Event referral.

As part of a Southern drama appreciation series in Wenzhou (hometown of Nanxi), Shanghai Jingju Troupe was performing two plays on 10-11 October: one old and one new. Besides enjoying the beauty of Beijing Opera, spectators could experience the gradual change of this art form.

The article on the first play, The Orphan of the Zhao Family (Wenzhou Daily’s morning edition, 09 Oct 2011) is mentioning Wang Peiyu as “present day’s Nr.1 female laosheng”, whose performance is “mixing the charm of Yu-style singing and Ma-style storytelling”.

Author writes that Shanghai Jingju Troupe invited a famous landscape painter, Shen Shihui (申世辉) from the Tianjin Art Academy as art consultant, and his painting scrolls were the special highlights of this performance.

National painting and Beijing Opera are both the quintessence of Chinese culture, combining these two is surely an innovative idea. (Shanghai Jingju Troupe is good in innovation anyways.) Again, this performance was a real ear and eye candy.

Wenzhou Evening News (12 Oct 2011) on yesterday’s Cheng Bai Xiao He:

Yesterday’s performance was near to perfection: spirited arias, gorgeous costumes, elegant stage sets. [...] It can be said that this traditional drama with modern taste left people with the impression that they’re watching a real Beijing Opera blockbuster.

Spectators were moved to tears, applauding incessantly, and after the performance all agreed this was a play worth to watch.

Previous days were featuring Han Feizi and Romance of the Western Chamber by the Shanghai Shaoxing Opera Theater, and Shanghai Kunqu Troupe’s performances of Ban Zhao and Qiong Tou Ma Shang are coming up next on 13-14 October.

I’m personally interested in the  performances of 21-22 October: Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Shaoxing Opera Troupe (Wu Fenghua’s troupe) will contribute to the series with two romantic plays, Lu You and Tang Wan and Dao Guan Qin Yuan.

Beijing Opera fans will be treated on 7-8 December again. Jingju Theater of Beijing decided to perform in military style – their operas of choice are Gathering of Heroes and Mu Guiying Takes Command.

Source: Wenzhou Daily Press 2011-10-08, 2011-10-10, 2011-10-12

I have the impression that in the last few years more and more artists in their 20-30s turned towards Qi school – in Mei Lanfang Theater’s National Day show last week you could meet some of them.
If you still remember the Shanghai staging of Wulong Yuan, that was part of a Qi school special stage series, which continued on 19 May 2011 with the performance of 《楚汉相争》Chu Han Xiangzheng (Chu-Han Contention), starring Guo Yi (郭毅), Lu Su (鲁肃), Yu Hui (于辉), Yu Hui’s《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Pao Cheng (Xu Ce Running to the City Walls) and《义责王魁》Yi  Ze Wang Kui (Reproaching Wang Kui) with Wang Zhigang (王志钢).

You might have noticed that I’m a Xu Ce Runs to the City Walls collector, I already posted excerpts from this piece of art performed by Zhou Xinfang, Xiao Wang Guiqing, Chen Shaoyun… In last week’s downloads you could see the version of Guo Yi, and you can download Yu Hui’s May performance here.

This play is short all in all, though a tad longer than the “running scene”. Zhou Xinfang’s stage art movie contains the full play, also I have a nice 18min long version with Chen Shaoyun and Xu Ying, you can download these  [HERE] and  [HERE] respectively.

But I saved the cutest for last.

To celebrate Yang Jianzhong’s (杨建忠) 70 years on stage, a special performance titled “麒韵高扬” was held in Chang’an Grand Theater on 17 July this year. A 6 years old amateur actor, Li Peize immediately stole the heart of the audience. This kid was performing the same excerpt a year ago at the age of 5, under his pet name Duo Duo (多多), click here to download the video.

That was also great, but now one year later the kid is simply amazing! I have to admit that I enjoyed his version more than some of the adult performers. Simply to learn this complicated scene is not easy, but the boy grabbed the essence of it.
Note that he has some problem with the beard around 8:45 and he improvises a bit to overcome the issue. Then he uses the moment when Xu Ce is turning back to the audience to fix it. So pro.

