an important opera illustrating the landlore and the peasants in China

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The White Haired Girl

One of the most influential Chinese opera presenting the difficult life of peasants in China before the foundation of People's Republic of China in 1949. It was made into a movie later. The story has been included in K-12 national curriculum in China since 1980s (I learned about this story in elementary school).

After watching the performance, some of the leaders of Chinese Communist Party, including Shao-qi Liu, pointed out that the conflict between the classes in China would emerge as the most critical social conflict in China, after the victory of 8-year war against Japan during the WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Haired_Girl

[Anonymous]

I looked this up and was trying to find the film version (1950) on Net Flix, but wasn't able to find it yet. Do you know where the film version can be found? Suzanne Lopez

[Anonymous]

I was surprised, although I should not have been, that the peasants who made the Long March were the ones who were called out during the Cultural Revolution. Although Clay said so, not in just that way. Here were loyal party members now not only shunted to the sidelines but punished for their long term party allegience(SP). The book I bought, THE LONG MARCH by Sun Shuyun, is an empathetic look at those left and their stories in 2004. She interviewed everyone she could while she retraced the march. She doesn't dispute that it happened, just that the point of view of the person on the ground was very different that the history book version. Mao was truly a master politian(sp) and just as ruthless as any I have ever read about. He sacrificed his loyal followers for 30 years to regain power by turned the next generation against them. Wow!

[clay dube]

The Pacific Asia Museum included a cover of the album featuring the music of "The White Haired Girl." It was one of the ballets permitted to be performed during the Cultural Revolution.

Here are some clips available at YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P49X-fVrvcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBMoyNSTdG8&feature=related (this one was originally put up on Tudou, one of the Chinese video sharing sites).

Here's a clip of a concert performance of a song from the opera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5zFNbgf3vM&feature=related

There is a recent documentary on the model operas which includes interviews with surviving performers, directors, and writers. Yang Ban Xi is screened on Link TV and elsewhere. Here's the website for it:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/yang.html

Here's the trailer for the documentary:

http://www.spike.com/video/yang-ban-xi-8-model/2723018

[clay dube]

Another of the "model" operas/ballets that Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, decreed were okay to be performed.

Here's a 46 minute "clip" from the film. Google Video allows for you to easily move between sections. Sorry -- no English subtitles.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4081455131757425665#

Here's an excerpt from Red Azalea by Anchee Min about this opera:
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/twenty/mao1.html (Sarah, Red Azalea has memoir-like features.)

The ballet was performed last year in the run up to China's 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of the People's Republic:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-09/28/content_8745518.htm

[Anonymous]

I am not sure where this should go, so I'll put it here. It is a book review of The Long March, The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth. The author, Sun Shuyun trekked the same route as the Red army did some seventy years ago. She managed to interview a surprising number of survivors, although some she just missed. Her admiration is clear from the start. I was troubled by the matter fact way she handled the enormous killing that went on. I did't realize that Chaing was considered a War Lord. Her ability to describe the events is excellent and I certainly have a much clearer idea of the trek and am astounded at the ddmiles, the odds and their preservence,. She seems to take the carnage in stride, perhaps too much so. She gives each survivor the chance to comment on the pilgrimmage and none of them voiced any true regrets about the march itself. Of course any elderly person is going to have some regrets, but not in relation to their march. Worth reading? Yes, but you can't help but we very aware of the authors sentimernts.

[Anonymous]

Clay, it is such a surprise that you mentioned Red Azalea by Anchee Min because I went through a period of time in college (after one year of Chinese language) in which I was fascinated and curious about the Cultural Revolution, China's history, basically anything relating to Chinese society and I read quite a number of books on the subject. Another book by Anchee Min, Becoming Madame Mao, discusses her relationship with Mao and attempts to explain the conviction through Madame Mao's perspective. Perhaps, I was always drawn toward memoir related literature.

[Author]

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