abandons His Wife" (all of these are in fact the same story with just different names). This story is very popular in Chinese opera and is the traditional repertoire across many genres. In a gist, the story is about Chen Shimei, a poor scholar who went to sit for the imperial examinations and became a top scholar, and after which he married the Emperor's sister despite already having a wife back home, by hiding his marital status. When his wife Qin Xianglian came to the capital with her children to look for Chen, the latter was afraid that his secret would be exposed and hence hindering his career, therefore he decided to have his wife killed. When Qin Xianglian realised that her husband had become a cold-blooded and heartless man, she decided to report the case to Justice Bao, and with his impartial stance, he had Chen Shimei tried and beheaded.

Now, if Chen Shimei is still alive today, he'd probably sing Su Yanrong's famous "哭声冤" ("'Innocent' I cried" in rough English translation) from the show "The Grievances of Dou'E". In fact, the real Chen Shimei is a far cry from the Chen Shimei portrayed since this story was first set to stage.

To set the record straight, there is no Chen Shimei in Song dynasty, the period in which Justice Bao lived in. So where did Chen Shimei came from? He's actually a man in the Qing dynasty.

The Chen Shimei in the Qing dynasty is a court official in the reign of Emperor Shunzhi. According to official records, this Chen Shimei was a native of Huguang, the same as the Chen Shimei in the opera shows. However, this real Chen Shimei is not a heartless man as portrayed. The actual Chen Shimei was in fact a very kind-hearted court official who would lend a helping hand to anybody in need. However, his kindness invited trouble as many people, regardless of how close they were to him, started to approach him for financial assistance. It grew so out-of-hand that Chen had to start turning people away. One of these people turned away was someone who had helped Chen Shimei previously while sitting for the imperial examination. This man, instead of empathising his difficult position, started to bear grudges with Chen. However, being a mere commoner, he couldn't do anything much, hence he decided to go by the despicable mean: spreading rumour about him in the form of drama, He began writing an opera titled "Qin Xianglian Hugs the Pipa", and in it he accused Chen with whatever crimes he could think of, and it turned out this opera became very popular, and that was what was to become "The Legend of Qin Xianglian" and the similar that we know today.

One very strange thing about this opera was that Chen Shimei was a Qing dynasty character whereas Justice Bao was from Song dynasty, which was a few centuries apart. How on earth did Justice Bao managed to slay Chen then? There's a very funny story behind it as well.

When "Qin Xianglian Hugs the Pipa" was first staged, it was a very short opera; the show ended with Han Qi killing himself at the temple, leaving Qin Xianglian kneeling beside him with a bloody sword. Because the show was too short, opera troupes performing this piece had to insert an excerpt from another show at the start of the performance. On this particular day, one troupe performed "Justice Bao Sends Ration to Chenzhou" before "Qin Xianglian Hugs the Pipa". While the actual show performed on, members of the audience became so emotional that they started cursing Chen Shimei aloud and wanted him to be killed. By the end of the show, the angry audience refused to leave, and the troupe leader was in a fix. Suddenly, he realised that the actor playing the role of Justice Bao in the previous excerpt was still in his costume, and decided to just push him back onto stage, despite both knowing that Justice Bao and Chen Shimei are obviously not from the same era. It turned out that the audience didn't mind either and the show was a great success. Due to these turn of events, the righteous Chen Shimei was heavily slandered and became the notorious baddie we know about today.

Hence the moral of the story: the pen is mightier than the sword; slanderous words can become "truth" if not treated carefully!

"Symphonic" Xiangju

2009-06-09T12:59:00.022+08:00

Sorry for sidetracking again, as I need time to arrange my information for Chinese opera repertoire myths. In this post, I'm going to showcase a small excerpt of "Symphonic" Xiangju. This time round, it is performed by Zhangzhou City's Yang Yuexia and Zheng Yaling.

This comes as a surprise since this excerpt was presented in an opening ceremony for some cross-straits conference and is being telecasted live over CCTV, China's national TV channel. If I'm not wrong, this is the first time ever that Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe ever appeared on national TV in recent years. Previously, it is usually Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe that had the honour.

Anyway, back to the clip. I like the way Yang Yuexia sang here because it sounded rather soft and gentle, unlike in live performances whereby the speakers are cranked up to such high volume that everybody sounded very sharp and shrill. However, I hate the musical arrangement of the music. The "symphonic" sound simply sound too much like a fanfare to me, and doesn't quite suit the excerpt. What was on the musical arranger's mind when he/ she did that?!

An interesting note: there is a Yueju fan in China who used to be rather put off by Gezi opera, but when she saw Zheng Yaling in this excerpt, she was totally mersmerised by her!

Vietnam's Nha Nhac Cung Dinh Hue

2009-06-08T18:39:00.003+08:00

I know I'm supposed to be writing on the myths and facts of Chinese opera shows, but before I do that, I thought I'd like to showcase this first: Nha Nhac Cung Dinh Hue musical genre from Vietnam. Despite such a long name, it simply meant "The Classical Court Music of Vietnam".

This form of court music was played in the Vietnamese court at Hue since the 13th century, and is heavily influenced by the court music of the Chinese Ming dynasty. What surprised me is that the Pipa they played is held diagonally (like in Nanyin) instead of the conventional vertical way, and they even have this instrument which resembled the "Si Kuai" of Nanyin and Yilan Gezi opera.

Chinese Opera Myths and Facts: Prologue

2009-06-05T20:37:00.002+08:00

Chinese opera is one of the treasures of the Chinese traditional culture, and through Chinese opera, one can not only immense themselves in the fine traditional folk musical and dramatic culture of the Chinese, but also take a peep into the history of the Chinese civilisation.

However, having said that, I have to put on a disclaimer: do not believe everything that happen on stage. Of course, I'm not referring to actors not really crying on stage or two stage lovers may not be real couples off stage. What I'm referring to is that whatever story that is happening on stage should and must not be taken as historical facts. Many so-called "historical plays", or shows featuring real historical figures actually deviate greatly from actual historical records, but many of them have been generally accepted as fact already.

In this series of posts, I shall touch on some of these historically-inaccurate plays, and try to restore the "truth" behind them.

Legend Of Daiyu

2009-05-14T10:44:00.004+08:00

I can't believe it; "Nightmare of the Red Haunted Mansion" has yet finished shooting, and now there's any drama serial based on the same classic novel, which is to be titled "Legend of Daiyu" is going to start soon!

Naturally, the general concern from the public this time round is how the characters are going to look like. After all, "Nightmare of the Red Haunted Mansion" had already created a big hoo-ha with the costume and character design, despite the fact that the designer for that production was an award winner master in the industry. Luckily, for "Legend of Daiyu", the costume designs stick very closely to the 1987 production, as you can see here.

Lin Daiyu in "Legend of Daiyu"

Original Lin Daiyu in 1987's production of "Dream of the Red Mansion"

Jia Baoyu in "Legend of Daiyu"

Original Jia Baoyu in 1987's production of "Dream of the Red Mansion"

Xue Baochai in "Legend of Daiyu"

Original Xue Baochai in 1987's production of "Dream of the Red Mansion"

Wang Xifeng in "Legend of Daiyu"

Original Wang Xifeng in 1987's production of "Dream of the Red Mansion"

Jia Yuanchun in "Legend of Daiyu"; the original character which looked not so similar as the original version, but still looked pretty "authentic"

Original Jia Yuanchun in 1987's production of "Dream of the Red Mansion"

It is much of a relief to me when I see these costumes, but then again, isn't it too similar to the original, and hence lack originality? However, on second thought, I don't blame it on the designer for designing the costumes as such. The 1987 production is such a classic that it is hard to even match up to it, and the general public has already fixed their mindset that "Dream of the Red Mansion" should look just like that. Hence, the moral of the story is that it is not always easy to remake a classic!

Nightmare of the Red Haunted Mansion 2

2009-05-13T21:05:00.006+08:00

Here're two video clips with regards to the above mentioned production. The first is a Taiwanese news report on netizens' complaints about the show, and the second is a promotional trailer of the actual show.

There is now even a parody website of this production called "红楼雷话". I think the parodied version should be much enjoyable than the actual production!

Nightmare of the Red Haunted Mansion

2009-05-13T15:19:00.013+08:00

This is not a very new news in China already, but I doubt many locals know about it. A brand new epic drama serial based on the famous "Dream of the Red Mansion" had been in production (not sure if it has already wrapped up though), and the costume design for the various roles had many netizens hopping mad, claiming that the designer had totally ruined the classic by giving the characters very unconventional looks. Here're some of the pictures I sourced from the net:

If without context, what do you think this picture is about? I initially thought it's Madam White Snake with her sworn-sister Xiao Qing and her son Xu Mengjiao! (Even the "datou" fringes resembled Maggie Cheung and Joey Wong's snaky makeup!)

A flopped portrayal of Jia Baoyu; netizens had complained that he looked more like Ximen Qing instead (or at the very least, where's his signature jade pendant?)

All female characters in this production has got "datou" fringes; makes me wonder if I'm watching Kunqu or periodic drama serial? Fine, the designer might want something more arty farty, but why make them so pale looking as well? Looked more eerie than classical!

Character portrayal for Wang Xifeng; is that a makeup disaster or did she suffer from some skin disease?

What's with all the double happiness characters all over her (Jia Yuanchun) head? Only one word to describe it: CHEESY!

"Datou" inspiration carried too far; like the Chinese caption said, it now looked more like a Da Vinci artwork than a Chinese classic!

This is supposedly Xue Baochai in her early teens, but I thought she looked more like Guan Yin in Taiwanese Bu Dai Xi!

Doesn't she look more like Mona Lisa than someone from "Dream of the Red Mansion"?

Visualisation for the scene "Nu Wa Mends the Sky"; I thought it looked more like Species...

Visualisation for Xiao Xiang Lodging, Daiyu's residence; sorry, I just felt it looked more like Oriental version of "Lord of the Rings"!

Madam White Snake in English

2009-05-11T20:37:00.005+08:00

No, this post is not about Chinese Theatre Circle's English version of "Madam White Snake". It is "Madam White Snake" in the style of Western opera. Yes! Western opera!

I was quite surprised when I was randomly web hopping again when I saw this news, that Opera Boston, a professional opera company in US, is going to stage "Madam White Snake" next year. I'm very curious as to how this opera is going to be like, because after all, Western opera focuses more on singing, and it's hard to imagine how they are going to portray the different mystical and fighting scenes. Will they include acrobatic choreography in this production, or will they replace all these scenes with singing? So far there hasn't been much news on these over the net, but I understand that the production team is trying very hard not to let this production be biased towards the Asian or Western community.

This production is going to be staged in Beijing as well, and there is also plans for it to go to Hangzhou, the "birth place" of this legend. I'm looking forward for it to come to Singapore; we just have too few opera performances despite having an Esplanade which was supposedly built for opera performances!

PS: The role of Xiao Qing, the green snake, is performed by a famous male soprano! This is interesting, because other than the Chuanju version (non-human persona), I've never, ever seen a male actor taking on this role before.

Guess who's this Tang Dynasty Beauty?

2009-05-05T19:38:00.004+08:00

I've been web-hopping (aimless surfing) again and found this video clip, extracted from the 1986 CCTV's TV serial "Journey to the West". Can anyone guess who this Tang Dynasty Beauty is? A clue: She had performed in a popular Chinese opera show based on a fairytale, and this show had been adapted by Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe a few years back. But do not play cheat by going to the video server to retrieve the answer!

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe is Here Again!

2009-04-10T13:05:00.005+08:00

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe is here again, at Lor Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple. Starting today, they'll be performing for 21 days, and their opening performance tonight is their famous "Butterfly Lovers". This show, adapted from traditional Taiwanese opera repertoire, Shanghai Yueju script and revised script by Xiangju master Shao Jianghai, has not been performed for ages, but back in the late 70s/ early 80s, this show was such a hit that the troupe once broke a record of over 300 continuous performances in a single venue.

Unfortunately, as my production for "Three Fat Virgins Unassembled" ends only tomorrow, I had to miss this show, and another show I like titled "Protecting the Treasured Baby". Hopefully these shows will be staged again during their re-runs towards the end of their performance tour!

Grand Lyrical Peking Opera "Battle of the Red Cliff"

2009-03-28T20:14:00.004+08:00

"Battle of the Red Cliff" is a newly-produced Peking opera (in grand lyrical style) last year, in conjunction with the opening of the National Centre of the Performing Arts. I'm not sure if this mega-production was a reaction to the widely popular movie "Red Cliff", but I have to say this opera is as grand as the movie, although the artistic direction is not quite the same.

Looking at the pictures of the grand set that this production has, it can be said that this production strayed from the conventional style of Peking opera production which uses the minimalistic and highly abstract style of scenic design, and that is great, because we have come to an age whereby we're constantly stimulated by images, and it is no longer workable trying to portray a dramatic battle scene with just 1 table and 2 chairs, coupled with brightly coloured and intricately embroidered curtains as a backdrop. However, I felt that since the prouduction team had invested so much on the set, they should do likewise about the costuming as well. A brief glance at the performance pictures it's not hard to tell that the characters are still wearing the traditional Peking opera costumes which stood out like a sore thumb. For example, all wen court officials were wearing headgears with long narrow wings behind, a style which was popularised only from Song dynasty onwards, and that's about a thousand years' difference!

Having said that, I believe it is still a production worth watching, although I have no idea if this show can actually hit our shores; the cost of bringing this show in will be quite a lot, and even if it could come to Singapore, the scale of production will be greatly reduced as we might not have the facilities to stage it, not even in Esplanade.

