Opera revives story of young female soldiers

The Red Detachment of Women caused a sensation in the country when it was screened in 1961.

Directed by Chinese filmmaker Xie Jin, the film was based on the true story of a group of female Communist soldiers on Hainan Island during the civil war in the early 1930s.

The story was later adapted into a ballet by the National Ballet of China. The ballet version of The Red Detachment of Women has been staged around the world more than 4,000 times since its premiere in Beijing in 1964.

It is best known in the West as the ballet performed for US President Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1972.

Over the past few decades, the story has also been turned into Peking Opera productions, TV series and, now, the China National Opera House is reviving the story again.

An opera based on the film version will be staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts on June 14 and 15.

For the show, the symphony orchestra and chorus of the China National Opera House will perform under the baton of Chinese conductor Yang Yang.

The opera, like the film's script, follows a rural girl named Wu Qionghua, who escapes a life of slavery and joins an all-female Communist Party army battalion led by commander Hong Changqing on Hainan Island during the civil war in the early 1930s.

Meanwhile, musicians from the China National Opera House, working with the Hainan Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Hainan Provincial Musicians' Association, have written new material for show, besides reviving classic songs from the film version.

The idea of producing a Chinese opera based on the story came up in 2010 after Wang Yanmei, chairman of the Hainan Provincial Musicians' Association, watched the Chinese opera production Jiang Jie based on the nationally known Communist heroine of the civil war.

Explaining how she came up with the idea, Wang says: "The story of The Red Detachment of Women took place in Hainan. And like Jiang Jie, it is also a well-known story. Also, the music from the film is very beautiful and popular. So, it seemed very possible to adapt it into an opera."

Wang began to work on the script in 2011, with help later from veteran Chinese composer Zhu Jiahe. He traveled around Hainan province, seeking local folk music elements as he learned more about the history of the battalion.

In 2013, the opera premiered in Haikou, the provincial capital. Wang and Zhu have been revising the script and music over the past four years.

Zhu says: "When audiences see the opera at the NCPA in Beijing, they will see a familiar story but with more plots, music and dance based on the folk culture of Hainan."

Wang says: "It was challenging to do the adaptation because the story is well-known, and the film and ballet versions are so successful.

"In the opera version, we focus on the transition of Wu Qionghua, who was a vengeful young woman and later became a loyal and disciplined Communist soldier."