''Liu Hulan'' (刘胡兰) is a 1954

Chinese-language western-style opera Chinese contemporary classical opera (Chinese: 当今古典歌剧; ''dāngjīn gŭdiăn gējù''; "contemporary classical opera") is a musical art form drawing on western opera traditions - distinct from modern developments of traditional Chinese ...

Chen Zi Chen Zi (陈紫, Huiyang, 1919–1999) was a Chinese composer. He was one of the composers at the original revolutionary Lu Xun Academy in Yan'an and one of the collaborators assisting Ma Ke in composition of 1945's ''The White-Haired Girl''. Amon ...

. It is based on the death of a 14-year-old communist party girl

Liu Hulan Liu Hulan (刘胡兰, 1932–1947) was a young female spy during the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. She was born in Yunzhouxi village, in the Wenshui County of the Shanxi province. She joined the Communist Par ...

, who was elevated into a revolutionary martyr. Part of the original opera was composed in 1949, only 2 years after her death, and revised into a full-scale opera in 1954. Several other composers such as

Ge Guangrui Ge Guangrui (葛光锐, Shanghai, 1929) is a Chinese composer. His best known opera is ''We have our own successors'' (Chinese: 自有後来人 ''Zi you houlai ren''). He also worked on Chen Zi's 1954 opera Liu Hulan Liu Hulan (刘胡兰, 1932– ...

also contributed to Chen's opera. A similar opera based on another revolutionary martyr is ''

Sister Jiang Jiang Zhuyun (; 20 August 1920 – 14 November 1949) was a Chinese communist resistance fighter and revolutionary martyr.Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service - Page 166 Frederic E. Wakeman - 2003 "Occasionally, but only very seldom, ...

''.

References

Chinese western-style operas Operas 1954 operas Cultural depictions of Chinese women Cultural depictions of activists Operas based on real people Operas by multiple composers Shanxi in fiction Operas set in the Republic of China (1912–1949) {{opera-stub