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Peking Opera wows London audiences

By WANG MINGJIE | China Daily Global | Updated: 2019-11-28 09:34

A Peking Opera practitioner performs in an excerpt from the Warrior Women of Yang. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Jewell of Chinese culture returns to UK theater for fifth consecutive year

The China National Peking Opera Company returned to the United Kingdom for a fifth consecutive year this week, to offer British audiences the chance to take a cultural trip into the traditional art form through a series of performances and workshops.

The troupe, led by revered Peking Opera practitioners Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu, was set to perform two shows at the world famous dance theater of Sadler's Wells-The Peking Opera Gala and the masterpiece Warrior Women of Yang.

The Peking Opera Gala on Wednesday evening was to feature an array of famous Peking Opera excerpts, including The Drunken Imperial Concubine and The Wild Boar Forest. The pieces highlight the various aspects of performance in the unique art form, including music, song, mime, acrobatics, stage-combat, exquisite costumes, and painted faces.

On Tuesday, a workshop titled Experience Peking Opera was held at Oxford Brookes University to explain the intricacies of Peking Opera, which is also known as Jingju.

Events culminate on Thursday with the performance of Warrior Women of Yang, which tells of grief, courage, patriotism, and family loyalty.

Yu said: "This show was last performed in London in 2015 and obtained great reviews and an invitation to restage it as a whole show, so we are delighted to bring back to London this Peking Opera masterpiece."

Performers often need to dedicate their entire life to achieving the high level of ability required for Peking Opera. Most of the top artists begin their training at a very young age at an opera school before becoming an apprentice and learning from the masters.

This year's productions in the UK were presented in partnership with London-based Sinolink Productions, a company that promotes Chinese art, culture, and performance to British audiences.

Zhang Kewei, producer and director of Sinolink, said:"It's a very exciting time for Chinese arts and culture in the UK, as the appetite among British audiences continues to flourish. We're proud to see the return, for the fifth year, of the exquisite talent of the Chinese National Peking Opera Company, and it's an honor to delight and inspire audiences with an art form they have rare opportunity to indulge in."

He said the company worked hard to bring Peking Opera to the UK because it wanted to help protect and preserve part of China's traditional heritage.

Zhang said he would like to create an annual China season in the UK, so the best of China's art and culture can be shared on an ongoing basis.

The China National Peking Opera Company's performances in Britain have become a window into the charm of traditional Chinese culture, which in turn has enhanced mutual understanding between China and the UK and promoted exchanges between the two civilizations, he said.

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, extended his warm welcome to the China National Peking Opera Company, and said: "Over the years, China-UK cultural exchanges have become closer and mutual appreciation and interest has increased. Telling China's classical stories through songs and dances, Peking Opera is the finest example of traditional Chinese culture and carries the rich cultural heritage of the Chinese nation."

He said the "jewel of Chinese culture" has won the hearts of more and more British people as they have come to know it.

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