Without weathering the dire wintry chill, how could one truly feel the joy of finding the fragrant plum blossoms?

23-25 June 2011 (Thu-Sat) 7:30pm
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre
Tickets: $350, 240, 180, 100

Lyrics and dialogue with Chinese and English surtitles

23 June 2011 (Thu)
New Peking Opera The Story of the Actor Xiang Jiuxiao
In late Qing Dynasty, Xiang Jiuxiao is a famous Peking opera artist in the capital city. He has in his circle of close friends Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong, two scholars advocating reform for the good of the nation. Xiang Jiuxiao risks his life by seizing the opportunity of being called to the palace to perform for the Empress Dowager to deliver a top-secret letter from the two into the hands of the open-minded Emperor Guangxu.  The reform movement ultimately ends in failure and Xiang Jiuxiao is on the list of wanted men issued by the imperial court. As he flees for his life, his female disciple Xiaoxia, who has long been secretly in love with him, dies in protecting him, to his devastation. 

In a snowstorm, Xiang Jiuxiao trudges all alone to Xiaoxia's grave.  At the heartbreaking sight of the grave that buries the young Xiaoxia, he allows his long hidden emotions to surface, and breaks into a song that would move heaven and earth for his outpouring. After dedicating this emotion-laden song to his love, he leaves for a life of oblivion.....

Cast : Pei Yanling, Zhang Huimin, Zhang Yunsheng, Liang Weiling, Gong Haizhong

24 June 2011 (Fri)
The Great Heroine (The Iron Bow)
Chen Xiuying and her mother run a small teahouse in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.  Shi Lun, the son of the Commander of the resident forces, Shi Sulong, sees Xiuying and is smitten by her beauty.  He attempts to take her by force, and is chased out of the teahouse by Mrs. Chen and given a good beating along the way.  A young man, Kuang Zhong, happening to pass by, brings Mrs. Chen round and accompanies her home.

Back at the teahouse, Kuang spots an iron bow - the Chen family's heirloom, and recognising it to be of uncommon pedigree, is filled with admiration.  He and Xiuying agree to a game of archery, and the two are soon betrothed as they find a good match in each other. 

Shi Lun, however, becomes terribly jealous of Kuang, and plots to kill Kuang and his father.  Xiuying uncovers the scheme, disguises herself as a man and kills Shi, before fleeing with her mother into the night.

They escape to Erlong Mountain, where the leader at the fort, Guan Fengying, mistakes Xiuying to be her fiance, Wang Fugang.  Xiuying and her mother decide to go along with the misimpression and follow Guan to the mountain fort, where Xiuying trains the men in preparation for battle.  She then leads them to Taiyuan to take down Shi Lun's father once and for all.  The Commander first sends the real Wu Fugang into battle, and on meeting defeat, calls back Kuang and his father from their posts and orders them to ride into battle.  Thus the couple meets on the battlefield yet neither recongises the other, with Xiuying in a man's armour and Kuang having grown a beard and a moustache - until Xiuying draws out her iron bow. The two couples - Kuang and Xiuying, and Guan and Wang - are happily reunited.

Cast: Tang Yuen-ha, Wang Yujin (Guest), Geng Tianyuan, Yang Xiangguo, Zhang Yunsheng

25 June 2011 (Sat)   
Excerpts
Revealing the True Identity from The Captive General Visits his Mother
This story is taken from the saga of the valiant Yang family of the Song Dynasty.  In the battle between the Song and Liao regimes at 'Two Wolves' Mountain, Yang Yanhui, the fourth son in the Yang family, is taken captive as prisoner-of-war.  He becomes the prince consort of Liao, taking a new name, 'Mu Yi'.  Fifteen years later, the two regimes are at war again.  Yang learns that his mother, Dowager She, is escorting the squad transporting army supplies at the frontline.  He misses her dearly, and cannot help shedding tears whenever he thinks of her.  His wife, the Princess of Liao, observes this and repeatedly asks him the reason for his sadness, and Yang finally tells her.  She wants to help her husband and is also moved by his filial love, so she agrees to steal the mandate arrow from the commander to help Yang pass through the sentry gate.  Yang is grateful for the Princess' graceful act and her regard for him, and quickly returns after visiting his mother to accept his due punishment.