Reports on "Dream of the Lotus Pond" 2

2009-03-25T18:42:00.003+08:00

This is another news article on "Dream of the Lotus Pond", but features more of the concept. As I have not seen the actual show, my translation might not be accurate, but here goes anyway:

传统的《荷塘梦》不传统的呈现

《荷塘梦》在演出过程和舞台美术的处理手法上，以及人物塑造方法和服装道具的安排上都很特别。故事是传统的，但呈现上不是很传统，它不是写实故事，而是寓言式的东西，寓言和通常的戏剧不一样，不是告诉你真实生活，而是告诉你一个道理。全剧配合象征、隐喻、怪诞、意识流等表现手法和技巧，借用青蛙、荷塘冷月、幻影等意象构筑出既显又隐、神秘莫测的戏剧情节，而这一切实际上都是剧中主人公魏斯仁等被伦理道德观念沉重压抑而幽微曲折的心灵世界，以及他们对秦景仙落塘而死难以解脱的负罪心理的外部呈现与折射。在整部戏中，荷塘是鬼魅发生的地点，又是爱情的承载点，也是人的归宿。荷塘就是一个社会，《荷塘梦》引入鬼神、恐惧和非理性，给观众一种具有鬼魅色彩又具有非常强烈的道德批判精神的环境。吴晓江说，人和人之间的信任和不信任是很重要的东西，一出戏对人有启发，可以帮助我们认识生活问题，《荷塘梦》主题是在复杂和纷乱的社会当中，在任何人的交流中，如何理解不同人群的准确思想观点，如何了解人和人之间的关系，怎么在生活当中沟通和真正理解。

Traditional "Dream of the Lotus Pond" but Presented in a Non-traditional Way

“Dream of the Lotus Pond” has had a unique style of scenic, costume and character design. The show had a traditional storyline, but the way of staging was unconventional. This is not a narrative story, but a fable tale; it doesn’t tell you what happens, but tells you a moral. The whole show incorporated symbolical and metaphorical elements and surrealistic and stream of consciousness techniques, using frogs, cold moon by the lotus pond and notion of illusions and hallucinations to create the sense of mystery. This, in turn, is a representation of the distorted inner world of the leading characters like Wei Siren and the rest, who were oppressed by the burden of moral values, as well as a reflection of their unredeemable guilt by causing the death of Qin Jingxian. In the opera, the pond is where ghostly events happened, which was also a place where love blossomed and where people ended up in. The pond represents the society. The injection of supernatural entities, fear and illogical reasoning gives the audience not only the sense of supernaturalism, but also create an environment for them to make strong moral judgments. Wu Xiaojiang said that the trust and mistrust among people is a very important issue, and drama, being a good tool to inspire people and help identify problems in life, can help convey this important message through the opera’s central theme of interpersonal relationship in a complex society.

Reports on "Dream of the Lotus Pond"

2009-03-25T10:26:00.003+08:00

I am quite glad that someone took interest in my report on "Dream of the Lotus Pond" by Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe. I'm not sure if I'd have the chance to watch it, but I believe it would be a very different experience. To be honest, how often can one find a Chinese opera performance being stage outside a conventional proscenium setting (successfully)?

I applaud the troupe for taking this bold step to revolutionalise the opera genre. Come to think of it, in the western world of theatre, there had been so many different theatre movements and theatre genres through the centuries, and each movement or genre is a reaction to an existing movement or social changes. However, this notion of theatrical movements doesn't seem to apply for Chinese opera as yet, although I think the Taiwanese counterpart has been quite active trying to break new grounds. In fact, the fate of Chinese opera is quite bad as people find it harder to connect to this traditional art form as generations pass. I believe it is high time all Chinese practitioners sit up and do something about how to go about making Chinese opera more relevant to the contemporary society (and I don't mean blind substitution of the original language with another). If not, it won't take long before Chinese opera will exist only in history books. Perhaps we can emulate what Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe had done, but of course we still have to keep some of our existing repertoires, not to say totally stripping it of all its essence.

Anyway, here is a report on the performance in the original Chinese version, and an English translated version done by me for the sake of readers who don't understand Chinese. I apologise in advance if my translation do not quite sound right (give me a break, I'm not a journalist or professional translator!)

《荷塘梦》小剧场里独特上演
观众席与舞台融为一体，可以全方位“看到舞台上发生的生活”

8位演员撑起一台大戏，没有频繁更换的舞台布景和炫目的灯光。舞台和观众席在同一个空间当中，整个舞台就像一个荷塘，绿色的大荷叶，清水浮萍。而观众与舞台的距离近得就像掉进了荷塘里，演员就在面前表演，动作、神态、表情尽收眼底。当苏燕蓉饰演的秦景仙鬼魂戴着面具，挥动长长的衣袖从观众席前走过时，坐在第一排的一位小女孩吓得躲进了父亲的怀里。

昨晚，厦门市歌仔戏剧团排演的大戏《荷塘梦》在厦门文化艺术中心200座实验剧场进行了首次对外彩排。本月19日下午3点，《荷塘梦》将作为“海峡两岸民间艺术节暨歌仔戏展演”的重头戏，在同一地点上演。昨晚现场观众都亲身领略到了实验小剧场的魅力。舞台向前后两侧的观众席延伸，演员下场后就坐在观众席上，他们的一举一动观众看得清清楚楚。乐队也在观众席当中，连演员谢幕都要分别朝着前后两个方向。观众不是正面看到镜框舞台，而是可以感觉到自己正偷偷看到舞台上发生的生活。“很通俗，很接近群众，很亲民”，许多观众这样评价。

导演吴晓江告诉记者，将歌仔戏放在小剧场，是希望歌仔戏除了讲故事之外，还能寻找到更多具有现代意识的呈现方法。一般人认为，人多的或者投资大、场面大的就是大戏，人少的就是小戏，其实不是这样的。这是一个空间的概念，演出环境是假定环境，实际上所有空间都可以充分利用。在西方，小剧场就是实验戏剧的代名词，很多成功的戏都是在小剧场产生的。

Unique Performance of "Dream of the Lotus Pond" in a Black Box
A Performance Where the Audience and the Stage Blends into One

8 actors in a production, without completed scenery or dazzling light. The stage and the audience co-exist in the same space, with the whole stage like a lotus pond with big lotus leaves, clear water and floating plants. The relationship between the stage and the audience has been drawn so close, as if the audience had fell into the lotus pond, and that the actors were just performing in front of them, all actions and gestures vividly executed in full view. When Su Yanrong, acting the role of the spirit of Qin Jingxian, appeared on stage with a mask through the audience, a little girl on the first row actually got a fright and hid into the arms of her father.

Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe’s “Dream of the Lotus Pond” had it’s first open dress rehearsal in the 200-seater experimental theatre last night. On the 19th of this month at 3pm, this production shall be performed at the same venue, as part of the “Cross Straits Folk Arts Festival cum Gezi Opera Showcase”. Audience who turned up last night experienced for themselves the charm of the experimental black box theatre. The stage extended into the audience from two ends, and actors once offstage will be seated among the audience. Every action carried out by the actors could be seen in full view of the audience. The music ensemble was in the audience as well, and actors had to carry out their curtain call in both directors. The audience were not looking through the regular proscenium opening, but watching as though the drama was unfolding right in front of their eyes. “Very intimate, very direct”; this was what many members of the audience felt.

Director Wu Xiaojiang said that through the process of bringing Gezi opera into a black box, this production aimed to explore more contemporary approach to the staging, apart from mere storytelling. Most people tend to have the assumption that a “daxi” (major opera) meant high production cost or big visual spectacle, whereas “xiaoxi” (minor opera) meant productions with a small cast. This is in fact not true, as the theatre is a spatial concept, and the acting environment is just an illusionary world and in practice, any space can be utilized for performance. In the West, the black box represents experimental theatre and many successful productions were created out of black boxes.

Fang Yuan's version of "The Birthday Banquet"

2009-03-14T19:46:00.003+08:00

For those who are into Xiangju would probably know that there's such a troupe called "Fang Yuan" from Zhangzhou. Among the non-government sponsored troupes, they're one the better ones. However, as their target audience is the general folk instead of the theatre-goers, their shows tend to be rather lengthy. There's a clip of the troupe's "The Birthday Banquet", which was originally adapted from the Yueju version by Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe in the early 80s. As expected, "Fang Yuan" added quite a bit of lines and songs to the original script as well.

For those who find the actress acting the role of Madam Yang familiar, she was the one who acted as Guo Ai in "The Arrogant Princess". I think xiaosheng-turn-laodan actresses tend to have the kind of grand presence that usual laodan lack off. What do you think?

Experimental Gezi Opera

2009-02-08T22:08:00.002+08:00

Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe just went experimental in their latest production "Dream of the Lotus Pond". This is also a long-awaited new production ever since they started on their mega-project "Shao Jianghai".

"Dream of the Lotus Pond" is one of a kind in Gezi opera genre, or at very least in mainland China, as this production was not staged in a typical proscenium setting, but in a traverse stage. Staged in Xiamen Cultural Centre's Xianfeng Theatre, the actors had to enter and leave stage through the audience seating area. Surprisingly, the audience seemed to be able to accept this relatively unconventional way of Chinese opera presentation rather well, and members of the audience gave positive feedbacks like "very intimate" and "very direct". In fact, it seems that this form of presentation is very suitable for this production, since this show is not about narrating a story, but more of telling a moral. Unfortunately I'm unable to tell more about the plot as I can't seemed to find a synopsis or summary of the plot off the net. Luckily though, I found quite a number of rather well-taken photographs of the show in action. So sit back, and enjoy!

Taipei Fei Feng Yi Opera Troupe's "Dou E's Grievance"

2009-02-08T10:19:00.007+08:00

Yesterday was my first show of Tapei Fei Feng Yi Opera Troupe, despite them having performed since 23 January.

The show they staged yesterday was "Dou E's Grievance", quite is quite a classic repertoire across many opera genres. Being a street opera troupe, I am very curious as to how they would stage it. Fortunately, this show is still rather tradition, keeping to the essence of the original text. The only difference was that the role of Zhang Lu'er, the baddie character usually portrayed as a clownish role, now had a more suave-looking appearance. It was no doubt a very far off from the conventional portrayal of this character, I feel it is still pretty much acceptable.

What I like about this show is that the dramatic structure of the story. In most other versions, the plot moves in a straight chronological pattern, and the dramatic climax, which is the part where Dou E was executed, are located right in the center of the performance. This form of story-telling is problematic to me, because the plot from the climax onwards until the resolution, which is merely about Dou E finding her father and redress her grievances, lacks the heightening tension to keep me enticed. In Fei Feng Yi's version, however, the same climax was pushed to almost to the end of the performance, and following that immediately was the resolution. In comparison, the flow of the plot is much smoother, and I feel more engaged to the story.

Of course, that is not to say the performance is not without flaws. There're instances whereby actors wear watches on stage, and inappropriately dressed ensembles. However, being street opera in nature, one can't really ask too much in these aspects, since it's supposed to focus more on entertainment than artistic appreciation.

Ghost of Dou E; at first glance I thought she resembled Kim Boey of our troupe!

Dou E's father Dou Tianzhang; I supposed the actor playing this role is the troupe leader as she was the spokesperson for the troupe last night during the interval

I thought this costume for Madam Cai looked nice, but feels too much like a Manchurian costume.

Such a suave-looking Zhang Lu'er; can you accept such drastic difference?

Actors in action.

Actors in action (court scene).

Execution scene.

Surprising Jin Jing 2

2009-01-25T17:02:00.002+08:00

Jin Jing is one of the very few Yueju actress I know who is able to sing 5 different styles effectively. Here are some clips of her in action:

Jin Jing in Bi-style xiaosheng (fourth in sequence).

Jin Jing in Lv-style huadan

Jin Jing in Jin-style qingyi

Surprising Jin Jing

2009-01-25T16:01:00.004+08:00

For those who frequently watch Yueju will definitely know this actress called Jin Jing. She is a Qi-styled huadan, and Qi-style singing features relatively narrow vocal range and less decorative touches. In fact, sometimes it is even thought that those who could not sing high notes will end up learning Qi-style. However, Jin Jing proved it wrong by being able to cross-sing other styles and even the relatively more demanding Xiju arias. Here are two clips of her, the first featuring her singing in Yuan-style that is even more authentic-sounding than any of Yuan Xuefen's (originator of Yuan-style singing) direct disciples, and the second features her singing Xiju opposite Huang Huijing.

For those who are clueless as to how Qi-style singing sounds like, here is Jin Jing in Qi-style singing:

D.I.Y. Hair Accessories

2009-01-25T15:08:00.006+08:00

Haven't visited Daaron's blog for a long time and pleasantly surprised that he's now into making his own Chinese opera hair accessories. Well I like making them too, but apparently both of us have got our own sources of influence, so the kind we do are not quite the same. For Daaron, his hair accessories are more inspired by the more abstract Taiwanese style while mine are inspired by the more traditional style. Here're some of what I've done so far:

One of my first few creations. Inspiration was drawn from what Li Li wore for "The Birthday Banquet" when she performed in Singapore in 1986. As you can see, I was quite new to the art of hair accessories making, so the aesthetic sense is not there and you can even see wires wrapping around the base in an unsightly manner.

An improved version of the former, drawing a bit of inspiration from the Yueju-style slanted phoenix brooch.

Five-piece accessories experimented with sequins. The whole set consist of a central brooch (have to pin using hairpins), 2 side brooches and 2 floral pins with strands of beads (unfortunately 1 of the pins went missing)

Butterfly brooch made with mix of sequins and beads, inspired by what Li Li wore for Madam White Snake.

One of my most elaborate set, with one big central phoenix and 2 floral brooches with strands of beads.

