Chinese opera “Sister Jiang” restaged to celebrate CPC centenary


The team behind the"Sister Jiang" talked about the creation process with students from Tsinghua University on May 21, 2021. (Photo By Huang Sha/Xinhua)

The "Sister Jiang" opera team talks about their creation process with students from Tsinghua University on May 21, 2021. (Photo By Huang Sha/Xinhua)
BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- “Sister Jiang”, a classical opera about a household Chinese heroine, will be restaged in Beijing on Aug. 28 and 29, followed by performances in Shenzhen and Guangzhou in south China, China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater (CNODDT) told a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

“Sister Jiang” was an underground member of the Communist Party of China during the War of Liberation. Jiang was born into a farmer’s family in Sichuan Province in 1920 who devoted herself to the liberation of the country, and was executed to death at the age of 29.

According to Wang Xiaoying, the chief director of "Sister Jiang", the opera is based on the novel Red Rock. It's an updated production of the original show that premiered in 1964.

Yang Ming, the composer of the opera “Sister Jiang” said that the restaging focuses on a mix of folk instrumental music and Western symphonic music, incorporating advanced stage technologies and carrying out innovative exploration of audio-visuals.



Yi Hongyuan performs the opera “Sister Jiang” on May 21, 2021. She played the role of the fifth-generation Sister Jiang in 2007. (Photo by Huang Sha/Xinhua)

Yi Hongyuan performs the opera “Sister Jiang” on May 21, 2021. She played the role of the fifth-generation Sister Jiang in 2007. (Photo by Huang Sha/Xinhua)
According to Tian Yan, Vice President of the CNODDT, the theater will also launch a series of online and offline activities to attract young audiences by showing them the whole process of the production.

A total of four operas by the CNODDT have been awarded "Outstanding Stage Art Works for the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC", which are “Sister Jiang”, “The White Haired Girl”, “The Marriage of Xiao Erhei” and “Zhang Fuqing”, noted Tian Yan.

(By Intern Huang Sha, Chang Minxiao)