I hope you will like him too.

→ 京剧《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Pao Cheng (Xu Ce Runs to the City Walls)  [DOWNLOAD] 60MB
Performed by Li Peize (李沛泽).

I mentioned before Shanghai Jingju Troupe has staged Wulong Yuan last month. For some reason, CCTV uploaded another copy of this performance to its website, split into four parts. The quality of the video isn’t very splendid but would you mind a fly in your lemonade after a week in the Sahara?

The following video is an excerpt from the last act, a real bloody drama.

→ 京剧《乌龙院·下书杀惜》Wulong Yuan·Xia Shu Sha Xi (Wulong Courtyard – Murdering Xijiao for the Letter)  [DOWNLOAD] 41MB
Chen Shaoyun as Song Jiang, Xiong Mingxia as Yan Xijiao.

Summary:
Song Jiang, the leader of the outlaw bandits at Liangshan marries her young concubine, Yan Xijiao. One evening the girl finds an incriminating letter and some gold bars in the bag of his husband, and finds out he’s an outlaw. Xijiao has a secret affair with Song Jiang’s secretary, Zhang Wenyuan, so she’s grabbing the opportunity and threatens his husband to report him to the magistrate.

In return for the letter, Song Jiang has to agree to three conditions:
He divorces Yan Xijiao and permits her to marry Zhang Wenyuan.
Xijiao retains every possession his husband ever has given to her.
Song gives her the gold pieces from the bag.

Song Jiang agrees to the first two conditions, but is unable to present all the gold mentioned in the letter, since he finally accepted only one bar and sent back the rest.
Yan Xijiao is unrelenting, sticking stubbornly to the three conditions (01:40 – She’s so sassy!).
They start a brawl over the letter, even give each other a big slap (02:17, 02:49). Finally Song Jiang draws a knife and attacks Yan Xijiao. She’s calling for the help of her mother (they are on the first floor, that’s why Xiong Mingxia is stomping on the floor), but it’s too late, Song Jiang is stabbing her in a blind rage and takes the letter back.

07:05 needs a bit of explanation. As it can be seen in the next video, Song Jiang has a vision of the laughing Xijiao, and he’s stabbing all the twirling, illusory images of her.
As Bertrand pointed out, Chen Shaoyun isn’t “spring chicken”. He’s 63, to be exact. I doubt my father could jump around on one foot in platform shoes like this.

The clip starts when Xijiao is reading the divorce agreement. He asked Song Jiang to write “I repudiate my wife“, but he wrote “I repudiate my concubine“. Yan Xijiao doesn’t read out loud the word “concubine”, just makes that funny face instead.
Xiong Mingxia started her career as qingyi. I think the troupe management made a clever decision with retraining her. I like her in huadan roles much better!

As a curiosity, check out the very same excerpt from Zhou Xinfang’s 1961 stage art movie:

→ 京剧 《下书杀惜》Murdering Xijiao for the Letter  [DOWNLOAD] 28MB
Zhou Xinfang (周信芳) as Song Jiang, Zhao Xiaolan (赵晓岚) as Yan Xijiao.

Shanghai Jingju Troupe was staging one of Zhou Xinfang’s classic plays, Wulong Yuan on Shanghai Xing Stage on 18 May, 2011. Li Zhongcheng, president of the Zhou Xinfang Art Research Association even held a lecture about Qi school before the performance.
I’m particularly interested in the last part, Xia Shu Sha Xi (Murdering Yan Xijiao for the Letter), featuring the unrivalled Chen Shaoyun as Song Jiang and the adorable Xiong Mingxia as Yan Xijiao.
The play was aired recently in CCTV Theater in the Sky on 20 August 19:20, supposed to be [here] and [here], but no downloaders can manage with it. Hopefully someone will upload it soon, but after seeing these pictures in advance, it’s a torture to wait for this one.

(updated)
Download the full play:  ed2k: p2p download

Song Jiang is seriously upset

Yan Xijiao goes too far

At least I scored an interview with Chen Shaoyun speaking about the play and Qi style. He’s cheerful as always.

