Xiqu

Cheng Yanqiu, the founder of the Cheng school, was one of the ‘Four Great Actors in Dan Roles’ in Peking Opera. The singing art of the Cheng school is highly distinctive and is particularly skilful in singing with a tone projected from the back of the head. The singing style fully highlights the contrasts of high and low, strong and weak, creating a soulful, subtle voice that is both intermittent and continual. The year 2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the death of Cheng Yanqiu, in order to commemorate this virtuoso, the Second Troupe of the China National Peking Opera Company is going to bring three full-length plays to the audience. All three plays are headlined by Li Haiyan, a renowned qingyi (virtuous female) role actress of Cheng school and winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre. She presents the uniquely stylish vocal style, visual expressions, stylised movements, footwork, hand gestures, sleeves, etc. of the Cheng school fully on stage.

The beautifully sung Consort Mei, created by Cheng Yanqiu in 1925, has not been presented on a Hong Kong stage for a long time. Different from the well-known story between Imperial Concubine Yang Yuhuan and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang presented by the Mei school, this repertoire depicts the sad emotions between Consort Mei and the Emperor by the interpretation of Cheng school. The Unicorn Pouch is a classic play of the Cheng school, which is characterised by sophisticated singing and a variety of ban patterns、 it is a classic that demonstrates the vocal style and the art of stylised movement of the Cheng school. Anecdotes about Empress Wu Zetian is a grand production written by Li Shiji in the 1990s. Li was a disciple of Cheng Yanqiu and received personal training from the master. Li Haiyan inherits the art and received the personal supervision from the late Li Shiji in her rehearsal of the play and she is currently the only Cheng school bearer of this repertoire.