Another elaborate set, but only 1 single piece. Looks a bit like street Teochew opera style.

A work-in-progress; hair accessories permantly fixed onto toupee made of wool.

A side phoenix made of sequins; originally planned to make it part of a complete set for "datou", but the rest of the elements are too difficult to reproduce, so this has become like a stand-alone piece.

Reflections of the Red Mansion

2009-01-13T07:51:00.005+08:00

Zhao Zhigang, one of the very few famous male Yueju performers in China, performed in a monologue, somewhat avant-garde like Yueju piece titled "Reflections of the Red Mansion" in 2006, and this show is what I'd like to share about in this post.

Unlike all other shows he had previously performed, Zhao Zhigang acted as himself, instead of any other characters in "Romance of the Red Mansion". So what's the link between himself and this classic opera? Well, the leading character of the "Romance of the Red Mansion", Jia Baoyu, grew up being one of the few men among womenfolk, and Zhao Zhigang himself is one of the very few male Yueju performers in the scene. This to him is a very big problem, and sometimes he even feels awkward. Hence, instead of trying to create a different perspective to the classic tale, this performance tells about the unknown pressure he had all these years as a male actor, and how he isn't very happy with the fact that almost all roles on stage are taken up by female actors.

I can understand his agony; compare him with other Yueju actresses in the market and one can easily see why he's feeling this way. Maybe some people will argue that his singing is too "effeminate" for their liking. Well, he may be sounded too "soft", but I believe it isn't his fault, since when an actor's mentor or peers are generally members of the opposite sex, one tends to pick up traits of them and incorporate in their own performance. Just like when I took vocal training with my troupe members in the past, I was also the only male student, and my coach (a female) commented that I was at a learning disadvantage because male and female anatomy is different and I had no one to take reference too. She also commented that it would have been better if I joined a class with more male students, or was taught by a male vocal coach. On another hand, if Zhao Zhigang is penalised for sounding too "effeminate", why is it that Xiao Ya, a female Yin-style actress (same mentor as Zhao Zhigang) remains highly popular and appears in almost every year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala? I think she sounded creepily feminine too, but it seems audience in general can accept that better.

Talent aside, female Yueju actresses generally are far more popular than Yueju actors, to a point that they're marginalised, and in some instances they are cast aside simply because audience prefer to see female actors taking on male roles. And it doesn't help by the fact that the concept of male and female actors to have equal performing opportunities have been implemented for quite a while now. Till then, like when performing "Romance of the Red Mansion", Zhao Zhigang is always the only real biological man on stage even though there were other male characters too. Therefore, who is to be blamed: is it the opera's fault, his own fault for choosing Yueju as his career, or the fault of gender-biased audience? I believe this is something all Chinese opera practitioners and fans to really ponder about.

Lor. Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple's 2009 Spring Temple Fair Performance

2008-12-29T10:56:00.004+08:00

Keeping by their annual tradition, Lor. Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple is organising a series of opera performances as part of their Spring Temple Fair this year for all Hokkien opera lovers out their. Over the period from 23 January to 8 February next year, Fei Feng Yi Stage Opera from Taipei will be presenting a total of 17 different shows each night.

To know more about this opera troupe, please visit their blog at Yahoo! Taiwan.

Chinese Opera 3-in-1: The Jade Flying Phoenix

2008-12-22T18:37:00.002+08:00

I found this on 56.com recently, about a theatrical performance in China which has got actors from Yueju, Xiju and Kunqu performing together. It wasn't a very new show already, as this video I found was uploaded early last year. This show, titled "The Jade Flying Phoenix", tells the story of Fan Li and Xi Shi after the fall of the kingdom of Wu. In this show, there're 3 pairs of Fan Li and Xi Shi; Zhao Zhigang and Zhao Haiying formed the Yueju pair, Zhou Dongliang and Li Shuxian the Xiju pair and Zhang Jun and Lei Ling the Kunqu pair. I'm curious as to how the producers integrate the elegance of Kunqu, the gentleness of Yueju and the meliodious nature of Xiju into one cohesive theatrical piece, but since no video recording of it is available either on the net or in VCD/ DVD format , I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for now!

Ma Lan Goes Nanyin

2008-09-14T16:34:00.003+08:00

Contrary to my other posts with similar-wording titles, this time round, I'm really going to blog about famous Huangmei opera actress Ma Lan singing Hokkien Nanyin! Well it was all part of a gala performance whereby famous Chinese opera (and may some folk music singers) get out of their usual opera and musical genre to sing in another totally different genre which they might not have touched before. I personally like Ma Lan singing Huangmei opera, and I think I should credit her for trying to sing in a dialect which was claimed to be one of the top 10 hardest Chinese dialects to master. However, to be real honest, I'm simply not used to her way of rendition.

Orchestral Liyuan Opera

2008-09-09T10:43:00.004+08:00

Liyuan opera has its own set of musical instruments which is not shared by many other opera genres. Therefore, it is very rare to have Liyuan opera collaborating with other musical genres, not even Chinese orchestra. However, lately, Fujian Province Liyuan Experimental Opera Troupe has been invited to perform in Beijing with the accompaniment of western orchestra. Take a look at it here:

Opera @ North West CDC

2008-08-31T21:27:00.003+08:00

Here are the updated posters for the upcoming Chinese opera series for North West CDC's Artsfest, which would be held in the month of September to December.

Yueju Drama Serial "The Butterfly Lovers"

2008-08-16T23:09:00.002+08:00

I finally found Hua Weiqiang's "The Butterfly Lovers" on the net. For those who do not know who on earth is this Hua Weiqiang, he is a famous Yueju actor from Zhejiang. Like some of his fellow mates from Zhejiang Yueju Company, he has very few works that has been made into drama serials or VCDs, and on top of that, he is a male actor, making him all the more rarer (Yueju opera has been dominated by female actresses in many troupes for decades already). I personally find Hua Weiqiang's voice quite nice, but it's a pity that he does not have a face to match. I'm not too sure if other people feel the same way as me, but you can listen to it for yourself.

In this version of "The Butterfly Lovers", Hua Weiqiang did not really act, but lend his voice to the actor taking on the role of Liang Shanbo. Although I had been looking high and low for this show, I know well that this show may not be good as I've heard very bad comments on it. Some netizens have complained that the whole show has been ruined by bad acting by actors who are not even trained in Chinese opera. After watching a bit of it, I find that it really isn't that good. However, my main focus is actually on Hua Weiqiang's singing, so other aspects are not that important for me.

A.C. Goes Liyuan Opera

2008-07-22T11:25:00.002+08:00

No, I'm not leaving my favourite Xiangju to sing Liyuan opera, but as a fan of the latter, I've always wanted to learn how to sing and perform in that genre, and apply whatever I have learn into what I'm doing now. Afterall, it doesn't quite hurt to learn more right?

So here I am, learning how to sing an aria of Chen San from "The Lantern Festival" from "Chen San and Wuniang". Somehow I just find my rendition very odd-sounding, not too sure if it's my singing or that the music, which was made using a MOD tracker, sounded too unauthentic.

jiangxi Ganju Opera: "The Centennial Love" - the video

2008-07-21T15:46:00.002+08:00

I had recently blogged about Jiangsu Ganju "The Centennial Love", and guess what; I've found the complete show over 56.com!

The female lead of the show, Plum Award winner Chen Li's "shenduan" was delicate, and she managed to effectively display and switch between different emotions. Not forgetting that it wasn't an easy feat for an actress to take on a role whose age spanned over 3-quarters of a century!

Now I'm trying to see if there's any way I can get hold of the original VCD or DVD of this show. It's certainly a must buy for me.

Stylish Elements in a Traditional Opera Genre: Quanzhou Liyuan Opera

2008-07-21T11:12:00.004+08:00

Quanzhou's Liyuan opera may be one of the oldest existing form of Chinese opera in China, but it doesn't mean that they are so traditional to the point they become old-fashion. At least not in terms of character makeup (costume and hairdo). Instead of spotting regular "datou" on female roles as in more traditional opera genres like Peking opera and Cantonese opera, Liyuan opera had gone through a fair bit of "cosmetic surgery" to inject some modern elements in their character portrayal. Below are some pictures taken during Fujian Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe's performance at Taiwan earlier this year. The troupe performed an excerpt from "Li Yaxian" for the opening of Koxinga Festival.

Actually, the "datou" system of hairdo has not been completely removed from Liyuan opera, but their style of "datou" is very different from other opera genre; some featured sharp pointed fringes, some had slanted gelled fringes, and typical the actors do not decorate their hair as elaborate as other opera genres, hence creating a more minimalist and elegant look. Here are some other character portrayals from other shows by the same troupe.

"The Teacher, The Thief": an Old Recording 2

2008-07-21T11:07:00.003+08:00

Fellow opera troupe mate XJ was very interested in my previous post on an old recording of "The Teacher, The Thief" by Zhangzhou City Opera Troupe (I believe that the troupe used to be called Zhangzhou Xiangju Experimental Troupe" back then), and hence I decided to put up a second clip here. What I like about Xiangju around that era was their "rawness" and full of local flavour. However, the main drawback was that the opera genre back then are not so well-developed, and hence there're many instances whereby I just can't connect with the show as some parts of the plot or dialogue just seem weird.

"The Teacher, The Thief": an Old Recording

2008-07-20T10:16:00.002+08:00

"The Teacher, The Thief" (《三家福》) is one of the most well-loved Hokkien opera show of the Xiangju genre, and is also one of the highlights of Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe. I've seen performances put up by other troupes, but so far none is able to match theirs in terms of feel.

Our version of "The Teacher, The Thief": the finale

Our opera troupe regularly perform this show too, and it is exactly the same, in terms of script and tunes, to the version performed by Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe in 1983 at Kreta Ayer Theatre. Some people may not know, but this version was actually the result of major revisions to the script to make it more concise; the original version, which was adapted from a Buddhist tale, was actually much longer and had more subplots. However, nothing of the original version exist now, except in the memories of some of the older Xiangju artistes, as well as some hard-to-get audio recordings. I was lucky to be able to get hold of it, and though it may not be complete, it nevertheless provide an insight as to how Xiangju sounded like before the 60s.

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe's "The Teacher, The Thief": the finale, recorded many decades ago

Jiangxi Ganju Opera: "The Centennial Love"

2008-07-20T09:43:00.002+08:00

Jiangxi Ganju Opera Company had recently produced a large-scale modern opera titled "The Centennial Love" (等你一百年). Though I have yet to seen the performance in full, but having watched an excerpt of it over CCTV-11 made me long for it.

"The Centennial Love" is based on a true story that happened in Jiangxi province in the 1930s. It told the story of a child-bride Dujuan who ran away from marriage to elope with her childhood bosom friend Yongsheng. Unfortunately, Yongsheng was already been recruited into the Red Army, and on the night of their wedding, Yongsheng was brought away by his comrades. Before he left, Yongsheng asked Dujuan to wait for him return, but he never did. Dujuan waited for her husband in vain and passed away in grieve in 2005, at the age 94.

Ganju is a very old form of folk opera. It's predecessor was the "Yiyang melody" (弋阳腔), which is one of the 4 oldest form of vocal styles in China. The tunes of Ganju are melodious, but also one of the highest-pitched. Ganju opera singing features lots of backup vocals, especially at the end of each verse, giving it a very resounding character, unlikes its more "gentle" siblings like the Kunqu opera or Liyuanxi opera.

The excerpt I've seen of this show was the part showing the young couple who are about to be separated on the night of their wedding. It featured quite a lot of dance movements, showing the young lovers' affection for one another, but at the same time sad that they'd be separated soon, without knowing when they would reunite again. Being very observant of minute details, there was a particular gesture which made me fell for this show: before the young man was about to leave, Dujuan brought out a pair of canvas shoes which she had made herself and put them on for Yongsheng. This may seemed like a very negligible gesture on stage, but it actually tells a lot of story; one could almost feel all the love, care and well-wishes being put into the ordinary-looking pair of shoes. I'm sure the show in its full length is as good as this excerpt, and hopefully there'll be a VCD or DVD release of this show soon.

Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Company Coming to Singapore

2008-07-11T09:45:00.002+08:00

Leading Taiwanese opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Company (明华园戏剧总团) is coming to Singapore soon to perform.

As part of the Moonfest for this year (mid-autumn festival celebration), the company will be staging their well-loved show, "The Immortal of Penglai" (蓬莱大仙), starring Sun Cuifeng as the leading character.

"The Immortal of Penglai" tells the story of a handsome, but arrogant half-deity Li Xuan, who offended the Goddess of Yue, and in revenge, the latter destroyed his mortal body while his soul was away. In order not to become a roaming ghost, Li Xuan had no choice but to attach his soul onto the body of a dead beggar, and became the more popularly-known "Iron-clutch Li" of the Eight Immortals.

This Hokkien opera will be staged at the Esplanade Theatre on 6 and 7 September, 8pm, and tickets are already on sale at SISTIC. Fans of Hokkien opera, please set these dates aside for this event!

Arts @ NWCDC: Chinese Opera Nites

2008-07-08T09:20:00.006+08:00

Once again, our opera troupe worked with Northwest CDC to present a series of Chinese opera performances at various community clubs in the northwest region from September to November this year. Known as "Arts @ NWCDC: Chinese Opera Nites", it was slightly different from our previous collaborations in that some other opera troupes were involved as well. and we helped liaise with the other troupes. I was delegated with the task of designing the performance posters as well as the event booklet for this series of performances.

