Learning Chinese - Precious Peony

CITYLIFE / Weekend & Holiday






Precious Peony

(beijing weekend)
Updated: 2007-07-02 10:46



The staging of a new, abridged edition of Kunqu Opera, The Peony
Pavilion, in the Imperial Granary, Nanxincang, is set to become a
legendary chapter in Beijing's cultural history. Audiences have a rare
chance to experience the performance of a 600-year-old artform in a grand
venue with equally long history.

Kunqu Opera was among the first selection of UNESCO's "Human Beings'
Verbal and Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Works List" on May
18, 2001.

The opera is produced by POLO arts, which has been devoted to elegant
music communication and enjoyed very good reputation among critics and
fans.

Wang Xiang, CEO of POLO Art, said he valued helming an outstanding
cultural project above earning money. Kunqu Opera is a national treasure
worthy of its status and, of course, is Wang's first choice.

The Peony Pavilion is an important part of Chinese dramatic history, of
great literary value, and moreover, featuring an ever-lasting and
beautiful love legend. The script of The Peony Pavilion can bring the
delicate and romantic Kunqu Opera into full play.

Wang, who took part in revising the abridged edition, describes the
efforts spent on the project for nearly one year as, "extreme hardship
and difficulty". However, with numerous excellent editions for the same
play, Wang and his colleagues had to ponder on how the new edition can
retain its excellent quality.

After giving the matter much consideration, Wang and others decided to
give up the stage-style Kunqu Opera performance that became dominant in
the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Instead they would return to the
original style of the "family theatrical troupe" popular in the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644).

The super-grand team, led by Lin Zhaohua and Wang Shiyu, surprises all
those with a wait-and-see attitude towards the new, significantly
shortened edition. Lin Zhaohua, the chief director, is an acclaimed
director and an outstanding personality in the drama circle. Wang Shiyu,
president of Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Showplace, is known both at home and
abroad. The two masters of drama and Kunqu Opera assimilated methods of
both Western and Eastern stages, finding an aesthetic route with the most
creativity to bring the ancient genre into the present.

Time: 7:30 pm every Friday and Saturday
Address: the Imperial Granary, 22 Dongsishitiao.
Tel: 010- 6409-6477, 6409-6499. 1360-125-9568 (in English).
Price: 580-1,980 yuan.










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Beijing Guide




Eating out: Read all about it
Bars&Cafes: Discreet sake bar
Weekend&Holiday: Precious Peony
Shopping: Ice up your world
What's on: Smoke society







Shanghai Guide


Eating out: The long lasting scents
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Weekend&Holiday: Stay at home to travel
Shopping: H&M: from the inside
What's on: Watch free movies





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