Staging a memorable performance

Two leading Kunqu Opera performers, actor Shi Xiaming and actress Shan Wen, appeared on July 12 in a bookstore in Sanlitun subdistrict, a popular Beijing commercial area in Chaoyang district, to share their memories about the Kunqu Opera production.

They started by elaborating on the name of the play: 1699 was the year that Kong completed the masterpiece The Peach Blossom Fan. In 1991, the Jiangsu Province Kunqu Opera Theater staged a version of the piece. To distinguish the new from the old version, director Tian Qinxin named the 2006 production, 1699 The Peach Blossom Fan.

The story, set against a Nanjing backdrop during the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), concerns a young scholar named Hou Fangyu and a courtesan named Li Xiangjun who loved and lived during the last days of the dynasty when their world fell apart. The separation and reunion of the lovers allowed the author to dwell on emotions associated with the dynasty's rise and fall, offering a kaleidoscope of society, such as honor and corruption, patriotism and disloyalty, friendship and betrayal, as well as cruelty and kindness.

"I was 16 when I played the role of Li Xiangjun, who, in the classic piece, was also 16," says Shan, now 35. The fact that both young women shared the same age of blossoming youth and harboring dreams for the future resonated deeply with Shan, who had just graduated from Jiangsu Provincial Drama School as she embodied the role.