Singer Wang Li (third from right) performs the role of the female martyr, Jiang Zhuyun, in the classic Chinese opera Jiang Jie, at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on Sunday. [Photo provided to China Daily]
For the 100th time, singer Wang Li reprises her role as revolutionary heroine Jiang Jie, a character that has defined her career and continues to resonate with audiences, Chen Nan reports.
In early 2007, Wang Li, then a 27-year-old singer, stood out among her colleagues of the People's Liberation Army Air Force Art Troupe and was selected to play the eponymous lead in the classic Chinese opera Jiang Jie.
Premiered in Beijing in 1964, the Chinese opera was a huge success and toured nationwide. It was adapted from the revolutionary novel Hong Yan (Red Crag), which, written by Luo Guangbin and Yang Yiyan, portrays a group of underground Communists and their heroic battle on the eve of 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded.
The Chinese opera centers on one of the female martyrs, Jiang Zhuyun, also known as Jiang Jie, who was born in 1920 in southwestern Sichuan province and joined the Communist Party of China when she was 19.
She was arrested in 1948 and detained in a Chongqing prison. A year later, she was killed at the age of 29. The image of Jiang, with hair down to her shoulders, in a red jacket over a blue cheongsam and wrapped in a long white scarf, is well-known among Chinese audiences.
"It was a landmark of my career and a great honor to portray the role. I was very excited," says 40-year-old Wang.
The most recent version of the Chinese opera made its debut at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing in 2007 and since then, Wang has toured nationwide performing as Jiang in the opera for 11 years.
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the opera, Jiang Jie, has been restaged by the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater. The production is directed by Wang Xiaoying and was performed at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing from Saturday to Monday, before heading off to tour across China.
Sunday's performance saw Wang once again don the red jacket to play the role for a 100th time. Singers Yi Hongyuan and Wang Ying played the eponymous lead in the Saturday and Monday performances, respectively.
According to the director Wang Xiaoying, the new version of the opera features a new stage set and new costumes, but the core story is still rooted in the original version.
Since early July, Wang Li has been doing rehearsals in the capital.
"I can still recall that when I first played the role of Jiang, I was very nervous because she is such a famous and classic character, which has appeared in many art forms, like movies and Peking Opera productions," she says, adding that her father loves singing songs from the opera, such as Hong Mei Zan (Ode to the Red Plum Flower) and Embroidering the Red Flag, while he cooks at home.
"I've since played the role 100 times and, this time, I feel quite different because I am married and a mother, which enables me to understand Jiang more deeply,"Wang Li notes.
"In the opera, Jiang devoted her life to the country as a hero. She is also a woman who is separated from her son, and whose husband was killed by the enemy. My daughter is 5 years old. I cannot imagine being separated from her. I miss her very much, even when I go on a tour for 20 days.
"I read the novel, Hong Yan, over and over again, to better understand the role. Jiang, besides her heroic spirit, is a woman who loves life. There are many details in the opera that showcase her femininity. For example, she often runs her fingers through her hair gracefully, even in prison and before her death," Wang Li says.
The veteran actress says she is deeply moved that many people, both the older and younger generations, are fans of Jiang Jie. After her show in Beijing, she will visit Zhang Guimei, a teacher working for female education in poverty-stricken mountainous areas, a fan of the opera and who, herself, was named among the 29 outstanding members of the Communist Party of China who received the July 1 Medal, the Party's highest honor.
"I had an online video call with Zhang one day during the rehearsals. She remembers all the lyrics of the songs in the opera and we sang Hong Mei Zan together over the phone, which was a very touching moment,"Wang Li says.
The singer also mentions that, when she played the role of Jiang back in 2007, she was lucky to receive training from veteran scriptwriter Yan Su (1930-2016) and composer Yang Ming, both of whom worked on the original version of the opera. Yang, who is 87, also works as one of the creative team members on this new version of the opera.
Before its original premiere in 1964, the composer, along with other creative members of the production, traveled to Sichuan province and Chongqing to collect material. Though opera is a Western art form, the composer combined Sichuan folk music and Chuanju (Sichuan Opera) into his compositions.
It's true that the opera has played a significant part of her career. As well as playing the role for 11 years, Wang Li also joined the CPC on July 1, 2008, while performing the opera in Wenchuan county in Sichuan province, after it had been hit by a devastating earthquake just two months earlier.
"When I played Jiang in Wenchuan, I felt that the opera is particularly powerful and inspiring,"Wang Li recalls.
Born and raised in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, the singer showed a talent for music as a child. She was a star performer in her kindergarten, primary school and middle school. As a teenager, her dream was to become a music teacher.
At age 14, she was enrolled to study music at Anhui Professional College of Art, where she learned operatic singing and Huangmeixi, a provincial form of traditional Chinese opera. Three years later, she traveled to Beijing to study singing at the China Conservatory of Music and joined the art troupe of the PLA Air Force after graduation, where she won lots of national music awards and played in both Western and Chinese operas.
"Now, I am preparing myself to launch a career as a teacher, which feels like fulfilling my childhood dream," says Wang Li, who will start teaching music in Beijing later this year, with invitations from schools such as the Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy. "Though I may not have opportunities to play the role of Jiang when I become a teacher, I will work with my students to keep the classic role alive."
