China's beauty queen diplomat to light up arts fest

By Zhang Kun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-17 10:00

A new dance drama about Wang Zhaojun, a former ambassador between Han Chinese and the kingdom of Xiongnu, who was famed for her legendary beauty, will open the 11th Shanghai International Art Festival tomorrow.

The play, simply called "Wang Zhaojun", focuses on her life as an imperial concubine and her subsequent marriage to the Xiongnu king as a peace offering. Centuries ago, the Xiongnu, now a minority ethnic group in China's north, had successfully invaded the territory that today stands as China's Inner Mongolia region, and threatened the Han Dynasty's northern border.

The play, which will be performed at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, boasts high production values courtesy of a massive 9 million yuan ($1.3 million) investment from the central government. In light of recent disturbances within its own borders, China is now pushing to promote historical episodes focusing on conflict resolution, especially among different nationalities and ethnicities.

"We people in Hubei take great pride in Wang, as much as we admire the ancient poet Qu Yuan, who also came from our province," said Mei Changsheng, director of the Hubei Opera and Dance Drama Theater, which is staging the show.

"They already had three or four tentative shows in Hubei but their presence at our festival is going to mark their national debut." said Chen Shenglai, director of the festival's organizing committee.

The play starts circa the year 32 BC while Wang is still a carefree young teenager at ease in the natural scenery of Hubei. Later her unusual beauty catches the attention of the Han emperor and she is selected to become an imperial concubine.

Historically, China cherishes its four 'great beauties', of which Wang is one. The others are: Xi Shi, another concubine heralded as China's first female spy, who lived during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC); Diao Chan, who was involved in a complicated political love triangle during China's storied Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD); and Yang Yuhuan, an imperial concubine during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

The play moves on to the grandeur and luxury of the Han palace, where hundreds of women compete for the attention of the emperor. As this was long before the advent of digital photography, the concubines would bribe the imperial painter to make them look more beautiful when presenting their pictures to the emperor. However Wang refused to pay a bribe and was thus depicted as being ugly, thus escaping the attention of the emperor.

Later, when the Xiongnu threaten to invade the Han territory, the emperor decides to marry his daughter to king Huhanye to make peace. The princess refuses the arrangement, and Wang, bored with palace life, offers to go instead.

To Wang's surprise, she falls madly in love with Huhanye and does her best to serve as a good queen and build up friendly ties with the Han.

Theater Director Mei said he expects the play to have broad international appeal.

"Western audiences may find that Chinese dance has its own unique body language, which is quite different from ballet. We made some bold experiments in terms of the choreography, and I'm sure audiences will find novel movements and unexpected modernism elements to their liking."

Oct 18, 7:30 pm

Shanghai Oriental Art Center

丁香路425号，东方艺术中心

Tel: 6272-1976

Tickets: 200-880 yuan