Source: CCTV Forum

I just recorded this excerpt from 1998 with Xiao Wang Guiqing – supergood but unfortunately ends at the best part. I uploaded the full excerpt from the CNTV site too, that’s not a fabulous quality though.

→ 京剧《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Pao Cheng (Xu Ce Runs to the City Walls)
 [DOWNLOAD] 42MB
 [DOWNLOAD] 27MB

Xiao Wang Guiqing (小王桂卿), son of well-known wusheng Wang Guiqing was born as Wang Qianghua in 1927.
He was studying wusheng and laosheng role since childhood and was playing civil and military roles simultaneously. He had a very solid foundation of martial skills, some of his specialties were extremely difficult.
In his young years he established a houxi (monkey show) with his three brothers and they received recognition widely. (As a funny side note it has to be mentioned that the stage name of his brothers are Xiao Er Wang Guiqing, Xiao San Wang Guiqing, Xiao Si Wang Guiqing, literally Wang Guiqing Jr. II, Wang Guiqing Jr. III etc.)
In 1958, together with Xiao Gaoxue, Chi Shigong and Huang Guiqiu he established the Shanghai Xinmin Beijing Opera Troupe, taking up the post of the regimental head and playing on the stage simultaneously.
From 1970 he was working as teacher at the Shanghai Chinese Opera Academy. Six years later he shot a stage art film of Yaguan Lou, leaving behind absolutely hard to come by martial drama material.
From 1996 to 2005 a tribute series was shot with the sound recordings of Zhou Xinfang and Xiao Wang Guiqing made the acting part. His stage appearance strongly resembled Zhou Xinfang, and he got very favorable criticism for that.
He passed away on March 6, 2011 in Shanghai, at the age of 85.

Three excerpts from the Zhou Xinfang tribute series (Xiaoyao Ford, Lu Yao and Ma Li¹):  [DOWNLOAD] 21MB

¹  Lu Yao Zhi Ma Li (路遥知马力) is a folk story about childhood friends Lu Yao and Ma Li. Very cleverly the title in literal translation also means “Distant road tests a horse’s stamina”, i.e. judge people after a period of time.
A bit off-topic, but the story is so entertaining that I have to share it:

Lu Yao’s father is a rich merchant, Ma Li’s father is a humble servant at the Lu residence, yet the two children are bond by close friendship. When the time arrives, they both want to get married. No problem for Lu Yao, but the poor Ma Li has difficulties with finding a proper wife.
Finally Lu Yao is offering a healthy amount for Ma Li to cover the wedding costs, but has a condition: he wants to substitute Ma Li in the bridal room for the first three days.
Ma Li is upset of course, but has no alternative and agrees.
Ma Li is suffering for three days after the wedding. On the forth day, he angrily rushes into the bridal room in the dark, grumpily covering his head with the blanket and goes to sleep. His wife starts to complaining then: “Dear husband, for three days you’ve been studying a book all night long, and now you cover your head and fall asleep, how is this fair?”
Ma Li realizes that Lu Yao was playing a prank with him, of course he hasn’t touched his wife. Ma is annoyed but relieved as well.
Later Ma Li passes his exams and becomes a high ranking official in the capital.
But Lu Yao falls on hard times, and decides to ask financial aid from Ma Li. When he arrives to the capital, Ma Li is happy, offering him drinks, but when Lu Yao tells about the real purpose of his coming, Ma Li pretends to not hear it at all. After several days, Ma Li asks Lu Yao: “Now you are going home, right? Don’t let your wife to worry.”
Lu Yao is very annoyed, but has no other option and returns home.
He’s almost at home when he hears heart-wrenching crying out of his house. He hurries in, what happened? His wife and children are bitterly crying over a coffin. It turns out that previously Ma Li sent a coffin to Lu’s house with the news that due to a serious illness, Lu Yao died in the capital.
Lu Yao is upset, but when he’s opening the coffin, it’s full of gold and silver, and there’s a letter from Ma Li: “You let my wife waiting in vain for three days, I let your wife to have a good cry.”

