Venue: Opera House
Dates: July 28, 2017
About
NCPA opera commission Jinsha River is created at the 90th Anniversary of the Birth of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The opera is adapted from a novel of the same name, published in 1959. CHEN Jing, the author of this novel, is a military writer focusing on themes of the Long March, which he personally experienced. Jinsha River tells the story happened between the Red Army trekking on the Long March and people living in Tibetan areas along the Jinsha River. This novel was once adapted into a Pingju Opera work (1959). In 1963, it also has a film adaptation of the same name.
For this opera, composer LEI Lei has collected a lot of Tibetan music elements as source material to fully presents the charm of the Tibetan music style. Based on the novel, librettists FENG Baiming and FENG Bilie refined the storyline. Stage director LIAO Xianghong strived to restore the magnificent and imposing historical scenes of that time. To achieve this, she has visited places where the story happened, and taken historical facts and geographical features into account.
Synopsis
Soldiers of the Red Army need to move ahead northwards, but they have to cross Jinsha River, where there is a Tibetan Region nearby. QIU Wanli, a local militia commander, wants to hinder the Red Army on the way. Disguising as a Red Army soldier, he seizes Sanchi (leader of Tibetans)’s daughter Droma and imputes to the Red Army, hoping to provoke conflicts between Tibetans and the army. After Droma is rescued by JIN Ming (head of advance Detachment of the Red Army), she initially thinks of the Red Army as her enemy. However, JIN Xiu (JIN Ming’s elder sister) cares for her in every possible way. Also, Droma sees that facing water and food shortages, the Red Army still obeys strict discipline under the leadership of JIN Ming, and Political Commissar TAN even dies for protecting the Tibetans. Hence, Droma changes her mind, becoming a guide to lead the Red Army to enter the Tibetan Region.
Defeated by the Red Army, QIU Wanli sets fire to Jinsha City, and tells a lie to Sanchi that Droma has been raped to death by Red Army soldiers. Sanchi vows to be extremely antagonistic to the Red Army. Because QIU Wanli has destroyed water channel, JIN Yongde (JIN Ming's uncle and cooking squad leader) seeks for other water sources but is killed.
Sanchi receives a letter, which reads that Droma is still alive. At the same time, QIU is trying to kill Droma. JIN Ming decides to meet Sanchi to clear up the misunderstanding. When they meet, Sanchi tells JIN that if the sun sets and Droma fails to safely return back, he would be killed. When the sun is about to set, Droma appears. QIU Wanli’s conspiracy is brought to light, and he hastily falls off the cliff.
JIN Xiu dies for protecting Droma, who adopts JIN Xiu’s child later. After the test of life and death, Droma and JIN Ming fall in love. Droma wishes to advance northwards with the Red Army, but she couldn’t do so because of her responsibility for the tribe. Droma sees JIN Ming off. They believe that when the day of victory comes, they will meet again!