Cast: Pei Yanling, Tang Yuen-ha

The Pulley
In the battle at Ox Head Mountain between the Song and Jurchen troops during Song Dynasty, Prince Gao Chong has just arrived in the Song army camp, having escorted the military supplies to the battle frontline.  He finds Commander Yue Fei appointing generals to their positions in the troop formation, and valiantly volunteers himself.  The Commander however, refused. As a trained and able warrior, Gao is displeased to be assigned of doing a lowly task.  Then he mounts his horse and breaks into the enemy's formation, taking them by storm.  The Jurchen commander Wu Shu orders his men to retreat to the mountains, then release heavy iron pulleys down the slopes to thwart Gao's advances.  Gao gives chase, though unfamiliar with the terrain.  As he arrives at the foothills, the iron pulleys come hurtling down the slope towards him.  Trapped, Gao manages to use his spear to overturn some of the pulleys, but his strength gives out before aid arrives, and he is crushed to death under the heavy wheels.

Cast: Feng Fei, Zuo Alei

The Marriage Proposal from Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream
Making a Marriage Proposal and The Response are the two exerpts of The original play of Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream. The story goes like this: To test his wife, Zhuangzi fakes his own death, and transforms himself into the prince of Chu coming to pay his respects, accompanied by an old servant and a young pupil, both transformed from butterflies. Zhuangzi's wife is immediately taken to the young, handsome prince, and asks him to wed her.

Cast: Tang Yuen-ha, Zhang Yunsheng

Wu Song Beating the Tiger Barehanded
The story is taken from The Water Margin.  Wu Song is on his way home to see his elder brother.  As he passes by Yanggu County, he has a few heavy drinks at Jingyang Hill.  Wu staggers drunkenly up the slopes at night. Halfway up, with the alcohol getting to his head, he decides to lie down for a short nap.  Just then, there is a ferocious tiger springs towards Wu, who is so scared that all tipsiness is chased away.  He uses his martial skills to fight the tiger and finally manages to kill the creature with his bare fists.

Cast: Pei Yanling

Running Time: Approx. 2 hrs 45 mins with an intermission

Established in 1986, Jingkun Theatre (JK) is a production and education company dedicated to the development of Peking opera and Kunqu opera. Over the years, it has produced various kinds of performances, talks, workshops and courses. Recent major productions include The Exquisite Charm of Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera, Classics Revisited, The Northern & Southern Kunqu Virtuosi Showcase etc. Earlier productions include the Peking Opera Concert, which showcased the various vocal styles and traced the development of Peking opera in the last one hundred years; The Great Belfry, which was based on Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame; and a Peking opera based on the novel of the same title by Louis Cha, The Return of the Condor Heroes.

JK was invited to represent Hong Kong in the China Peking Opera Festival held in Nanjing in 2001, and the China Kunqu Opera Festival held in Suzhou in 2006.  In 2007, it was invited to represent Hong Kong in the 3rd Festival of Traditional Chinese Opera in Paris, and won the Prix Special du Jury (Special Jury Prize) and the Best Actor Award with its performance The House Wulong. On the Education front, JK has been conducting arts education and guided appreciation sessions for primary, secondary and university students in Hong Kong. JK has also been invited to give demonstrational performances, seminars and workshops at the University of London, the University of York, the Australian National University, the University of Sydney and Queensland Conservatorium etc.

Peking Opera Theatre of Hebei was formerly Jizhong Experimental Theatre founded in 1945, which was renamed 'Hebei Peking Opera Troupe' in 1953, and the present name in 1994. Over the decades, the company has, at different times of its history, been graced by a conglomeration of outstanding artists. The present director of Peking Opera Theatre of Hebei is a performing artist of great renown in China, Pei Yanling. An actress in transvestite roles, she is best known for her outstanding interpretation of heroic, righteous men.  Her famous repertoire includes Zhong Kui the Ghost-eater, Wu Song, Lin Chong on a Midnight Run, The Showdown at Cuiping Mountain, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Nazha, Wreaking Havoc in Heaven, and On Centipede Range.  She has toured more than twenty countries and regions to give performances and talks, and has won the acclaim as 'the most outstanding artist' and 'a world-class actress'.

