Yi ethnic opera to be staged in Beijing

The Yi ethnic opera Yi Hong will be staged in Beijing on August 17 and 18 at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

An ethnic opera, Yi Hong, which tells the story of how the Yi people of Daliangshan Mountain area of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture battled together with the Red Army in the 1930s, will be staged in Beijing on August 17 and 18 at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

The opera was first staged in Liangshan, southwest China's Sichuan province, in July 2014 and has been performed over 100 times around the country in 2015, which attracted an audience of over 10,000. Last year, it premiered in Beijing at the National Center for the Performing Arts.

According to Li Ting, the scriptwriter and artistic director of the opera, who initiated the idea of the production, all the actors of the show are from Liangshan Song and Dance Troupe, the first national performing art troupe of the Yi ethnic group, which was founded in 1956 in Sichuan province, and nearly all of them are Yi people.

“It guarantees the show’s spirit of featuring Yi ethnic people’s customs, music and dance,” says Li, who was the head of Sichuan People’s Art Theater.

For Li, who spent her youth in Daliangshan Mountain area from the time she was 6 to 26, the show is significant to her personally.