THe troupes involved in this series of performances include: Er Woo Amateur Musical & Dramatic Association, Nam Hwa Amateur Musical & Dramatic Association, Kong Chow Wui Koon Cantonese opera Troupe, Xin Yi Cantonese opera Troupe, and of course us, Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe. The performance schedule is as follow:

Hokkien opera "Zhao Jingniang and Zhao Kuangyin" @ Chong Pang CC by Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe (2008.09.20)

Teochew opera excerpts @ Chong Pang CC by Er Woo Amateur Musical & Dramatic Association (2008.09.21)

Teochew opera excerpts @ Bukit Timah CC by Nam Hwa Musical & Dramatic Association (2008.10.04)

Hokkien opera excerpts @ Bukit Timah CC by Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe (2008.10.11)

Cantonese opera excerpts @ Ulu Pandan CC by Kong Chow Wui Koon Cantonese Opera Troupe (2008.10.18)

Cantonese opera excerpts @ Ulu Pandan CC by Xin Yi Cantonese Opera Troupe (2008.10.25)

Hokkien opera excerpts @ Marsiling CC by Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe (2008.11.01)

Hokkien opera excerpts @ Fuchun CC by Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe (2008.11.08)

Hokkien opera excerpts @ Zheng Hua CC by Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe (2008.11.15)

Hokkien opera "Zhao Jingniang and Zhao Kuangyin" @ Zheng Hua CC by Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe (2008.11.22)

Xiangju Opera Version's "The Three Scholars of the Zhang Family"

2008-06-29T20:25:00.003+08:00

Fans of Hokkien Gezi opera will not be unfamiliar with "The Three Scholars of the Zhang Family" (一门三进士), as it's considered a gem of the genre, and has been an all-time favourite among local Gezi opera lovers.

This show, however, is seldom performed in Xiangju version. Today, I was lucky to find one on Tudou.com. There're 2 surprising points to note: it's performed by a Xiangju opera troupe from Quanzhou (Quanzhou is not a strong base for Xiangju, to start with), and secondly, the songs sung are exactly as they were in the Yang Lihua version decades back. Of course, however, their songs have more Xiangju feel, for afterall this is Xiangju and not Gezi opera. Although this troupe came from Quanzhou, they do not spot the typical Quanzhou accent as like in Gaojia opera, Liyuan opera or Dacheng opera. The reason for this was because Xiangju opera spread there during the period of time when Xiangju master Shao Jianghai was recuperating in that region. Shao Jianghai started teaching Xiangju opera there, and since he had stayed in Zhangzhou long enough, naturally he spotted a Zhangzhou accent, and his students picked up this characteristic as well.

Shaoxing Lian Hua Luo Opera's "The Teacher, The Thief"

2008-06-25T22:35:00.005+08:00

Our troupe will be performing our most well-loved show "The Teacher, The Thief" (三家福) this Friday at Tampines East Community Club. It has been ages since we last performed this show, and I'm excited over it, because this is one of the very few shows which I play the lead.

In conjunction with our performance, I've decided to showcase another rendition of this show in the genre of Shaoxing Lian Hua Luo opera. "Lian Hua Luo" is actually a form of folk opera which evolved from street performances in the olden days featuring beggars and street artisans playing simple musical instruments, dancing and singing along. Anyway, my reason of showcasing this version of "The Teacher, The Thief" is not entirely due to us going to perform soon. I'm showing it partly also to show my happiness that our opera genre's show has been adapted into other opera genres. In the past, it usually that we adapt shows from other genres but not the other way round. Having our own shows adapted into other other genre to me is a very important thing, as it is an indication of the high standard the show has, and also it allows more people to know the existence of our opera genre (that is, of course, if our opera genre was clearly credited).

Declination of Creativity in the Field of Chinese Opera

2008-06-25T14:55:00.005+08:00

Lately I was very troubled with the decline of creative performance in the Chinese opera field in China. What I meant by "creative performance" is not doing experimental acts or pushing artistic boundaries; Chinese opera in general, at this stage, is still not quite fully ready for that I feel. This "creativity" is more on producing an original production, be it based on historical events, pure fiction, or even adapted from other sources. The reason why I'm feeling troubled, is that I started to see "clones" everywhere; clones of popular or well-acclaimed productions from one opera genre being copied exactly as it is and reproduced in another genre (with the exception of amending the dialogues and lyrics to suit the linguistic characteristics of the latter, as well as replacing the music of the former to those belonging to the latter).

Of course it is arguable that well-received shows would definitely tempt people to adapt them, and this has been the case since decades ago, but back them, most adaptation are restricted only to just the script. Nowadays, the degree of adaptation goes beyond that. An example I have on hand is "The Pearl Pagoda" originally produced by Jiangsu Province Xiju Opera Company. This production was not exactly an "original" one so to speak, as it was actually rewritten based on the classic Xiju version that had been made famous since the 60s or so. Nevertheless, it was still well-received, and some changes were made to made this production more in-line with the modern-day audience's perspective. Haicheng Chaoju Opera Troupe and Hainan Province Qiongju Opera Company subsequently adapted it into their own repertoire, and to my horror, they're almost identical, even in terms of costume design, set design, direction sense and artistic gestures of actors.

The original Xiju version by Jiangsu Province Xiju Opera Company

The adapted Teochew opera version by Haicheng Chaoju Opera Troupe

TV snapshots of the adapted Hainanese opera version by Hainan Province Qiongju Opera Company (they even used the same theme music form the original Xiju version!

I'm certainly not against adapting shows from other genres into one's own repertoire. However, it must serve a constructive purpose other than trying to cut down the cost needed to employ a playwright or save the time used to write/ direct a completely new show. A well-known Chinese opera playwright (sadly I couldn't remember his name) once said that if one don't inject any new elements into an adaptation, then it shouldn't have been adapted at all in the first place, and I strongly believe in that.

Jay Chow Goes Yueju

2008-06-07T21:49:00.003+08:00

Don't be mistaken by the heading; Jay Chow is NOT singing Yueju. However, recently (actually it has been almost half a year already), a netizen by the name of "Wei Ye Na" had did a cover of Jay Chow's "Ju Hua Tai", but instead of making a parody out of the lyrics, he actually sang it in the style of Yueju music, complete with a rather authentic Zhejiang accent. Take a look at the video clip before and you'll see what I mean.

I personally quite like this version, a rather nice fusion of "classy pop" with traditional Yueju. The person doing the cover has got a rather nice vocal tone too, and I wonder if he was even at least an amateur Yueju performer himself. Of course, being someone who had quite watched Yueju quite extensively, I found his singing a little less authentic; he was singing in Yin-style almost throughout the whole song (excluding the chorus part of course), but at one particular section, he suddenly broke into the Xu-style, an act no Yueju actor would do unless for special dramatic reasons according to the context of the script.

Zhangzhou's Chun Lan Xiangju Opera Troupe in "The Twin Justice Bao"

2008-04-12T09:08:00.004+08:00

For Chinese opera watchers who have been following our opera troupe's performances for over a decade would probably know that we once had a show titled "The Twin Justice Bao". Actually the title was rather misleading, although one part of the show has got a turtle spirit transforming itself into the splitting image of Justice Bao to create havoc, this was not the central theme, and since then the title had been appropriately changed to "Romance of the Carp Fairy".

Recently I realised that a Xiangju troupe from Zhangzhou, Chun Lan Xiangju Opera Troupe, had a show based on the same plot of this show, and same they titled it as "The Twin Justice Bao" as well!

Here are two clips of the performance. Not to say that our troupe has got higher standard, but based on what I saw in the clips, I felt that they are a disaster. Firstly, the male lead Zhang Zhen is a poor scholar, but the costume and headgear worn by the actress doing this role showed elsewise. On the contrary, the female lead, the carp fairy, who disguised herself as the Prime Minister's daughter Jin Mudan, looked too poor. And then the heavenly soldiers who were out to capture her simply looked like the average "human" soldiers, and if not because of i saw Zhong Kui the heavenly ghost catcher appeared in the clip, I wouldn't have realised that they were actually doing the roles of heavenly soldiers. Even then, the appearance of Zhong Kui is a flop to me as well.

Not that I value packaging over other aspects in Chinese opera, but I believe that outlook appearance (costume, makeup, hairdo), singing, acting and stage design are equally important, not forgetting that this is afterall a form of performing arts. Unfortunately, this is one big problem in many Hokkien opera troupes in China at the moment, whereby the troupes are more concerned over acting, and sometimes singing, but overlooked on other areas. This, I feel, is a very crucial setback in the promoting of this opera form, as it will make people think of Hokkien opera as a shabby, sub-standard form of Chinese opera.

Walking in the Rain

2008-03-16T23:41:00.003+08:00

Although this blog focus mainly on Chinese opera, this time round I shall talk about Chinese folk dance instead. Why the move, you may ask, but I have to point out that both art forms are very closely linked to one another. Ancient Chinese opera, for example, was developed from folk religious dance, and it is not uncommon to see dance choreography being incorporated into Chinese opera shows nowadays.

The dance which I want to showcase here is titled "Walking in the Rain". This dance was inspired by Puxian opera excerpt "Ruilan Walking in the Rain", and was performed by Fujian Province Dance Troupe in the 50s. Puxian opera has very unique sets of gestures and movements, and it's not hard for the audience to catch a glimpse of that in this dance. These movements were so delicate and unique that this dance immediately caught the attention of many fellow professional practitioners in the dance scene.

The Golden Phoenix

2008-02-27T19:00:00.003+08:00

Chiling Village of Zhangpu county is a place in Zhangpu county resided mainly by the She minority group. Despite it's relatively unknown status as compared to other big cities in Zhangzhou, it has found itself in the limelight after an opera troupe from this village, Jin Feng Xiangju Opera Troupe, became the top touring Hokkien opera troupe in Malaysia (as described in my previous post). Troupe leader Lan Yajin has now started a second opera troupe, and is planning to conquer other overseas venues like Singapore as well. I certainly look forward to that day!

Malaysia's "Champion Touring Hokkien Opera Troupe"

2008-02-25T18:56:00.004+08:00

For those who are avid Hokkien opera fans in Singapore would probably know that the "champion touring Hokkien opera troupe" (local ones excluded) in Singapore is Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe. Then how many know who's the Malaysian equivalent of the same honour? It's Jinfeng Xiangju Troupe from Zhangpu county, Zhangzhou. Other than geographical differences of their home base, Jinfeng Xiangju Opera Troupe is different from Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe too in the sense it is not a government-sponsored troupe. Can you image this: since the troupe's founding 4 years ago, it had performed 393 days in total! With such a glorious achievement, I really want to see how the troupe's like in action...

Teochew Opera Version of "The Teacher, The Thief"

2008-02-05T13:16:00.000+08:00

Our troupe has not been performing our classic "The Teacher, The Thief" for quite a while already. It's kind of a good thing for us, less our audience complain that we're always doing the same show over and over again! So here is a clip of this classic show, not in Hokkien, but in Teochew, by Tan Chor Hwee's troupe for your enjoyment!

Tang Meiyun's Female Impersonation

2008-02-05T12:49:00.001+08:00

Tang Meiyun is a renowned xiaosheng actress in Taiwanese opera. Because of her suave and manly stage appearance, it is very hard for one to accept if she was to cross over to take on dan roles. In fact, in one of her shows, "Qin Xuemei Punishes Her Son", she took on the title role of Qin Xuemei and the result was devastating. However, recently I found this clip on tudou.com, and I thought it wasn't that bad. This show was titled "Zhuang Zhou Tests His Wife", in which Tang Meiyun took on the role of Zhuang Zhou's wife Tian Yun. Her acting wasn't very outstanding, I would say, but I feel that her "manliness" was suitable for this role, as Tian Yun is not a typical feminine character, but a very tough woman who had to make a very head-splitting decisionas to whether to chop off her "dead" husband's head to save her" lover" (her "lover" was in fact the transformation of her husband, who had faked death to test Tian Yun's loyalty towards him), or preserve her husband's corpse and let her "lover" die of a strange illness. In this aspect, an actress who is too "soft" or feminine would be deemed inappropriate because it would not bring out the role's strong character.

Tang Meiyun as a dan

Tang Meiyun as a sheng

Wacky Pseudo-Taiwanese Opera "The Butterfly Lovers"

2008-02-05T11:43:00.000+08:00

Here're clips from a pseudo-Taiwanese opera show (It's actually Pili puppet show overlaid with Taiwanese opera soundtrack), and I thought it was real wacky. Enjoy!

A Clip from Gezi Opera "Shao Jianghai"

2008-02-05T11:23:00.000+08:00

"Shao Jianghai" is the most classic and popular show of Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe. It has even gained the reputation of being "the most classic show of a minor opera genre" by critics. Because of this show, Chinese opera practitioners outside Fujian province started to realise Gezi opera's existence. This show is also the first Gezi opera show to compete with other major opera genres to clinch the prestigious "National Project to the Distillation Of the Stage Art" award (top 10 selected works will be made into DVDs and released China wide). Unfortunately, it did not made it into the finals, but then again, it was a big achievement to even make it into the semi-finals, a major step to push this operatic form beyond the boundaries of Fujian province.

However, when there're achievements, there're negative aspects too. Since 1999, the troupe has been putting full attention into this show, having made up to 5 major revisions till date. This amount of attention has caused the troupe to put less focus on other shows, and it was said that other than "The Grievances of Dou'E", which the troupe had specially produced to take part in the International Hokkien Opera Festival in Taipei in 2006, they had virtually no new shows. A Xiamen friend of mine even lamented that for the past 5 years in Xiamen, all he can watch of the troupe was "Shao Jianghai" and nothing else!

On a side note: Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe is scheduled to perform in Singapore in around April, in conjunction with the birthday celebration of Lord Chenghuang at Lor Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple. Details will be put up once released by the temple.

Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe's "Shao Jianghai" to Appear on CCTV's Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala Once Again

2008-02-04T22:52:00.000+08:00

Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe will be featured in CCTV (China Central Television)'s Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala once again this year. This year, the troupe will send representatives to perform in an excerpt from their most popular show to date, "Shao Jianghai". This will be their second time performing excerpts from Shao Jianghai again on this gala, the first being in 2003. Back then, they performed a song titled "Garbage Soup", a light-hearted song from the opera, which was originally written by the late Gezi opera master Shao Jianghai for a real Gezi opera show. This time round, the troupe will be performing another excerpt titled "The Plowing Song". This excerpt is another highlight of the opera, which features actors using both traditional Chinese opera gestures, contemporary theatre techniques and modern dance movements to create the impression of rice planting in the padi field.

Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe is the only Gezi opera troupe that has even appeared on the Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala, not once, but 5 times, including this year. In 2002, the troupe had their debut appearance on the gala performing selection from "The Egretta Garzetta Goddess". That was followed by "Garbage Song" from "Shao Jianghai" in 2003, "Bride from Amoy" in 2004, and selection from "The Teacher, The Thief" in 2006.

"Rojak" Broken Bridge

2008-01-11T00:19:00.000+08:00

For those who are from my opera troupe would know that we're currently rehearsing a new excerpt titled "Broken Bridge" from "Madam White Snake". In the spirit of rehearsal, I've decided to showcase a version of this "Broken Bridge", but somewhat a rojak version. Why would I call it rojak is because this performance is a combination of Yueju, Chuanju (Sichuan opera) and Yuju (chief opera genre of Henan). The role of Madam White Snake was performed by Fang Yafen in Yueju style, Xiao Qing (green snake) performed by Xiao Xiangyu in Chuanju stye and Xu Xian by Tao Changjin in Chuanju style. One interesting part is that although the singing and acting was very much authentic, the dialogues between the 3 actors are rather funny, because the 3 characters are all speaking in different dialects and they don't seem to understand one another!

International Hokkien Opera Gala - Hokkien Opera From China, Taiwan and Singapore to Perform Alongside Next Month

2008-01-09T22:23:00.000+08:00

For the upcoming Chinese Cultural Festival, 3 Hokkien opera troupes, one each from Taiwan, China and Singapore respectively, will be coming together to perform in a few excerpts for our local audiences. The three troupes participating in this gala are: A Yuan Opera Troupe (阿源戏班) from Taiwan, Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe (漳州市芗剧团) from Zhangzhou, China, and our very own Bukit Panjang Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe. This performance gala will be taged over 3 nights in 3 different community clubs, and the details are as follow:

Date: 29 Feb. 2008
Venue: Tampines East Community Club theatratte
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: $10, $20
Programmes:
"The Secret Engagement" from "Romance of the Dragon Princess" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"The Arrogant Princess" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"Daiyu Buries the Fallen Flowers" from "Romance of the Red Mansion" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"Shanbo Bids Yingtai Farewell" from "The Butterfly Lovers" (Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe)
"Chen San Brings Water" and "Yi Chun Stops Chen San" from "Chen San Wu Niang" (A Yuan Opera Troupe)

Date: 1 Mar. 2008
Venue: Taman Jurong Community Club
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: $5
Programmes:
"The Secret Engagement" from "Romance of the Dragon Princess" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"The Arrogant Princess" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"Daiyu Buries the Fallen Flowers" from "Romance of the Red Mansion" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"Shanbo Bids Yingtai Farewell" from "The Butterfly Lovers" (Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe)
"Yi Chun Stops Chen San" and "Double Jealousy" from "Chen San Wu Niang" (A Yuan Opera Troupe)

Date: 2 Mar. 2008
Venue: Chong Pang Community Club multi-purpose hall
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: Free admission
Programmes:
"The Secret Engagement" from "Romance of the Dragon Princess" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"The Arrogant Princess" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"Daiyu Buries the Fallen Flowers" from "Romance of the Red Mansion" (Hokkien Konghuay Opera Troupe)
"Shanbo Bids Yingtai Farewell" from "The Butterfly Lovers" (Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe)
"Wu Song and Pan Jinlian" (A Yuan Opera Troupe)

Quanzhou: The Hometown of "Nanyin" 2

2007-12-28T12:40:00.000+08:00

Previously I've written about nanyin performances in the parks of Quanzhou every evening, and now, here is another video clip of the same ensemble performing another piece titled "Thank You Your Highness" (感谢公主).

This piece is taken from Liyuan opera titled "Zhu Bian", which tells the story of a Song dynasty official Zhu Bian, who was sent to the Jurchen kingdom on a foreign diplomacy mission and was forced by the Jurchen King to marry the Princess. When Zhu Bian refused, he was locked up, and after being persuaded by the palace maids, he finally agreed to marry the Princess, but only in name. For sixteen years, Zhu Bian and the Princess maintained a brother-and-sister relationship, and upon seeing that Zhu Bian was utterly unmoved by power and riches, the Jurchen King finally decided to let him return to his homeland. This piece of music is the duet between Zhu Bian and the Princess before Zhu Bian set off back home.

Lyrics:
（朱弁：）
感谢公主汝此深恩无比
念着朱弁刻骨铭心我须当谨记
（公主：）
记得当初伫许玉楼前
许时节我曾共哥恁相见
一心所望爱卜共我哥恁结成连理
谁知到今旦反成（於）参商两星
（朱弁：）
今卜有什乜路会报答
报答公主汝此深恩义
（公主：）
哥汝须谨记我哥汝今须当谨记
记得十六年来恩义
爱卜相见除非着南柯梦里
爱卜相见除非着南柯梦里

Rough English translation:
(Zhu Bian:)
Thank you Your Highness, for the kindness you've showered upon me,
I, Zhu Bian, will never ever forget.
(Princess:)
Remember the day when you appeared in front of my chateau,
I've fallen in love in you, and hoping that both of us will be married,
But who would have thought that we will get separated as like today.
(Zhu Bian:)
There's nothing I can do,
To repay Your Highness' deep love for me.
(Princess:)
My Lord, please do not forget,
The deep relationship we had for the past 16 years,
For we will not be able to see each other again, other than in our dreams.

Zhangzhou's Huang Yamei Gezi Opera Troupe In Action

2007-12-28T12:12:00.000+08:00

On the same day I watched Zhupu Xiangju opera troupe performing in one corner of Zhangzhou, I chanced upon another troupe staging their performance in another location of the same city. This other troupe I saw was Huang Yamei Gezi opera troupe. They're said to be not too bad too, but more Taiwanese-influenced. The main sheng of the troupe especially, though sang in typical Zhangzhou accent, has got a strong Taiwanese opera feel. The troupe's main actors are not too bad, but I can't say the same for their minor actors.

The show they performed on that day is titled "Empress of Two States". It's about the Emperor of Jin dynasty who was utterly uninterested in politics and hence suffered a humiliating defeat in war and had to marry off his Empress to the King of the invading tribe.

Huang Yamei Gezi opera troupe performing on a makeshift stage; though the stage looks dilapidated, the quality of their performance still surpasses some of the shows I've watched locally

Unlike Zhupu Xiangju opera troupe, this troupe uses projection scenery; this form of backdrop has got the advantage of being unrestrained by the size of the stage, but it takes up quite a bit of space, which could be freed up to hold props or set aside for actors to change costumes and do their makeup (the actors had to do makeup by the side of the road!)

The main sheng of the troupe; she took on 2 roles: Emperor Sima Jinlang and his son Emperor Sima Shuanglong

Almost every troupe, if not all, have got LED subtitle display machines by the side of the stage to facilitate understand of what the actors sing and say (however, sometimes whatever that is displayed may not really reflect what the actors are singing or saying!)

I don't like the actor performing the role of the eunuch because he's very restless on stage

See what I mean? I'm not sure if he'd dozed off or just closing his eyes to rest; whatever the case, this is just not acceptable for me.

Zhangzhou's Zhangpu Xiangju Opera Troupe In Action

2007-12-28T11:18:00.000+08:00

Lately I've visited Zhangzhou and caught 2 Xiangju opera troupes performing in 2 different places on a single night. One of which is Zhupu Xiangju opera troupe from Longhai; it is a professional non-government sponsored troupe, and is considered one of the better troupes of its kind in terms of performing standards.

I had not finished watching the entire show, but from what I see, the storyline is as such:

The crown prince of the Emperor is a brave warrior, but is reckless and always foul things up. His brother-in-law, the Princess consort, is on the other hand good at foreign diplomacy and strategies. Fearing that the Emperor would change his mind and decides to pass the throne to the Princess consort, the ruthless crown prince poisoned his father and tried to pass the blame to the Princess consort instead.

Personally I feel this troupe is not bad as the standard of the main acting team quite uniform. Usually in non-government sponsored Xiangju opera troupes, the male xiaoshengs don't sing well, but for this troupe, I find the male actor assuming the role of the evil crown prince passable. The female xiaosheng performing the role of the Princess consort sang and acted well too.

Main drape for the troupe

Troupe in action

The evil crown prince

The Princess consort

See the hua lian at the far corner? She's the troupe leader; one of the very rare few female hua lians in an opera genre whereby male and female actors share the same stage

Fight!

Freeze!

I don't understand why palace maids in non-government sponsored and amateur troupes like to stand in such an aggressive pose!

Another thing I don't like about some Xiangju opera troupes is that the hairdo for the huadans are simply too ugly, like this one here.

This actor, performing the role of the Emperor, is a multitasker; during scenes where he's not required to appear on stage, he doubles up as the cello player

Quanzhou: The Hometown of "Nanyin"

2007-12-28T09:32:00.000+08:00

Nanyin music, the classical music of the south, has got a history of about a thousand years or so, and is the oldest and most well-preserved musical form known to the Chinese presently, which still showed musical influences from the Han, Jin, Tang and Song dynasty. Quanzhou is the hometown for this form of music, otherwise known as Nan Guan, and every evening, such musical performances would take place all over the city in the major parks.

This is one of the pieces from a Nanyin ensemble performing next to Quanzhou cultural centre on one of the evenings I was there, titled "Why Did I?" (我为乜). This is a classical piece from the folk story of "Qin Xuemei", whereby unwedded widow Qin Xuemei (and her in-laws, I supposed) were lamenting that Shang Luo, the son of Qin's unwedded husband with another woman, is becoming unfilial and scolding Qin for punishing him when he's not even Qin's biological son.

Lyrics:
我为乜我为乜只处冷冷清清孤单
玉洁冰清我受尽艰辛望你成器
我只门前我只门前长挂有只旌表个金字
听你说我今听你说说出亲疏言语
言语亲疏阮今情愿子今情愿卜返去乡里

孙不肖致惹你娘亲心受气
商家只有一孙儿
日后若有差错
教你公婆今卜顾谁
所靠商郎夫你似颜回寿耽误阮双人
你在九泉何忍
我爹爹公婆娘亲障说
你在九泉心何忍
眼睁睁眼睁睁叫都袂应
玉不琢不成器不由人不珠泪
只处暗流目滓
看儿孙行动举止亲像我儿商琳伊来再出世
今旦日行无踪踪无影
日后若再相逢除非着南柯梦里
苦伤悲阮泪淋漓
火里莲花今旦袂得相见
火里个莲花今旦袂得相见

Rough English translation:
(Qin Xuemei:)
Why did I ended up in such loneliness,
Staying chaste and enduring all hardship just to make sure you grow up to be a useful person?
Because of you I've chosen to remain as an unwed widow,
But hearing you say such hurtful words today makes me feel like giving up all hopes.

(Shang Lin's parents:)
What an unfilial grandson you are, making your mother angry,
Our Shang family has got only an offspring in you,
If you're to meet with any mishap,
Who are we, your grandparents, going to depend on?
(Qin Xuemei:)
Shang Lin my husband, why did you pass away so early and made both of us your widow;
How can you bear to leave us alone in this world?
Jade must be polished to become useful; I have no choice and I'm not allow to cry,
All I can do is to cry behind the backs of other people.
(Shang Lin's parents:)
Look at Shang Luo reminds me of my son Shang Lin,
But alas, he's no longer around.
The only way to see him again is only in my dreams.

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Excerpt Review: "An'an Acknowledges His Mother"

2007-12-27T10:48:00.000+08:00

Title: An'an Acknowledges His Mother (安安认母)

Performer: Zhu Lijuan

Director: Wu Ziming

Background

This excerpt is extracted from a now-extinct Xiangju show titled "Tales of the Vermicelli" (面线冤), which was in turn based on a very old story of lady, named Pang, who was chased away by her mother-in-law, after the latter listened to the gossips of her neighbours and firmly believed that Pang had been cursing for her to die behind her back. Pang tried to attempt suicide, but was saved by a nun and since then stayed in the nunnery. Pang's seven year-old son An'an missed his mother and ran out in search of her and were reunited at the nunnery. An'an pleaded for Pang to return home with him, but knowing that it would be impossible for her to return when her mother-in-law is still around, she firmly declined. She told An'an to sit for the imperial examination after he grew up, and upon topping the examinations would she be able to step into the family again with her head up. Years later, Pang's mother-in-law realised how virtuous Pang was, and finally accepted her back into the family. It has once been said that this show has got a slight political implication, reflecting on the Taiwan-Mainland China relations.

Synopsis

Pang stayed at the nunnery, and was afraid of hearing children cry in the night for she would miss her son terribly. On one day, her son, An'an, really turned up, and the mother and son had a tearful reunion. She asked An'an about how the family was after she left, and was upset when she knew that her mother-in-law told An'an that he would be getting a new mother soon. Pang tried to persuade An'an to go home but the latter refused. In anger she threatened her with cane, but found that she could not bear to hit him. She then explained that she could not return until there was someone to protect her from her mother-in-law, and therefore asked An'an to come back after topping the imperial examination when he grew up.

