Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – The newly adapted traditional Peking Opera "The Broken Qin of the Pavilion," produced by the Qinghai Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and created by the Qinghai Performing Arts Group, recently premiered at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and toured Dezhou, Shandong, and Tianjin. This marks the first time the Qinghai Peking Opera Troupe has presented a complete production outside of Qinghai, showcasing the unique charm of "Western Peking Opera" to audiences nationwide.
Deep within the stage, a guqin (ancient Chinese zither) stands silently, witnessing a tragic lament about vows and fidelity. "The Broken Qin of the Pavilion" reinterprets this classic play from a contemporary perspective, using the symbolic guqin as its central theme. The play weaves together scenes such as "Playing the Qin in a Distant Offering," "Flying Letter Falling onto the Qin," "Expressing Feelings While Playing the Qin," "Farewell with Tears and Giving the Qin," "Losing the Qin While Escaping," "His Sleeves Hitting the Qin," "The Broken Qin and His Fragrant Soul," "Holding the Qin to Seek Love," and "The Qin Demands the Waves' Sound." It tells the tragic story of the heroine, Jiao Guiying, who expresses her feelings through the guqin, only to be betrayed by the hero, Wang Kui, leading to their tragic end, from a rescue on a snowy night to the breaking of the guqin and its subsequent sinking into the sea.
On stage, Wu Qiong, a successor of the Xun School, perfectly portrayed Jiao Guiying's infatuation and resolute determination. Her water sleeve performance was particularly brilliant—through a series of exquisite techniques including single and double tosses, sleeve shaking, flower-like movements, and backbends, she layered the character's grief and despair. Huo Min, who played Wang Kui, broke away from the stereotypical villainous image, creating a "real person" gradually lost in the throes of reality. The two actors' scenes were full of tension, their coordination seamless, and they precisely presented every moment of the characters' emotional fluctuations.
The production boasts a strong creative team, with first-class composer Zhu Shaoyu serving as the vocal design director and first-class director Li Huiqin as the general director. Zhu Shaoyu adhered to the "four good" principles of "good to hear, good to see, good to play, and good to be meaningful," achieving artistic breakthroughs while strictly following the norms of Peking Opera singing. This resulted in core arias that retained the richness of classical charm while possessing the power to penetrate contemporary emotions.
The Qinghai Peking Opera Troupe started as a "horseback troupe," setting up stages in tents on the grasslands and persevering in performances under harsh conditions, gradually exploring a unique path for "Western Peking Opera."
The troupe's leader stated, "We come here with over seventy years of accumulated experience, not only for the perfection of a single play, but also to allow more people to see Peking Opera from the plateau and hear the voice of the West." (End)