Throughout its history, the company has revived and staged close to a hundred works from the traditional repertory, and at the same time has adapted or created new works such as Qin Ying's Expedition to the West, Emperor Taizong of Tang, The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, The Eight Immortals Teasing the White Ape, Zhong Kui the Ghost-eater, The Story of the Actor Xiang Jiuxiao and the modern Peking opera Fighting the Great Flood. The company has toured the United States, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Africa, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and everywhere it went, it has won popular acclaim.

Pei Yanling
Pei Yanling is a famous performer in Chinese traditional theatre in China and currently Director of Peking Opera Theatre of Hebei. Born into a family of artists in Chinese opera, Pei commands a wide range of roles that covers both the 'civil' and the 'military' categories, and genre types of Peking opera, Kunqu opera and Clapper opera. She was named a 'National Treasure' in the operatic arts of China, and won the accolade as 'A Star that Spans the Centuries'. Pei was also a winner of the Grand Prix of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, and was presented with the White Magnolia Award for Special Achievement to the Performing Arts. Her most famous works, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Nazha Wreaking Havoc in the Sea, Zhong Kui the Ghost-eater and The Story of the Actor Xiang Jiuxiao have been made into films. She is currently the Vice-chairman of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the China Theatre Association, and Chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles of Hebei Province and of the Hebei Dramatists' Association.

Tang Yuen-ha
Tang Yuen-ha was the recipient of the 8th Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, the first Hong Kong  artist to have received this most prestigious honour in Chinese theatrical arts. In 2001, Tang was presented with an "Outstanding Performance Award" at the 3rd China Peking Opera Festival. Tang also won the "Award for Best Artist" (2008) by Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and was conferred the "Medal of Honour" by the HKSAR Government in 2010.
Tang studied under the Peking opera and Kunqu opera legend, Maestros Yu Zhenfei and Zhang Meijuan, and has since developed a unique performance style that has won her the praise as 'the pearl of Peking opera and Kunqu opera in Hong Kong'. She is exceptionally renowned for depicting female roles of totally different characters. Tang's contribution to Peking opera and Kunqu opera is also recognized by her role as producer, arts educator and speaker in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Jingkun Theatre, Director of the China Theatre Association.

Geng Tianyuan
Member of the China Theatre Association, Geng is currently the resident director and actor of Jingkun Theatre. He graduated from the Academy of Chinese Traditional Theatre, specializing in sheng (male) roles and directing.  Geng was the recipient of a "Class One Award for Directing" in Shandong in 1995, the "Best Director Award" at the 6th Wenhua Awards presented by the Ministry of Culture in 1996 and the winner of the "Best Actor Award" in the 3rd Festival of Traditional Chinese Opera in Paris in 2007.

In recent years, he has revived, adapted and directed an admirable range of productions including Kunqu opera Pursuing the Dream and The Portrait from The Peony Pavilion, Wu Song and Pan Jinlian, Peking opera The House Wulong, Xiang opera The Rabbit, and Cantonese opera The Wooden Hairpin.

Wang Yujin (Guest)
A renowned comic role actor in Peking opera, Wang Yujin received his training under Jia Duocai and Luo Xiaokui.  He is known for his clear and sonorous singing voice and exceptional delivery of lines, and his interpretation of wenchou (civil comic) roles and caidan (flirtatious female) roles with natural grace and humour.  Characters that he has brought alive on stage include Jiang Gan in A Meeting of Heroes, Jia Gui in Famen Temple, Lord Yang in The River View Pavilion, Chong Gongdao in The Incarceration of Su San, Zhang Sanyang in Executing Chen Shimei, Madam Chen in The Iron Bow as Matchmaker and Madam Yan in The House Wulong.  Wang sits on the artistic direction committee of the Shandong Peking Opera Theatre, and is a National Class One performer with the company.