Review

This excerpt relies solely on singing and perhaps acting, and I felt it is quite hard to really shine, unless the actor assuming the role of Pang could sing very well. This is not to say Zhu Lijuan could not sing well; she could sing, but then again in opera competitions like the one the troupe's participating in, you need more punch in order to let people have better impression.

Ratings

Script: * * * *

Music: * * * *

Directing sense: * * *

Acting: * * * 1/2

Singing: * * * 1/2

Final rating: * * * 1/2

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Excerpt Review: "Jingniang Sends Off Her Brother"

2007-12-27T10:30:00.000+08:00

Title: Jingniang Sends Off Her Brother (京娘送兄)

Performer: Yang Zhenzhen

Director: Wu Ziming

Background

"Jingniang Sends Off Her Brother" is an excerpt from a traditional Xiangju opera show titled "Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Jingniang", which was featured in many other opera genres as well. This show was based on a folk story about how Zhao Kuangyin (before he became the first Emperor of the Song dynasty) saved a lady by the name of Jingniang from the hands of bandits and send her thousands of miles back to her hometown.

Synopsis

After safely sending Jingniang back home, Zhao Kuangyin left Jingniang's residence, and in the middle of the night, saw Jingniang coming back to send him off. Unable to resist her good intention, he agreed to let her come along. Along the way, Jingniang spoke strange words, and her behaviour was peculiar, and Zhao Kuangyin started to realise that something was not right about her. Upon questioning, he realised that the Jingniang that was in front of him is no longer a human being, but a ghost. It turned out that although Zhao Kuangyin had previously acknowledged her as his sworn sister before embarking on the journey back home, it did not stop people from gossiping about their relationship. After Zhao Kuangyin left Jingniang's residence, neighbours and relatives started spreading malicious rumours behind their back. Jingniang could not tolerate the accusations and hence committed suicide. Zhao Kuangyin regretted his actions, but all was too late; dawn broke and Jingniang disappeared into thin air.

Review

Yang Zhenzhen is not known to be a very solid actor, due to lack of onstage experience. She did improve quite a bit on singing, but her gestures were still lacking. At times her actions did not go well with the percussions, and at times she lacked the feel of a hovering ghost. Her co-acting partner, Zheng Ruosong, did not fare well as he did not sing well enough. I feel that even though the focus is not on the role of Zhao Kuangyin (since only Yang Zhenzhen is participating candidate in this excerpt), the director should at least get someone who could sing better, so as not to pull down the grading for the show.

Ratings

Script: * * * 1/2

Music: * * * 1/2

Directing sense: * * * *

Acting: * * * 1/2

Singing: * * * 1/2

Final rating: * * * 1/2

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Excerpt Review: "Summer Snow"

2007-12-27T09:56:00.000+08:00

Title: Summer Snow (六月雪)

Performer: Xu Yuxiang

Director: Wu Ziming

Background

"Summer Snow", also called "The Grievances of Dou E", was written by master scriptwriter Guan Hanqing in the Yuan dynasty, originally to show his dissatisfaction with the corrupted government of that era. This script has been adapted into many different modern opera genres, including Peking opera, Gaojia opera, Teochew opera and many others. The highlight of the show is the scene "Execution of Dou E", in which this excerpt here is based on.

Synopsis

Widow Dou E had been given the death sentence for she was accused for murdering her father-in-law, which was actually not true. The truth was that a father and son had lusted over Dou E's widowed mother-in-law and herself, and in order to make Dou E succumb to him, the son tried to poison Dou E's mother-in-law, but in accident, his father was poisoned to death instead. The son then tried to shift the blame onto Dou E's mother-in-law, but Dou E took the rap instead. Before her execution, Dou E made three wishes: first, her blood was to spill upwards onto a long white sash, and not onto the ground; second; Chuzhou will snow for 3 years to bury her body; third, a famine will take place after the snow for 3 years, to show her innocence.

Review

Xu Yuxiang is one of the all-rounded new bloods in the troupe. Not only can she sing well, she could act well in both wen and wu roles, and those in between. This excerpt is a good show to showcase her talent and there is a great deal of singing, acting and complex movements. If there was anything dissatisfactory, it would have to be the execution part, where Xu Yuxiang's landing on the ground should have coincided with the executing actions of the executioner, but unfortunately she landed too early, making that action seemed illogical.

Ratings

Script: * * * *

Music: * * * *

Directing sense: * * * *1/2

Acting: * * * *

Singing: * * * *

Final rating: * * * *

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Excerpt Review: "Sorrowful Meeting At Shen Garden"

2007-12-27T09:09:00.000+08:00

Title: Sorrowful Meeting at Shen Garden (沈园绝唱)

Performer: Zheng Yaling as Lu You

Director: Wu Ziming

Background

"Sorrowful Meeting at Shen Garden" is the final scene of "Lu You and Tang Wan", an award-winning Zhejiang Yueju opera show starring Mao Weitao and Chen Huiling as the title roles. This excerpt has been adapted into Teochew opera before as well.

Synopsis

After leaving home for three years, Lu You returned to his hometown full of thoughts. While Lu You is famed for his talent in poetry and passion in politics, his marriage with his cousin Tang Wan was unfortunately a failure. Old Madam Lu was so upset that Lu You's relationship with her had distanced since his son got married, and henced tried ways to separate them. To ease the tension, Lu You decided to leave for Fuzhou, not before writing a secret letter to Tang Wan, asking her to wait for 3 years for his return. Old Madam Lu got hold of the letter, and amended the letter so that it would read "wait for a hundred years", in an attempt to make Tang Wan think that Lu You is trying to divorce her. Tang Wan saw through old Madam Lu's tactics, and deciding not to create more tension between the mother and son, she decided to get remarried to Lu You's friend, Master Shen. This day, when Lu You arrived at Shen's Garden, he chanced upon Tang Wan again, and was shocked that everything had changed. In sorrow, he penned his famed poem "Phoenix Hairpin" on the walls of the Shen's Garden.

Review

Zheng Yaling has got her own singing style, which can be considered her asset. However, in terms of shenduan, she is relatively weaker. Fortunately in this excerpt, the gestures are all modeled after Mao Weitao's movements in the original Yueju version, and I feel that Yaling performed better now, except for the final sword dance, which I felt she did not make full use of the duration of the music. Having said so, it is still debatable as to whether or not the director should set a new directing style (in terms of gestures and costumes), instead of copying everything as they are from Yueju. To be honest, if one were to cover his/ her ears, and not look at Yaling's face, one would even be misled into thinking that he/ she is watching a Yueju excerpt.

Musically, I feel that this excerpt's composition is one of the more unique among all the other excerpts that the troupe is about to bring to Fuzhou for competition. Like in the opening of the scene, the "Xin Bei Diao" melody (新北调), which was usually meant for sorrowful scenes, was transposed from F to C key. This alteration of the pitch added a sense of spiritedness to the character of Lu You as a passionate politician. Also in the closing of the excerpt when Lu You was penning the poem and doing his sword dance, the music had been specially recomposed to suit Lu You's innermost feelings and conflicts.

Ratings

Script: * * * *

Music: * * * *1/2

Directing sense: * * * 1/2

Acting: * * * 1/2

Singing: * * * *

Final rating: * * * *

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Excerpt Review: "Wu Han Kills His Wife"

2007-12-27T00:07:00.000+08:00

Title: Wu Han Kills His Wife (吴汉杀妻)

Performer: Lan Haibin as Wuhan, Lin Sulan as Wang Lanying

Director: Wu Ziming

Background

"Wu Han Kills His Wife" is a very popular traditional show in various genres of Chinese opera. Based on the action choreography that was designed for the actors, I believed this show is based on the Gaojia opera version, this genre being famous for action scenes.

Synopsis

Wu Han was given an order by his mother to kill his wife, Princess Lanying before dawn breaks or else she would commit suicide. In oder to fulfill his duty as a filial son, he had to oblige and stormed back to his residence. However, when he heard Princess Lanying chanting Buddhist sutra by the side hall, he suddenly felt that he could not bear to kill his virtuous wife. Princess Lanying could tell that something was not right with her consort, and after much questioning, Wu Han finally revealed the truth. It turned out that when Wu Han was still young, Princess Lanying's father, Emperor Wang Mang, had killed a number of loyal subjects of the former dynasty in order to usurp the throne for himself. As Wu Han was still young, his mother never told him the truth until then. Therefore, in order for the secret rebellion force to have full trust in Wu's family to plan a comeback, Wu Han had to slay the daughter of the current Emperor. Upon hearing Wu Han's words, Princess Lanying knew that she had to die in order not to let her husband be in a dilenma. Wu Han could not bear to kill Lanying, and planned to protect her with his life. Princess Lanying knew well that would not work, and hence seized Wu Han's sword from its shield while Wu Han wasn't alert and commited suicide, leaving Wu Han full of remorse.

Review

Lan Haibin's trained in wusheng roles, and he's good at all the actions choreographed for him. However, his main weakness lies in singing, and there're quite a lot of singing for his role. Lin Sulan, on the other hand, is good at singing, but is less effective in executing all the delicate and complex movements set by director Wu. There are two very obvious flaws in their performance. The first is the part where Princess Lanying hugged Wu Han, saw his sword hanging by his waist and a sudden thought of committing suicide came to mind. Due to the fact that Haibin had not don the da kao (Chinese opera's version of full battle order) during average rehearsals, the hugging acting had caused the flags behind his da kao and thus blocking Yanling's face from the audience. Sulan then had to sweep the flags aside with her hands, and that looked rather unsightly. The second flaw was that the final falling to the ground action of both Haibin and Sulan (Haibin's to jump up and land on his knees while Lanying is to arch her body backwards and land flat on her back) did not coincide at the same time, and that made that scene less of an impact.

In terms of directing, I like the ending bits of the scene where the role of Wu Han was stomping the ground with his fist when he saw Princess Lanying lying dead on the ground; I find this action portray Wu Han's regret and agony very effectively. There was an earlier action whereby Princess Lanying was reminding Wu Han of what loving they were in the past, and there was a particular action whereby Yanling was to grab hold of the edge of her right watersleeve with her left hand, pulled it straight, and then wrap around her shoulder with it. It was unfortunate that Sulan did not manage to do it correctly on stage, for if she had executed it accurately, it would have given the audience the feeling of the lovey dovey atmosphere of a newly wed couple.

The music is nice, but nothing really very special.

Ratings

Script: * * * *

Music: * * * 1/2

Directing sense: * * * *

Acting: * * * *

Singing: * * * *

Final rating: * * * *

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Excerpt Review: "A Village Girl's Sorrow"

2007-12-26T23:12:00.000+08:00

Title: A Village Girl's Sorrow (女吊)

Performer: Yang Xiaoyi

Director: Wu Ziming

Background

"A Village Girl's Sorrow" is originally a very old one-man performance of the Mulian opera genre that was later adapted into Shaoju opera and finally further popularised by Chen Fei from Shaoxing Yueju Opera Troupe.

Synopsis

A lonely and vengeful female ghost hovers around, giving people the eerie feeling. Time is rewind back to the time when the female ghost was still a young, innocent village girl by the name of Yu Furong. Despite coming from a poor family, Yu Furong was nevertheless happy. However, everything changed one day, when Yu Furong's parents passed away suddenly. Having no one to depend on, she was forced into prostitution at the age of 14. She knew she could not escape, so she tried to get to terms with her new identity. Unfortunately, things just do not turn out well for her; years down the road, after having her youth wasted and caught some diseases along the way, she was thrown out of the brothel by the same people who dragged her in. Yu Furong was all alone again, and having no one to take pity or help her, she finally hanged herself to death and returned as a vengeful ghost.

Review

Yang Xiaoyi, one of the more promising young dans in the troupe, has shown great improvement since her last appearance in Singapore early last year. Back then her body language and voice were still rather unpolished, but now her shen duan is more solid, and her newly grasped singing technique sounded more soothing to the ears.

In terms of directing, I am pleased that director Wu did not choreograph this show exactly like the yueju version, as like what he did for most of the excerpts he had choreographed before. At the very least, I could see some originality in the performing style (in the Yueju version, Chen Fei used Chinese dance movement to portray the young and naive Yu Furong and 7-feet watersleeves for the vengeful ghost, but in this version, Yang Xiaoyi used opera hankerchiefs for the front part and long sash for the ending). The director also arranged another actor on stage (totally masked and without any dialogue) who represent the bad people (brothel operators, their workers and brothel patrons), which I think is brilliant as it gives this show a more dramatic feel. This character did not appear in either the Mulian Opera or Yueju version. However, what I find not good enough is the opening to the excerpt. Being a very "contemporary" show, I'd expect to see a relatively more refreshing directing approach, but unfortunately it was still rather traditional, in the sense that the ghost floats around the stage wearing what seems like conventional ghost costumes.

Music-wise, I'm very pleased, especially the part where Yu Furong was singing about her tragic fate of being thrown out of the brothel. The composer (unfortunately I do not know who did the music) arranged for the actor to sing "Xiao Kudiao" (小哭调), which is very suitable for sad weepy songs. What surprises me, though, was the usage of backup vocals to harmonise with the lead vocal to create a more moody, sympathetic feel to the scene.