You might have noted that Chen Shaoyun has his own cherished place in my heart.
Though enjoying great reputation as present day’s number one Qi school artist, Chen Shaoyun always remained humble and modest, without the slightest amount of arrogance. He has such a charismatic and cheerful personality that his performances instantly expel my bad mood. He’s a man of few words, and you can never see him without carrying along a folding fan.
I spent quite a long time with picking a profile picture that suits him best. I think I found it – Chen Shaoyun, always smiling.

Chen Shaoyun (陈少云), leading actor of Shanghai Jingju Troupe, member of Chinese Dramatists Association, the Zhou Xinfang Art Association and Chinese Opera Vocal Music Society of Chinese Musicians Association was born in 1948 in Hunan into an opera family, and was already standing on the stage when he was 10 years old. At the age of 12, he won first prize at Huaihua Regional Youth Joint Performance with Xu Ce Pao Cheng.
He graduated at the regional Chinese opera school in 1964 and became the first class performer of Hunan Beijing Opera Troupe.
He was given directions by teachers of many schools. In 1980, after turning towards Qi school he became a disciple of Beijing opera laosheng Zhao Lintong (赵麟童) and famous Chinese opera theoretician and director A Jia (阿甲), also got guidance from Xiao Wang Guiqing. He formally entered Qi school when he became an apprentice of Zhou Shaoqi (周少麒), son of Zhou Xinfang.

In 1991 he got outstanding performance award in CCTV’s National TV Contest of Middle-aged Jingju Performers and in National Drama Association’s invitation tournament in Weifang, Shandong. One year later he was invited by the Zhou Xinfang Art Association for an individual performance in Shanghai.
He got especially favorable criticism from experts and spectators for Qing Feng Ting (Cool Breeze Pavilion) in 1993 and was honored with the Plum Blossom Award in its 11th session.

After joining Shanghai Jingju Troupe in 1996, he was widely praised for his portrayal of loyal and righteous character Chen Lin in Limao Huan Taizi (Exchanging the Crown Prince with a Raccoon), and few years later his reputation was growing even more after Zaixiang Liu Luoguo (Prime Minister Humpbacked Liu).
His portrayal of Xiao He, amalgamating Zhou Xinfang’s legacy and his own style also fascinated critics, calling it “re-innovation after inheritance”.
In 2003 he got the Wenhua Performance Award (given out by the Ministry of Culture) for Liu Luoguo, one year later he scored outstanding  performance award at the 4th National Beijing Opera Art Festival with Dongpo Yan (Dongpo Feast).

Chen Shaoyun felt himself suitable to accept apprentices only from 2008, since then he’s teaching the art of Qi school besides continuosly playing on stage. In 2010 May he was honored with the highest art prize of the government, the Culture and Arts Award (文化艺术政府奖).

In the next video Chen Shaoyun star as Xu Ce, one of the trademark roles of Qi school.

→ 京剧《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Pao Cheng (Xu Ce Running to the City Walls)  [DOWNLOAD] 66MB

Summary:
Xue Rengui, famous general of early Tang dynasty was framed by treacherous court official Zhang Tai, and his whole family was executed. A loyal state official, Xu Ce was replacing the smallest Xue baby, Xue Jiao with his own baby at the execution ground.
Once grown up, Xue Jiao is sending a letter to Xu Ce, informing him that he’s coming to Han Mountain to recruite soldier for the army of his aunt, Ji Luanying, in order to take revenge. Ji Luanying husband, Xue Gang, who previously was forced into exile at Qinglong, also comes to the mountain to join up the army and send troops to Chang’an.
Xu Ce is overjoyed when hearing the news, and despite his old age, he’s watching the family reunion from the city gate tower. Seeing the courageous spirit of the Xues, he wants to appeal for justice and ask the Emperor to kill and behead Zhang Tai, but he’s too old to ride a horse, nor he has a sedan, so he’s rushing to the royal court by foot.
You can see the most famous part in the video above, old Xu Ce even falls on his butt while running so hurriedly. Epic scene!

In the next set Chen Shaoyun sings two excerpts in the role of Xiao He, chancellor of early Han Dynasty.

