Jiangsu Province Kun Opera
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The Jiangsu Performing Arts Group (), or JPAG, is a theater company established in 2001 and based in
Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
,
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
, China. It is one of the largest performing arts groups in China and has won eighteen Plum Blossom Prizes and twenty-one Wen Hua Awards. It has also been named "National Key Enterprise for Cultural Export" six times. The group participates in the Chinese Cultural System Reformation.


Genres and affiliates

The company performs in many genres, including
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
,
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
,
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, symphony,
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
,
Peking Opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...
,
Kun Opera Kunqu (), also known as Kunju (), K'un-ch'ü, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. Kunqu is one of the oldest traditional operas of the Han nationality, and is also a treasure of Chinese traditional cult ...
, Wuxi Opera, Yangzhou Opera, modern
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
, Suzhou-dialect storytelling and ballad singing, and
puppet show Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...
. The group owns three theaters: the Zijin Grand Theater, the People's Theater, and Jiang Nan Theater. Its subsidiaries, the Jiangsu Performing Company and the Jiangsu Cultural Audio and Visual Publishing House, engage in research, education, marketing, and the publishing and distribution of audio-visual products, art design, costumes, and light and sound equipment.


Peking opera

The Jingju Theater Troupe was founded by the merger of the Southern
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
Peking Opera Troupe and the Northern Jiangsu Experimental Peking Opera Group. In 1953, it was renamed the Jiangsu Peking Opera Troupe. Seven years later, the
Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
and
Yangzhou Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north ...
Peking opera troupes combined with it to form the Jiangsu Province Peking Opera Institute. It has operated for more than fifty years and was named "National Key Peking Opera Troupe" by China's Ministry of Culture in 2005. Participants have included followers of multiple traditions, such as the Cheng School, Tan School, Wang Qinsheng, Lin School and Zhao Yunhe. As of 2011, there are more than 120 staff members. The theater has supported the development of many plays that interpret traditional classical works. Examples include ''The Young Lady Died for Love'', ''Give Bread on Hongqiao'', ''
Rickshaw Boy ''Rickshaw Boy'' or ''Camel Xiangzi'' () is a novel by the Chinese author Lao She about the life of a fictional Beijing rickshaw man. It is considered a classic of 20th-century Chinese literature. History Lao She began the novel in spring, 1 ...
'', ''Wang Xifeng and the Strike in Ningguo Mansion'' and ''Tale of the Green Snake''. In 1991 ''Treasure Candle'' won the first Cultural New Play Award. ''Tale of Green Snake'' won the third Cultural New Play Award in 1993, and in 1995 ''Xishi Returns to the Country of Yue'' won the Cheng Changgeng bronze medal at the first Chinese Peking Opera Art Festival. In 2002 the author of ''The World to the Heart'' won the outstanding playwright award at the third Peking Opera Art Festival.


Kunqu

Six members of the
Kunqu Kunqu (), also known as Kunju (), K'un-ch'ü, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. Kunqu is one of the oldest traditional operas of the Han nationality, and is also a treasure of Chinese traditional cult ...
troupe have won the Plum Blossom Award: Zhang Jiqing, Shi Xiaomei, Hu Jinfang, Huang Xiao Wu, and Zhang Jidie. These performers graduated in three different generations (1967, 1985, and 2004) from the Jiangsu Opera School. Two kinds of performances are presented: selections from the classics, which are performed every week; and full productions adapted for one-, two-, or three-evening performances, which are produced several times a year. Some of the full operas have included ''
The Peony Pavilion ''The Peony Pavilion'' ( zh, t=牡丹亭, s=牡丹亭, p=Mǔdān tíng, w=Mu-tan t'ing), also named ''The Return of Soul at the Peony Pavilion'', is a romantic tragicomedy play written by dramatist Tang Xianzu in 1598. The plot was drawn from the ...
'' and ''The White Silk Shirt'', which won the national prize for Best New Opera.


Other troupes

* Song and dance * Modern drama * Wuxi opera * Yangzhou opera * Symphony orchestra * Traditional Chinese orchestra *
Suzhou Pingtan ''Pingtan'' (), also known as Suzhou pingtan, is a regional variety of ''quyi'' and a musical/oral performance art form popular in southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, and Shanghai (the Jiangnan region of China). It originated in the city of Suz ...
* Puppetry * Feiyang band * Dance and art design center


Works

The group has a wide repertoire, including the Peking opera ''The Rickshaw Boy'' by Lao She; the Kunqu opera ''Peony Pavilion''; ''What a Beautiful Jasmine'', a large song and dance show; the Yangzhou dialect opera ''Wang Zhaojun''; the Wuxi dialect opera ''Pearl Pagoda''; the modern drama ''Rainbow of the Century''; and a series of ancient Suzhou ballads performed as ''Recollecting Jiangnan in the Ancient Tune of Tang and Song Dynasties''. Starting on the 16th of February 2016, at Shaw Park Scarborough, Tobago, the JPAG staged a free, two day long cultural exchange event in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy. In 2017, performers from the group staged productions of Peking opera, Kunqu opera, and pipa playing, among others, at the
Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...
.


Achievements

The JPAG has successfully hosted or produced large song and dance shows on both the provincial and national level, including at the 1st China Culture Industry Forum, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 8th Sports Meeting of Chinese Middle School Students, the opening ceremony of the 6th National Paralympics, the exhibition ''Into the Pyramid - An Exhibition of Ancient Egypt Treasure'', and at the Nanjing Ming Dynasty Mausoleum, a World Cultural Heritage site.


References

{{Reflist Theatre companies in Nanjing Arts organizations established in 2001 Peking opera troupes Kunqu