Zhang Huimin
Zhang Huimin is a National Class One Performer and winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre. She trained at the Hebei Arts School with a specialism in huadan (young female) roles.  She became later a disciple of the famous Peking opera artist, Song Changrong, in 1985, to learn the stylistic features of the Xun Huisheng school.  Zhang has a handsome stage persona and performs with imagination. Her outstanding repertoire includes Hongniang the Maid, The Case of the Jade Hairpin, The Water-pedlar, Qin Ying's Expedition to the West, and the new full-length drama, The Imperial Grand Concubine Zhen, among many others.  She won a Class One Award for Performance at the 5^th and 7^th Theatre Festival of Hebei Province, and another Class One Award for Theatre Theories at the 7th Hebei Hundred Flowers Award for Theatre.

Zhang Yunsheng
Zhang Yunsheng is a National Class One Performer.  He was trained at the Academy of Chinese Traditional Theatre, specializing in wenwu sanhualian (clown roles). His teachers included Wang Ronghan, Wang Lianping, Geng Qingwu etc.  He sings with pure tones, delivers his lines with clarity, is convincing in his interpretation of characters and has a unique style.  He has won many awards at both provincial and national levels.

Liang Weiling
Liang Weiling is a National Class One Performer, an exponent of the Mei (Lanfang) stylistic school and winner of the prestigious Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre. She sings with a clear, crisp voice and her stage persona exudes delicate grace and high refinement - qualities that are typical of the Mei style. Her prized repertoire includes The Drunken Royal Concubine (as Lady Yang), King Chu Bids Farewell to His Beloved Concubine (as Lady Yu), and Cosmic Sword (as Zhao Yanrong), among many others. She plays Empress Dowager Ci Xi in The Story of the Actor Xiang Jiuxiao. Liang is also a CPPCC deputy of Hebei Province.

Feng Fei
Feng Fei is a young actor specialized in wusheng (military male) roles.  He joined Peking Opera Theatre of Hebei in 2008.  Under many years of tutelage by Peking opera artist Pei Yanling, Feng has established a solid foundation of skills and achieved technical virtuosity.  His stage persona emanates valour and strength.  His repertoire includes Lin Chong's Nocturnal Escape, Shi Xiu Visiting the Fort, Fighting with Ma Chao, Xiao Shang He and The Pulley.

25 June 2011(Sat)  4pm-5pm
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre
Speakers: Pei Yanling, Tang Yuen-ha, Geng Tianyuan
Free Admission. Limited seats available on a first-come-first-served basis

2, 9, ※16, 23 April; 14 May；※9 July 2011 (Sat) 7:30pm
6, 13, 20 April; 4 , 11 May ; ※6 July 2011 (Wed) 7:30pm
GR1, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
(※16/4, 6/7, 9/7 - GR2, Hong Kong Cultural Centre)

16-17 July 2011 (Sat - Sun)  2:30pm
AC1, Level 4, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Tickets: $40 (Free Seating)

Tickets will be available from 8 April onwards at all URBTIX outlets, on Internet and by credit card telephone booking

Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (Limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis)
Group Booking Discount – 10% off for each purchase of 4-9 full-price tickets; 15% off for 10-19 full-price tickets; 20% off for 20 or more full-price tickets
"Chinese Opera Festival 2011” Package Discount – 10% off on full-price tickets for each purchase of 3-4 different performances; 15% off for 5-9 different performances; 20% off for 10 or more different performances

Patrons could enjoy only one of the above discounts for each purchase, please inform the box office staff at the time of purchase

Note: Discount for Full-time Students, Group Booking Discount and "Chinese Opera Festival 2010" Package Discount are not applicable to the tickets of Open Rehearsal

Programme Enquiries：2268 7325
Ticketing Enquiries：2734 9009
Credit Card Telephone Booking：2111 5999
Internet Booking：www.urbtix.hk

The presenter reserves the right to substitute artists and change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary
The contents of this programme do not represent the views of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department