In July 2004, Shanghai Jingju Troupe invited famous playwright Li Li to write screenplay for a continuation story of Beijing opera Xiao He Chasing Han Xin Under the Moonlight (萧何月下追韩信), one of Zhou Xinfang’s representative works.
Li finished the draft in a month, and in June 2006 won the Cao Yu Award for Outstanding Writing (China Theater Awards) with Success or Failure of Xiao He. The play also scored first prize at the 5th China Jingju Art Festival in 2008 November, and was invited to Beijing in January next year, so that drama fans can see it quickly.
“The success of this historical drama had many elements, but the main one was that the screenplay is brilliant!”, said Sun Zhongliang, head of Shanghai Jingju Troupe.

“Success or failure of Xiao He” (success and failure both stem from the same person) is also a figure of speech in China, referring to Xiao He’s involvement in both of Han Xin’s career success and later downfall. I tried to present the complicated story in short below.

There’s a frequent saying in Beijing opera circles : “North has Mei Lanfang, South has Zhou Xinfang”. There’s also a saying that goes like “Southern unicorn, Northern horse”, the unicorn referring to Zhou Xinfang‘s later stage name (unicorn child), the horse to Ma Lianliang (ma means horse).

Zhou Xinfang (周信芳) (January 28, 1895 – March 5, 1975) was born in Qingjiangpu (now Jiangyin), Jiangsu, Zhejiang into a Beijing Opera family. He started to learn jingju from his father when he was 6 years old, and made his stage debut as wawasheng (children’s role) in Hangzhou at the age of 7, thus earning himself the stage name qi ling tong (七龄童), seven-years-old child.

At the age of 11 he started to learn Tan (Xinpei) school laosheng role, and entered Beijing opera school Xi Lian Cheng (Mei Lanfang also studied in this institution). From 1907 he became the disciple of Li Chunlai and switched to the stage name qilin tong (麒麟童), unicorn child.
After Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi both died in 1908, due to national mourning all performances were cancelled in Beijing and Zhou Xinfang moved to Tianjin.

In 1912 he returned to Shanghai and performed with Tan Xinpei, grandfather of Tan Fuying. Driven by his social conscience, with other actors he staged plays like 《宋教仁》Song Jiaoren, opposing Yuan Shikai’s autocratic rule.

From 1913 to 1926 he was performing on numerous stages, like Dangui First Stage, Beijing First Stage and Gengxin Stage.
In 1927 Zhou Xinfang was invited to Tian Chan Stage, where he was pioneering with the system of male and female performers acting on the same stage.
He joined Tian Han‘s newly founded Beijing Opera troupe Southern China Society, founded and published the Li Yuan Newspaper and organised his own company, Yi Feng Theater Company, touring for many years in Beijing, Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Hankou etc.
When Southern China Society was forced to close down, Zhou safeguarded Tian Han’s escape.

In 1936 Zhou Xinfang returned to Shanghai and rejoined Golden Grand Theatre.
During the Japanese invasion, together with Tian Han and others he founded the Shanghai Theatre Save the Nation Association and Yi Feng Theater’s most plays were patriotic. Zhou Xinfang even refused the invitation for a performance from the Shanghai Japanese Secret Service.
Yi Feng Theater often received threatening letters then but Zhou Xinfang continued to write new patriotic pieces such as 《文天祥》Wen Tianxiang (Song dynasty politician and poet, folk hero in resisting Mongol invasion in Jiangxi in 1275) and 《史可法》Shi Kefa (best remembered for his defense of Yangzhou from invading armies of the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty).
In 1939 《文素臣》Wen Su Chen was performed repeatedly, was adapted to movie songs and Southern ballad tunes, thus people called 1939 the “Wen Su Chen Year”.
Finally Yi Feng Theater Company was forcefully disbanded in August 1941.

On 1 October 1949, together with Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu and several other opera representatives, he attended the founding ceremony of People’s Republic of China at Tiananmen Square.
He took on a variety of official roles under the new government, attended the First National People’s Congress of PRC in Beijing, was appointed as the first director of newly founded Shanghai Jingju Troupe and joined the Party in 1959.

