The 5th Yue Opera Art Festival will be held in Shaoxing, the hometown of Yue Opera, from July 31 to August 20, 2022. The art festival is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province. Since the 4th China Yue Opera Art Festival was hosted by Shaoxing in 2018, this national art festival has permanently landed in Shaoxing.
This year's Yue Opera Festival selected and invited 45 repertoires from across the country to participate in the show, of which 15 are new and excellent repertoires, 20 are traditional classic repertoires, and 10 are outstanding repertoires by private troupes. It also focuses on the artistic appearance of the Chinese Yue Opera industry in the past four years.
Among them, the works of "Innovative and Excellent Repertory Performances" are all new plays of various troupes in recent years. A total of 24 plays from 24 troupes across the country were submitted, and 15 plays were finally selected. On the evening of August 6, Shanghai Yue Opera Theatre's original Yue Opera "Love Between Mountains and Seas" was staged at Shaoxing Grand Theatre as one of them. The play has been selected by the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China Excellent Stage Art Exhibition", "National Poverty Alleviation Excellent Stage Art Exhibition", and the first batch of key literary and artistic creation projects under the theme of "Centennial Party Founding" and "Comprehensive Well-off" in Shanghai .
The audience in Shaoxing showed great enthusiasm for this performance at the China Yue Opera Festival and watched it from beginning to end. Many of the audience members are fans of the Shanghai Yue Theater. In the last scene of the whole play, the Miao girls in the play appeared in the Shanghai International Fashion Week wearing their own bamboo weaving craft costumes. When the Taiwanese Yue Opera performers wearing Miao costumes sang the folk songs of the Miao ethnic group and danced their dances, the audience The atmosphere became warm, and the audience took out their mobile phones to record the scene. At the end of the play, many young audience members gathered around the orchestra pit and chanted the names of the leading actors in the play, including Fang Yafen. There were endless applause and shouts. 
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the reform of Yue Opera and the 100th anniversary of Yuan Xuefen's birth. The 15 newly created plays presented at the China Yue Opera Festival all carry their own innovative ideas and involve various themes other than traditional Yue Opera. In addition to "Love in Mountains and Seas", there are also "Maple Leaves Like Flowers" and "Qiantangli" by Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Theatre, "Su Qin" by Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, "Xiaguang" by Wenzhou Yue Opera Theatre, and Jiangsu Nanjing Yue Opera Troupe. The newly created repertoire of the well-known Yue Opera Troupe, such as "Phoenix Terrace", Fujian Fanghua Yue Theater's "Mother of All Infants" and so on. 
Liang Hongjun, director of the Shanghai Yue Opera Theatre, introduced that Shanghai is the place for the reform of Yue Opera. The reform of Yue Opera initiated by a group of Yue Opera masters such as Yuan Xuefen, Xu Yulan and Fan Ruijuan in Shanghai 80 years ago still has an extremely far-reaching influence. This time, "Shan Hai Love" has comprehensive innovations in many aspects such as theme, music, costumes, stage beauty, etc., but Shangyue has never lost its tradition, always adhered to the inheritance of genres, and the actors have always had a great audience appeal. 
Liang Hongjun revealed that there will be several big plays in the second half of this year. After many rounds of polishing, the modern play "Nanjing Road Good Eight" will premiere in November as a key play for the 20 major plays. At the same time, to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Yue Opera master Wang Wenjuan, her masterpiece "The Legend of Chunxiang" is also being rehearsed. In addition, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yuan Xuefen, the master of Yue Opera, her masterpiece "The Soul of Plum Blossom" will be revamped. And Master Yin Guifang's "Pan wife and wife" will also be rehearsed this year.
This year's Yue Opera Festival selected and invited 45 repertoires from across the country to participate in the show, of which 15 are new and excellent repertoires, 20 are traditional classic repertoires, and 10 are outstanding repertoires by private troupes. It also focuses on the artistic appearance of the Chinese Yue Opera industry in the past four years.
