Shajiabang (opera)

Shajiabang ; first produced under the title Sparks Amid the Reeds, is a Chinese revolutionary opera and one of the "model plays" endorsed by Jiang Qing during the Cultural Revolution.

Production

It was first produced as a Shanghai opera entitled Sparks amid the Reeds or Emerald Water and Red Flags in 1958 by the Hu Opera Troupe. In October 1963, the First Peking Opera Company adapted it as a Peking opera. Mao Zedong saw it in 1964 and asked that the title be changed, as sparks would not set wet reeds alight, so it was named after its setting, the town of Shajiabang. Jiang Qing, insisted that the role of the Red Army political commissar be expanded. The dance routines were also revised, the opera not reaching its final form until 1970. Wang Zengqi also contributed to it.

Synopsis

Set during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Japanese-ruled territory west of Shanghai. Shajiabang is a town by Yangcheng Lake. Sister Aqing runs a teahouse visited by officers of a Chinese collaborationist group; unbeknownst to them, she is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and is helping wounded soldiers of the New Fourth Army who are hiding in the marshes.

Legacy

Shajiabang was made into a film in 1971 by the Changchun Film Studio, and the score has also been performed as a "revolutionary symphony."
An exhibition hall of Shajiabang's revolutionary history was opened in 1988, and expanded in 2006.
A television re-make of Shajiabang aired for 30 episodes beginning in 2006.''''''