In 1956 Mao Zedong congratulated Zhou Xinfang after a Shanghai performance of The Fishermen’s Revenge. In the same year on 21 February, Shanghai Office of Culture and China Federation of Literary and Art Circles officially celebrated Zhou Xinfang’s 50 years on stage with performances.

In the next years he was busy with premiering new plays, filming the Zhou Xinfang’s Stage Art sequel and touring, including a tour in the USSR, also performing for workers at construction sites and for farmers on the fields through China.

Troubles began in 1965, when First Lady Jiang Qing, Mao’s last wife visited the Shanghai Jingju Troupe and banned all plays, except revolutionary operas Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy and On the Docks.
Zhou Xinfang raised his voice against this complete waste of talent, and the Gang of Four started to criticize him in the newspapers, starting with Yao Wenyuan’s article “On the New Historical Beijing Opera Hai Rui Dismissed from Office“, which launched the Cultural Revolution.
The writings was getting worse and worse, and Zhou was arrested on November 14, 1968. He was released in 1969 but was kept under house arrest till his death.

In 1974 he was expelled from party membership and labeled anti-revolutionary, despite of his defiant objections.
He died of illness on 8 March, 1975 in Shanghai Huashan Hospital.

Work

Zhou Xinfang was never afraid of replacing the outdated with the new, liked to experiment with new performing media like cinematography, Western style stage plays, ballet etc.
Besides performing, he was also a producer, director, playwright of Beijing operas and motion pictures, he also wrote articles for newspapers occasionally.
His most noted film is entitled Zhou Xinfang’s Stage Art, consisting of Beijing operas《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Running to The Emperor’s Court and《下书杀惜》Killing Yan Xijiao for a Letter, also he was starring in Beijing opera movies 《琵琶记》The Chinese Lute, 《斩经堂》Murder in the Oratory and《宋士杰》Song Shijie.

Through his 70 years long career he performed in about 600 full length Beijing Opera pieces, so it would be a vain effort to mention them all, but some of his signature operas are《扫松下书》Sweeping Pine Needles,《乌龙院》Wulong Yuan, 《萧何月下追韩信》Xiao He Chasing Han Xin Under the Moonlight , 《清风亭》Cool Breeze Pavilion,《宋士杰》Song Shijie,《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Running to The Emperor’s Court,《义责王魁》Upbraiding Wang Kui and《坐楼杀惜》Killing Yan Xijiao.

→ 京剧《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Pao Cheng (Xu Ce Runs to the City Walls)  [DOWNLOAD] 31MB

→ 京剧《宋士杰》Song Shijie  [DOWNLOAD] 36MB

Qi style

Zhou Xinfang had superb vocal abilities in his childhood, but heavy performances soon undermined it, and his original voice turned rougher, deeper and lower. He cleverly made use of this condition and his new voice became a special characteristic of his own, unique art style, now known as Qi school.
His singing gets close to colloquial language, his spoken lines are full of life, very vigorous and powerful.
In his performances he emphasizes acting, conveying the characters innermost feelings through singing, movements and appearance. He was especially good at using costume apparel and stage props to portray the character, and came up with creative innovations regarding instruments, costume pieces and make-up.

Some of his disciples are Gao Baisui (高百岁), Wang Shaolou (王少楼), Li Shaochun (李少春), Li Hezeng (李和曾), Xu Minchu (徐敏初) and around twenty more.

Qi style doesn’t limited to Beijing opera laosheng role, there’s also Qi school Beijing opera huadan and hualian (painted face) role, Qi school huju (Shanghai opera) and yuèjù (Cantonese opera) laosheng, also he has followers from various fields of art, like prominent playwrights, dramatists, calligraphers, novelists, modern drama actors and famous movie stars, endorsing the common saying:

“Zhou Xinfang is not only of the past, but he is of today also, and even more, he is of the future.”

Sources: Zhou Xinfang’s Official Website, baidu.com, Wikipedia, Hudong Wiki.
Photos: sina.com.cn News Center, from the book “The Republic in Pictures”, First Page PRC

Some articles of Zhou Xinfang’s Official Website are translated to English, sometimes a bit awkwardly, but it’s terrific compared to other Chinese websites. It’s worth to check the Photographs page too. Beware, it has background music.