Among them, the works of "Innovative and Excellent Repertory Performances" are all new plays of various troupes in recent years. A total of 24 plays from 24 troupes across the country were submitted, and 15 plays were finally selected. On the evening of August 6, Shanghai Yue Opera Theatre's original Yue Opera "Love Between Mountains and Seas" was staged at Shaoxing Grand Theatre as one of them. The play has been selected by the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China Excellent Stage Art Exhibition", "National Poverty Alleviation Excellent Stage Art Exhibition", and the first batch of key literary and artistic creation projects under the theme of "Centennial Party Founding" and "Comprehensive Well-off" in Shanghai .
Shaoxing Grand Theater performance audience Photo courtesy of the organizer
As a work on poverty alleviation, Deep Love in the Mountains and Seas changes the traditional performance content of Yue Opera, and takes a pair of Shanghai aid-Qian father and daughter (Jiang Dahai, Jiang Wei) and a pair of Miao family mother-in-law (Ying Hua, Long Apo) as clues to tell the story. Their respective emotional journeys from estrangement to understanding describe the joint efforts of poverty alleviation cadres, volunteers and women left-behind Miao families for poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. The whole drama concentrated on the lineup of several generations of artists such as Xu Jie, Fang Yafen, Fan Tingting, Cai Yan, etc., so it was welcomed by audiences in many places. In the past two years, it has performed 35 performances, which is the most performed new opera in Shanghai in recent years.Fang Yafen and Fan Tingting
The audience in Shaoxing showed great enthusiasm for this performance at the China Yue Opera Festival and watched it from beginning to end. Many of the audience members are fans of the Shanghai Yue Theater. In the last scene of the whole play, the Miao girls in the play appeared in the Shanghai International Fashion Week wearing their own bamboo weaving craft costumes. When the Taiwanese Yue Opera performers wearing Miao costumes sang the folk songs of the Miao ethnic group and danced their dances, the audience The atmosphere became warm, and the audience took out their mobile phones to record the scene. At the end of the play, many young audience members gathered around the orchestra pit and chanted the names of the leading actors in the play, including Fang Yafen. There were endless applause and shouts. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the reform of Yue Opera and the 100th anniversary of Yuan Xuefen's birth. The 15 newly created plays presented at the China Yue Opera Festival all carry their own innovative ideas and involve various themes other than traditional Yue Opera. In addition to "Love in Mountains and Seas", there are also "Maple Leaves Like Flowers" and "Qiantangli" by Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Theatre, "Su Qin" by Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, "Xiaguang" by Wenzhou Yue Opera Theatre, and Jiangsu Nanjing Yue Opera Troupe. The newly created repertoire of the well-known Yue Opera Troupe, such as "Phoenix Terrace", Fujian Fanghua Yue Theater's "Mother of All Infants" and so on. Liang Hongjun, director of the Shanghai Yue Opera Theatre, introduced that Shanghai is the place for the reform of Yue Opera. The reform of Yue Opera initiated by a group of Yue Opera masters such as Yuan Xuefen, Xu Yulan and Fan Ruijuan in Shanghai 80 years ago still has an extremely far-reaching influence. This time, "Shan Hai Love" has comprehensive innovations in many aspects such as theme, music, costumes, stage beauty, etc., but Shangyue has never lost its tradition, always adhered to the inheritance of genres, and the actors have always had a great audience appeal. Liang Hongjun revealed that there will be several big plays in the second half of this year. After many rounds of polishing, the modern play "Nanjing Road Good Eight" will premiere in November as a key play for the 20 major plays. At the same time, to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Yue Opera master Wang Wenjuan, her masterpiece "The Legend of Chunxiang" is also being rehearsed. In addition, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yuan Xuefen, the master of Yue Opera, her masterpiece "The Soul of Plum Blossom" will be revamped. And Master Yin Guifang's "Pan wife and wife" will also be rehearsed this year.
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