Misplaced Pages

Rain of Flowers Along the Silk Road

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Crisco 1492 (talk | contribs) at 22:05, 20 December 2024 (more). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 22:05, 20 December 2024 by Crisco 1492 (talk | contribs) (more)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Flower Rains Along the Silk Road (simplified Chinese: 丝路花雨; traditional Chinese: 絲路花雨; pinyin: Sī lù huā yǔ)

Synopsis

A drama in six acts, Flower Rains along the Silk Road follows the artist Zhang and his daughter Yingniang. Travelling the Silk Road, father and daughter are separated when accosted by bandits. Several years later, the family reunites in Dunhuang, where Zhang gains fame for painting frescoes in the Mogao Caves. The two strike a friendship with a Persian caravan that travelled to the city along the Silk Road. However, after Zhang refuses to marry his daughter to the leader of the local market, he is imprisoned in the caves. After a dream sequence, he is freed by the Tang governor, after which he attempts unsuccessfully to stop the market leader's machinations. Yingniang ultimately reveals the misdeeds through a dance performance. The Silk Road secured, the Persians and Chinese part as friends.

Production

Preparation for Flower Rains Along the Silk Road began in June 1978, when a group of artists were commissioned to create a new dance drama by the Gansu branch of the Chinese Communist Party to create a new dance drama for performance during National Day festivities. Initial choreography and scenario preparation continued through July, with the basic structure ready in August 1978. Developed after the end of the Cultural Revolution, the story was intended as an overture of friendship and China's intent to re-establish diplomatic ties with other countries; it was also one of several works developed after the model opera requirement was removed.

The story was penned by Zhao Zhixun, with choreography handled by Liu Shaoxiong, Xu Qi, Yan Jianzhong, Zhang Qiang, and Zhu Jiang. Set design was done by Yang Qian, with Hao Hanyi responsible for costumes and Yang Shuyun for makeup. Rehearsals for the show began in February 1979.

Inspiration for the movements was derived from the Mogao Caves, which contains thousands of paintings and sculptures that date from the 5th through 14th centuries. This artwork, much of it drawn from Buddhist imagery, contains multiple images of people in motion. Elements borrowed from the Mogao Caves included flying apsaras, who open the performance, as well Yingniang's tribhanga pose and playing a pipa behind her head.

Performance history

Flower Rains Along the Silk Road was debuted in Lanzhou on 23 May 1979. It was performed at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 1 October. Subsequent performances were staged for the Central Guard Bureau and the Beijing Military Region. Audiences included national leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and Ye Jianying, as well as Chinese celebrities and foreign dignitaries. The show was among the best received during the National Day celebration, receiving first place in all categories.

International performances of Flower Rains Along the Silk Road began in 1979, with stagings in Hong Kong drawing praise; the show was brought to North Korea two years later. Since then, performances have been recorded in more than twenty countries, including at La Scala in Milan, Italy, as well as in France, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.

With the success of Flower Rains Along the Silk Road, a new genre of dance emerged: the Dunhuang dance, which has gained recognition as one of Chinese foremost classical dance styles. The story has been updated several times. A new version of the show was produced in 2008, again for National Day festivities, and performed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The show was again updated in 2016; another version is designed specifically for performance for tourists. According to China Daily, as of 2019 the show had been staged almost three thousand times, with 300 million renminbi generated in revenue and 4.5 million tickets sold.

Flower Rains Along the Silk Road was granted the First Outstanding Repertory Opera Award by the Ministry of Culture in 2009.

References

  1. National Digital Culture Network of China, 2003; Wilcox 2019, pp. 177–178
  2. Kuang 2016; Wilcox 2019, p. 164
  3. ^ China Daily, 2019-11-21.
  4. ^ Kuang 2016.
  5. ^ Wilcox 2019, p. 158.
  6. ^ National Digital Culture Network of China, 2003.
  7. Wilcox 2019, pp. 175–176.
  8. Wilcox 2019, p. 178.
  9. China Daily, 2019-11-21; Kuang 2016
  10. ^ Wilcox 2019, p. 175.

Works cited