I wanted to post at least one full play with Chen Shaoyun. He’s always playing his roles with sheer professionalism and adorable charm, be it a kind-hearted official, a learned scholar or a painted face general.
Finally my choice fell on The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix, a joint performance of Ganlu Temple and Returning to Jingzhou, since this Shanghai staging was also featuring Jin Xiquan (who I’m biased towards as you might have noted), also An Ping and Li Jun. Grab a bucket of popcorn, it’s 2¾ hours long.

→ 京剧《龙凤呈祥》Long Feng Cheng Xiang (The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix)
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar] | [part5.rar] | [part6.rar] 1.08GB

Cast:
Qiao Xuan (乔玄): Chen Shaoyun (陈少云)
Sun Shangxiang (孙尚香): Shi Yihong (史依弘)
Liu Bei (刘备): Li Jun (李军)
Sun Quan (孙权): An Ping (安平)
Zhou Yu (周瑜): Jin Xiquan (金喜全)
Empress of Wu (吴国太): Hu Xuan (胡璇)
Zhao Yun (赵云): Hao Shuai (郝帅)
Zhang Fei (张飞): Yang Donghu (杨东虎)
Qiao Fu (乔福): Yan Qinggu (严庆谷)
Jia Hua (贾化): Yu Wei (虞伟)
Lü Fan (吕范): Zhuang Shunhai (庄顺海)
Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮): Zhu Haozhong (朱浩忠)
Lu Su (鲁肃): Fan Yongliang (范永亮)

Summary:
Sun Quan plans to lure Liu Bei to Wu under the pretence of marrying his younger sister, Sun Shangxiang, in order to kidnap Liu and exchange him for the strategic town of Jingzhou in return. Zhuge Liang, Liu’s chief officer sees through the conspiracy, and convinces Sun’s mother that Liu is worthy of being her son-in-law. Thus Sun Quan’s plan fails and Liu really marries his sister.
Zhou Yu of Southern Wu is tricking Zhuge Liang with the false information that Cao Cao is attacking Jingzhou, so in a letter he’s asking Liu Bei to return. Sun Shangxiang, who already fell in love with Liu, is accompanying her husband. Zhou Yu is dispatching generals to chase after Lady Sun and Liu, but Zhuge Liang comes to the rescue. He already prepared a ship to escape Liu and his wife from danger, and finally they safely return to Jingzhou.

Some more related videos
In another staging of the same opera at Chang’an Theater Zhu Qiang plays Qiao Xuan, Chen Shaoyun Lu Su and Ye Shaolan Zhou Yu, and it would be a crime against humanity to not post the following scene.

→ 京剧《龙凤呈祥》Long Feng Cheng Xiang – excerpt  [DOWNLOAD] 171MB
Performed by Ye Shaolan and Chen Shaoyun.

Mingduan Xinshang is a 25min daily show on CCTV11, focusing on one artist, troupe or school at one time. Since I’m a somewhat squarey personality who likes to organize data, classify things and keep them in tight order on lists and pie charts, I always enjoy thematic shows.

This edition of the program focuses on Zhou Xinfang, founder of Qi school (麒派).
 [DOWNLOAD] 157MB

Performances in order go as follows:

→ 京剧《徐策跑城》Xu Ce Pao Cheng (Xu Ce Runs to the City Walls)
Chen Shaoyun (陈少云) as Xu Ce

→ 京剧《追韩信》Zhui Han Xin (Pursuing Han Xin)
Xiao Wang Guiqing (小王桂卿) as Xiao He

→《唐僧取经》Tang Seng Qujing (Monk Tang Fetching the Scriptures)
Gramophone recording of Gao Baisui (高百岁)

→ 京剧《乌龙院》Wulong Yuan (Wulong Courtyard) – Story from Water Margin
Xiao Wang Guiqing (小王桂卿) as Song Jiang, Zhao Naihua (赵乃华) as Yan Xijiao