Ratings

Script: * * * * *

Music: * * * * *

Directing sense: * * * 1/2

Acting: * * * * 1/2

Singing: * * * *

Final rating: * * * * 1/2

Yueju's "Romance of the Red Masion"

2007-08-26T10:30:00.000+08:00

"Romance of the Red Masion" is by far the most popular show in Yueju opera, popularised by great Yueju actors Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan in the 60s. This show had somewhat became the representative of the Xu-styled xiaosheng and Wan-styled huadan singing. But not many people would have heard of another variation of this show, performed in Yin-style (xiaosheng) and Yuan-style (huadan).

This alternative rendition was performed by the late Yin Guifang in 1962, and her leading-female counterpart was Li Jinfeng. I am not certain if Li Jinfeng was a Yuan-styled huadan though, but subsequent re-runs of the show in Yin'a troupe (Fujian Fanghua Yueju Opera Troupe) were all performed in this style, with Wang Jun'an and Li Min being the troupe's best representatives of it. Shanghai Yueju Opera Company had did a similar rendition in 1999 starring Zhao Zhigang and Fang Yafen, as a move to revamp this timeless classic.

Here are various clips of this new rendition, alongside the ones from the "classic" version, and it's not hard to see the difference in feel and style. It is to be noted that the version shown here are from the 2001 Hong Kong performance, which was accompanied by Chinese orchestra, while the original scores used in the 1999 Shanghai version was supposedly meant to be played with westen orchestra.

Hokkien Liyuan Opera: Li Yaxian

2007-08-13T01:06:00.000+08:00

I went for Siong Leng Musical Association's "Li Yaxian" performance last Saturday afternoon, and the melody of Liyuan opera is still in my mind. Sad to say, not many people around me, including those who are into Chinese opera, are able to appreciate such opera, most claiming it to be too slow-paced.

Siong Leng's version of "Li Yaxian", despite having said to incorporate a modern-day character and some contemporary drama elements inside, is still rather traditional. The role of the modern-day character, a photographer, is somewhat a narrator to the different excerpts of the show (some scenes were snipped to make the show more concise). Along the way, this photographer "interviewed" the actors playing the various roles with regards to the show. I think this part is rather creative, for Liyuan opera, being a very ancient form of opera, might be too distant for many young people to be able to appreciate, especially how the characters in the show think and feel. By doing so, it somehow bridge the gap between the modern audience and the ancient roles of the opera. Besides the creativity shown here, I'm also rather satisfied with the performance venue. Liyuan opera is not known to be a opera featuring lavish set or grand casts, and I think the recital studio is just a perfect place for such a small-scale opera; the acting space is not too big, yet the lighting and sound facilities are good enough.

It's a pity I wasn't able to take pictures or do video recording within the venue itself, so for now, I'll just showcase two excerpts from this show, performed by Quanzhou City Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe. The two excerpts here are "The Ball Game" and "Lian Hua Luo".

Hokkien Gao Jia Opera Excerpt "Three Thousand Taels of Gold"

2007-08-07T01:01:00.000+08:00

Miko had justed posted a video of her troupe (Liyuan opera) rehearsing the part on "Three Thousand Taels of Gold" (from the show "Li Yaxian") in her blog, and now I shall post the Gaojia opera version of it up as well.

This version here is performed by Wu Jingjing of Xiamen Jin Lian Sheng Gaojia Opera Troupe. The singing aria for the main role in this excerpt, Zheng Yuanhe, is the same for both opera genres, with a slight difference in some wordings. However, as this excerpt here is intended to be performed as a standalone excerpt with little connection to the original show, it has been re-choreographed, and therefore those who are familiar with the Liyuan opera version of this excerpt may find this version a bit unfamiliar.

Hokkien Xiangju Opera "The Bridge of Mother and Son"

2007-08-04T14:38:00.000+08:00

Showcasing here, are two clips from Hokkien Xiangju opera “The Bridge of Mother and Son”. Now some of you viewers, especially those from my opera troupe as well as those who had watched Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe’s show, might think how come these clips don’t seem familiar. The version featured here is performed by Zhangpu County Xiangju Opera Troupe, and is actually the original version before Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe revised the show and made it part of their repertoire.

Allow me to say a bit about the show. The script was written by the late Xiangju opera scriptwriter Tang Yinchang, who is renowned for his works like “The Tale of the Medicinal Stone” and “Protecting the Baby”. His masterpieces usually centred on family-orientated themes which touch the hearts of the common-folks. In this show, the plot is about an unfilial son Liu San, who forgot about his mother’s existence after he got married to Qi’niang. His mother, Madam Xu, got so upset that she was forced to attempt suicide but was saved by the magistrate. The magistrate was furious when he found out what happened and wanted to imprison the young couple, but was stopped by his wife. He then invited Liu San and Qi’niang over to hint them if they had lost anything valuable at home. The young couple counted everything they had at home, but missing out on Madam Xu. The magistrate finally lost his temper and wanted to throw them into jail. It was only at this juncture did Liu San finally recalled he had a mother whom he had not seen for a long time. After crying out to his mother, Madam Xu ran out to see her son, and both hugged together in tears. The magistrate allowed the young couple to bring Madam Xu home, but Liu San and Qi’niang were remorseful for their past actions, and suggested that they be locked up as a punishment. The magistrate agreed and arranged for them to stay for the night in the jail while Madam Xu became their invited guest for dinner.

In my opinion, Zhangpu County Xiang Opera Troupe’s performance standard is rather average, especially in terms of singing. Some of the actors actually sang rather badly. However, I think the troupe do score point in terms of their script, as I believe the late Master Tang was their anchor scriptwriter. Their music is also one of their strength too, and I particularly like their “Zasui” melody a lot.

With the demise of Master Tang, I’m not sure what the direction is for the troupe, and it has been quite a while since there was news from them. Hopefully the troupe will not fall apart just like that, for after all, they had produced quite a few well-received shows in the past.

Hokkien Liyuan Opera - "Li Yaxian"

2007-07-30T11:33:00.000+08:00

Siong Leng Musical Association will be staging a Liyuan opera titled "Li Yaxian" at the Esplanade Recital Studio next month. This will be the association's first full-length Liyuan opera performance for over a decade.

The Liyuan opera has got the reputation of being Chinese opera's living heritage as it has got a long history of 800 years, and it was even said that the ways huadans in Liyuan opera moved and walked were actually inspired by how women really walked back in the Ming dynasty. The repertoire for Liyuan opera is also one of the rarest; some of the scripts dates back to the era of Song dynasty's "Zaju" opera and had already been extinct in other opera genres.

"Li Yaxian" is one of the most popular shows that are still being performed in Liyuan opera. It tells the story of a talented scholar, Zheng Yuanhe, who fell in love with a beautiful courtesan named Li Yaxian while on his way to sit for the imperial examinations. In order to get close to this beauty, Yuanhe decided to step into the "forbidden zone" - the brothel which Yaxian lived in. Brothel owner Madame Li knew this was a good opportunity to cheat Yuanhe of his money, so she decided to bring the couple together. After neglecting his studies and having used up all his money, the heartless Madame Li had Yuanhe chased out, and Yaxian used her own money to redeem herself to go in search of Yuanhe.

For Siong Leng's performance, however, there was a slight change to the script, for now, the love story of Zheng Yuanhe and Li Yaxian would be unfold through the camera lens of a modern-day photographer. That makes me curious over one point: this performance has been introduced as a "Liyuan opera", but is it going to be really a pure Liyuan opera, for it seems that there is a bit of contemporary drama essence involved. My guess is that it could be something like "Titoudao", a fusion of contemporary drama with authentic Chinese opera, just that in this case, the dosage of Liyuan opera would be much stronger, and lesser concentration on contemporary drama (maybe 10% or lesser). If that is the case, labelling this show as "Liyuan opera" might be a bit misleading, for those who is more into watching "authentic" Chinese opera. Nevertheless, I still feel that this show sounds interesting, and should be a good performance to catch.

"Li Yaxian" is part of the "Chinese opera delights" series by the Esplanade, and shall be staged on 11 August 2007, 3pm and 8pm, at the Esplanade Ricital Studio. Tickets are priced at $35 (senior citizens, NSF and students enjoy a concession price of $26), and is available at SISTIC.

Cantonese Opera "Qiu Jin -The Unsung Woman Warrior"

2007-07-28T01:17:00.000+08:00

I was surfing Gatecrash (online ticketing service) when I came across this performance titled "Qiu Jin -The Unsung Woman Warrior". On one look, it looked like Yueju or it's sister opera due to the style of makeup, but I was presently surprised when I saw the words "Chinese Theatre Circles", and subsequently I recognised the "huadan" on the promotional picture as See Too Hoi Siang, the leading Cantonese opera actress in Chinese Theatre Circles.

Well to be honest, this form of makeup is no longer a novelty in the Chinese opera field, but in Cantonese opera, this is not very common, for Cantonese opera is known for it's very traditional ways of presenting their shows, which includes traditional white-and-red makeup and "da tou" hairstyles for "dan" roles, both of which were passed down for generations. I feel that Chinese opera should keep up with times, and by adopting this new makeup style, although superficial, can actually attract new and younger audiences who might find the traditional way of makeup very alien to them (though I'm still NOT in favour of staging a Chinese opera show in English or any other languages). One thing I'm not sure though, was whether the more "conservative" audience can accept this "unconventional" style, or whether or not CTC would really adopt this makeup style in this show (or even future shows), or is it just for promotional purposes that they use this style.

"Qiu Jin -The Unsung Woman Warrior" will be staged at the Drama Centre Theatre on 15 September 2007 at 7.30pm (1 show only!). Tickets are priced at $10, $15, $20, $20 and $50, and are available at Gatcrash.com.sg and Singpost/ SAM.

Scene from Improvised Yueju "Romance of the Carp Fairy" 2

2007-07-07T12:33:00.000+08:00

This is the first scene from improvised Yueju "Romance of the Carp Fairy" staged early this year.

Quite a number of new insertions and changes had been made to the original directing, including the "underwater scene" prequel as well the short flute playing scene of Zhang Zhen (played by Zheng Guofeng). I like these 2 new insertions, as it has strengthen the plot to make this fish-man love more believable. The "underwater scene" had got a cold icy feeling, a reflection on the carp fairy's inner world, and the flute playing scene depicts Zhang Zhen's loneliness after being isolated and left all alone by his materialistic future in-laws at the Jade Pond Studyplace. The inner world of both characters coincide, and that formed the basis of their love; they truely understand the solitude faced by each other, and therefore it made sense as to how come both characters are willing to perish for one another towards the end of the show.

I'm quite pleased with this new directing sense, though these video recordings really gave me a big headache with all the shakiness. How I wish Shanghai Yue Opera Company can bring this show to Singapore to perform, hopefully at the Esplanade!

Scene from Improvised Yueju "Romance of the Carp Fairy"

2007-07-07T12:07:00.000+08:00

Below is a scene from the improvised version of Yueju opera "Romance of the Carp Fairy" by Wang Zhiping staged early this year. This scene here tells 2 Justice Bao (one of which is a fake one disguised by a turtle spirit) holding a trial to tell apart two Jin Mudans (one of which is a fake too, impersonated by the carp fairy). The role of the real Jin Mudan and the fake Jin Mudan (carp fairy) are not easy to act, not because they have difficult stunts, but both actors must have very good chemistry and able to act like the same person. Afterall, they must give the audience the feeling that they're the splitting image of one another, either in terms of outlook and body gestures, except in some instances whereby the fake Jin Mudan has got to act slightly different to give audience the hint that she's in fact an imitation. In this case, I think Wang Zhiping and her co-actor (can't tell who she was though) had succeeded. Even their looks were quite similar too.

Zhangpu Da Che Gu Opera

2007-07-01T12:55:00.001+08:00

Other than being home to the Bamboo Horse Opera, Zhangpu county is also home to 1300 year-old Zhangpu Da Che Gu Opera (漳浦大车鼓). Zhangpu Da Che Gu is a sub-branch of Che Gu folk opera which was once popular throughout the whole of Southern Fujian province, Chaozhou districts in Guangdong province and also Taiwan. The other notable styles of Che Gu opera include Tong'an Che Gu (同安车鼓) and Taiwan Che Gu (台湾车鼓阵).

Zhangpu Che Gu opera, compared to other forms of Che Gu styles in the region, is more robust, as it was originally performed by male soldiers in ancient times. It was said that Chen Yuanguang, the founding pioneer of Zhangzhou, brought his troop into Zhangzhou after a victorious battle, and in celebration, the soilderis performed a dance accompanied with strong drums and percussions. This form of military dance formed the basis of Zhangpu Che Gu, and centuries later, singing was added to the dance to spice up this ancient art form.

"Zhaojun Leaves Her Hometown"

Zhangpu Bamboo Horse Opera

2007-07-01T12:21:00.000+08:00

Fujian province is considered "the hometown of Chinese operas", and this is not without very valid reasons. Other than having 2 of the oldest surviving Chinese opera genres (Liyuan opera and Puxian opera) in the province, there are many lesser known, but equally ancient forms of folk operas.

Zhangpu Bamboo Horse Opera (竹马戏) is a form of folk opera which was developed from the ancient Bamboo Horse Dance, which had existed since the Tang dynasty. Back then, this form of dance did not have it's specific name, but since dancers doing this dance would don a model of a horse made of bamboo and paper or cloth, people in later generations started to call it the Bamboo Horse dance.

Traditional Bamboo Horse Opera only has a vey small repetoire, with "Wang Zhaojun" and "Grievances of Wang Zhaojun" being rhe most commonly performed shows. At the peak of the opera's popularity before the cultural revolution, many opera troupes dedicating to Bamboo Horse Opera started adapting shows from other opera forms into their own reportoire, thus greatly increased this opera form's artistic value. However, this form of opera went into rapid decline after the cultural revolution, and was once thought to have become extinct. Fortunately, in the past decade, the relevant authorities in Zhangzhou region started paying attention to the preservation of this ancient opera form, and results had been rather positive. However, for this form of opera to really become popular again, it would require a lot more effort and publicity.

Currently there are no professional Bamboo Horse Opera troupes in China, though Bamboo Horse Dance can still be seen at times in Zhangpu and Nanjing regions in Zhangzhou, as well as various parts of the Chaozhou districts in Guangdong province during festive seasons.

"Song of the Four Seasons"

Malaysia's Tong Gek Lau Choon Teochew Opera Troupe

2007-06-26T00:19:00.000+08:00

Today I went to Lorong Koo Chye Sheng Tong Temple to catch Malaysia's Tong Gek Lau Choon Teochew Opera Troupe (中玉楼春潮剧团) in performance. According to some sources, this troupe is a very famous troupe in Malaysia which had performed in various states across the Malay peninsula. The moment I reached the temple at about a quarter past seven, the troupe had already started performing, and I was surprised to find out that only very limited seats were left for their opening night's show!

The troupe started off with a "ban xian" operatte. Unlike the Hokkien opera which usually had "The Eight Immortals" (醉八仙，八仙祝寿) or "The 3 Devine Stars" (三星会) as the opening sequence to the "ban xian" operatte, Teochew opera's "ban xian" (think only applies to South-east asian countries) had "The Premier of Six Kingdoms" (六国封相) as the opening to their "ban xian". Tong Gek Lau Choon's "The Premier of Six Kingdoms" were a disappointment to me; firstly, the actors acting as the horse boys were actually wearing "Carlsberg t-shirts over their red opera pants, and they didn't even bother to tie any scarfs or wear headgears over their hair! And then, it seemed like many of the actors involved did not really know the lyrics and dialogues to the show. I wonder how could that be, especially when "ban xian" operatte is the most important thing for an opera troupe performing for temple fairs. In some instances, the whole temple celebrations and rituals would have to be postponed if a travelling opera troupe is not able to turn up on time for their "ba xian" operatte! Our troupe's loyal fan Eric was at the show too, and he echoed the same sentiments as me. Luckily, the main show for the night was much better, much to my relief.

The show for the night was titled "Showdown at Fan Yang City". At first glance it sounded like some swordsfighting show, but it is not. This is a typical action-packed opera based on imperial settings. The story tells of a Chinese general who was under the spell of a babarian Princess during his conquest to the barbarian kingdom, resulting him to lose all his memories and tricked into believing that he was the Princess consort of the babarian kingdom. Meanwhile the treacherous villain made use of this incident to brainwash the Emperor into believing that the general had betrayed the imperial court by surrendering to the enemy forces. The furious Emperor wanted to execute the entire clan of the general, but they were spared after a loyal subject begged the Emperor for forgiveness. The wife of the general, together with his younger brother and sister, decided to travel into the barbarian kingdom to look for the general. Of course, the general could not remember anything, and the babarian Princess, being afriad that one day her consort might just remember everything, decided to send her men to kill the trio. Fortunately, they were later saved. After a twist of events, the trio learnt martial arts from various masters seperately and saved the Emperor from being harmed by the treacherous villain and the evil Empress. The Emperor then passed his throne to the Crown Prince, and the young Emperor sent the general's younger brother to launch an attack on the babarian kingdom. The war was a success, and the general was finally captured and regained his memory. After being trailled, the Emperor realised that the general was doing things beyond his wishes, and therefore decided to pardon him, and the general was finally reunited with his wife and family.

To be real honest, I do not feel that this show is of good quality in terms of script, as the first half of the show was too draggy, whereas the pace second half of the show was simply too fast and confusing. I supposed this show was intended to be acted over 4 to 5 hours, all the way till past midnight, as like how they were acted in Malaysia, Thailand or even Hong Kong. However, I think they can be forgiven, because they might not know the rules and regulations of public performances in Singapore, and they've "compensated" with good acting and singing from some of their actors. One thing I like about them is their loud gongs and drums, as I felt that this is the essence of Teochew opera. If a Teochew opera troupe's gongs and drums are not loud, it just feels empty. They also have got a relatively large casting strength, and having quite a number of young actors, the troupe appears more "appealing", in terms of packaging as well as being able to stage shows with lots of fighting sequences.

The troupe is performing till 4th of July, and tickets are priced at $5, available at the temple's admin office.

Scenes from "Premier of the Six Kingdoms"

The overwhelming crowd

This is one of the better actresses who has a very good sense of rhythm and her singing is not bad; however I overheard someone next to me said "She has a good voice, but she should go lose some weight!"

The Chinese opera circle is indeed very small; the actor on the left is Nop, an ex-opera colleague of my Thai friend Oh, who used to perform Teochew opera in Thailand

The female lead of the show

Video from "Premier of the Six Kingdoms"

The Multiple Faces of Hokkien Gezi Opera: The “O-Pe-Ah” Style

2007-06-04T13:01:00.000+08:00

Among all forms of Chinese opera genres, The Hokkien Gezi opera, also known as Xiangju in mainland China, is one of the most unique kind of all. Other than being the only opera form which was bored outside mainland China, there weren’t many opera genres which take on many different forms and styles, depending on geographical location and cultural differences. In Taiwan, there is even a style of Gezi opera called “O-Pe-Ah”, which is unheard of in other Chinese genres.

“O-Pe-Ah”, the Hokkien translation of the Japanese term “O-Pe-Ra”, which was in turn a loan word from the English word “opera”. “O-Pe-Ah” style of acting is very different from traditional Chinese opera in the sense that it is very heavily influenced by Japanese culture and contemporary music and theatre. Imagine this: the leading roles of the show (obviously ethnically Chinese) churns Taiwanese pop songs to the accompaniment of modern musical instruments, and at times walk around the stage in kimonos, wearing Japanese clogs and brandishing samurai swords. Sounds bizarre? Well this was partly a result of Taiwan’s troubled past.

In 1937, when the Sino-Japanese war broke out, Taiwan was annexed under Japanese territory, and under the influence of the Japanese imperialism laws at that time, the Taiwanese people were forced to abandon their traditions and assimilate into the Japanese culture. Taiwanese Gezi opera wasn’t spared either; opera troupes had to either adapt themselves to Japanese culture, or get banned from performing. There was this classic example whereby “The Case of the Leopard Cat” (狸猫换太子) was adapted into Japanese setting; actors wore Kimonos, the role of the Emperor became “General manager” while the role of Concubine Liu became “the Mistress” etc. This kind of acting styled carried on until the end of the Sino-Japanese war, and opera troupes were finally able to revert to the old ways of performances. However, due to the immense growth of performing arts shortly after the war ended, opera troupes had to find new ways to attract audience. One of the innovative ways then was to incorporate some of the essence of Japanese occupation period’s way of “renovated” Gezi opera performance into their shows, and this is how “O-Pe-Ah” style of Gezi opera came into existence.

“O-Pe-Ah” style of Gezi opera, being deviated from the traditional style of Chinese opera, has a completely different repertoire of shows as compared to other opera forms. As such, one will not see historical stories or classic Chinese folktales in “O-Pe-Ah” shows, but mostly swords-fighting or family-orientated (cross-generation feuds, love-triangles, etc.) stories which are not independent of time and era. By traditional opera’s point of view, the “O-Pe-Ah” style of Gezi opera may sound like an absurd form of opera, but if one were to treat it just like contemporary entertainment without too much seriousness, such forms of performance can be rather entertaining.

(Video footages taken from Xiao Fei Xia Gezi Opera Troupe’s performance at Lor Koo Chye Temple on 21 May 2007, titled “The Twenty-Year Feud”; apologies for the poor video and audio quality as it was recorded off a mobile phone’s camera)

Hokkien Dacheng Opera

2007-05-08T10:14:00.000+08:00

Fujian province is one of the major Chinese opera districts in China as there're more than 30 different Chinese opera genres, both major (Liyuan opera, Puxian opera, Gaojia opera, Xiangju opera, Teochew opera) as well as minor (Zhuma opera, Dacheng opera, Siping opera, etc.)

Dacheng opera (打城戏), also known as the "Priests' opera" or "Monks' opera" (师公戏, 和尚戏), was originally a form of religious ritual performed during funerals or Hungry Gohst Festivals. The priests and monks would perform in front of a paper tower built in the form of a city tower, and hence got it's name. According to historical data, this form of opera was formed at the start of the last century, but it's origin dates back to as far as the Ming dynasty. It has the essence of Nanyin music as well as southern Shaolin martial stunts, truely one of the rarest form of opera still present.

Sad to say, due to various reasons, Dacheng opera now has got no professional nor government sponsored troupes, and it seemed that there was only one surviving amateur troupe left in the whole of China. However, all is not lost; earlier this year, the Dacheng opera performed "Mu Lian Saves His Mother" in a performing arts festival in India and clinched the highest award. This show, which had roots in India, was the hot topic during the festival, and news of the opera troupe were constantly being reported in the local papers and television. Well, it seemed like a light at the end of the tunnel of this opera genre!

Teochew Wire Puppetry

2007-05-07T00:31:00.000+08:00

Teochew wire puppetry is one of the most unique form of puppetry in China, and it exists only in Chao'an county in Guangdong province. In this form of puppetry, the puppets are controlled by hard wires which are attached to the back of the body and arms. The way the puppets are operated is similar to shadow puppetry, and it is said that the shadow puppetry was the ancestor of this form of puppetry.

Here are two documentaries featuring Teochew wire puppetry, which includes some fair bit of the puppets in action.

Quanzhou Marionette Show: Excerpt from "The Fiery Mountain"

2007-05-06T23:58:00.000+08:00

Quanzhou's string marionette show has been regarded as one of the best forms of puppetry in China. No only are the puppeteers able to make the marionettes mimic human actions, they're good at doing innovative stunts like "face changing" and martial stunts.

The video clips are taken from marionette show "The Fiery Mountain". This is a famous excerpt from "Journey to the West", telling the tale of how Monkey God Sun Wukong tried to borrow a banana leaf fan from Princess Iron Fan to fan out the flames from the Fiery Mountain, but was rejected as the latter was still sore at Sun Wukong caused her son, the Little Red Boy, to be captured away by the Goddess of Mercy. Note that although all the classic elements of Quanzhou puppetry, from puppet movements to music, are present in the show, the songs and dialogues are actually in Mandarin.

Wuxi Opera excerpt: "Yuanzai Acknowledges His Mother" from "The Jade Dragonfly"

2007-04-20T12:25:00.000+08:00

"The Jade Dragonfly" is a very well-known folktale in the Jiangsu/ Zhejiang region and has been adapted into various opera genres, including Shaoxing Yue opera, Wuxi opera, Yangzhou opera and Fujian Minju opera.

The story goes like this: Scholar Shen Guisheng came from a humble background, and in order to secure a better future for his clan, his relatives had him engaged to Lady Zhang, the daughter of a high-ranking official. However, due to character differences, their marriage was not at all blissful, and they were always quarreling. One day, Shen Guisheng decided to leave his home for sightseeing, and chanced upon a beautiful nun called Zhizhen. Shen Guisheng kept proposing to Zhizhen, and unable to resist his love, they started an forbidden relationship. Lady Zhang got tipped off that Shen Guisheng had been seen visiting Zhizhen's Fahua Nunnery, and brought her maids to come in search for him. Shen Guisheng was not found, and Lady Zhang returned home heartbrokened. Shen Guisheng, however, died of fright that very day, leaving the already pregnant Zhizhen behind. After secretly given birth to Guisheng's only son, Zhizhen decided to send the baby away to Lady Zhang, as a form of apology for "stealing" her husband, and also because there was no way she could keep her son in the nunnery. The nunnery helper, who was asked to send the baby over, did not do her job, and instead abandoned him by the side of the road. Luckily for the baby, he was found by the Xu household, who adopted him as their own son and called him Xu Yuanzai. Years later, members of the Shen household saw Yuanzai by chance, and was surprised that he looked just that Shen Guisheng. Lady Zhang then decided to adopt him as a foster son. A few years later, after Yuanzai become a village scholar, both Xu and Shen family started to fight over who should be the rightful "guardian" of him. This was then Yuanzai knew that he was neither the son of Madam Xu or Lady Zhang. After much findings, he found out that his mother was in fact Zhizhen, and decided to go to Fahua Nunnery to acknowledge her. Mother and son finally got reunited, and Shen Guisheng's death, which had been a mystery to Lady Zhang for over a decade, finally came to light. She was initially furious over the whole incident, and even accused Zhizhen of breaking up her family. However, after much self-thought, she realised that Zhizhen's plight was much worse than her; although Lady Zhang has got a foster son to acompany her for the past 16 years, Zhizhen had been weeping night after night missing her lost son. She finally decided to let the past rest, and acknowledged Zhizhen as the rightful mother to her foster son.

This clip here was taken from the production by Wuxi City Wuxi Opera troupe. Taking on the role of Zhizhen is Xie Zhiying, while the role of Xu Yuanzai was assumed by Pan Jingqiong. Xie Zhiying is a veteran actress in the troupe specialising in Qingyi roles, although in "The Pearl Pagoda", her portrayal of the clownish Fang Duohua was equally good. Pan Jingqiong is one of the up and coming actors in the troupe, specialising in both xiaosheng and laosheng roles. However, do not be fooled by his looks; he's actually over 40 years old already! I don't quite know why he only come to this far now at this age, but I supposed previously he has been overshadowed by another actor Xiao-Wang Binbin (son of famous Wuxi opera actor Wang Binbin), who had been the leading male actor since the late 80s.