Beijing: Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Opera Troupe’s Classic Huangmei Opera ‘The Female Scholar’

The Huangmei Opera ‘The Female Scholar’ tells the story of a commoner named Feng Su Zhen, who risks her life to save her husband. After going through various twists and turns, she finally achieves her wish and forms a happy marriage. The play, through a series of dramatic plots such as dressing as a man to take the imperial examination, accidentally becoming the top scholar and being mistakenly married, and using wisdom to turn danger into safety in the bridal chamber, creates the image of a kind, brave, and intelligent ancient girl.

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Originally, ‘The Double Rescue’ was collected by Zuo Si He and was discovered by Wang Zhao Qian in 1958. It was first performed by the Huangmei Opera Troupe of Anqing Prefecture (the predecessor of Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Opera Troupe). Ma Cai Lou played Feng Su Zhen, Wu Xiulan and Tian Yulian played the princess, and Wang Luming and Ding Zi Chen played Liu Wen Ju. The following year, it was selected to perform in Hefei and caused a sensation. Later, it was jointly filmed by Shanghai Haiyan Film Studio and Anhui Film Studio, directed by Liu Qiong, and starred by Yan Fengying and Wang Shaofang, becoming a sister piece to ‘The Heavenly Match’ and a great gift for the 10th anniversary of the founding of New China.

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After the reform and opening up, the new generation of Huangmei Opera leaders, Han Zaifen, organically integrated the performance elements of other sister arts such as spoken drama and film on the basis of tradition, making this classic play more dazzling.

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Leading actress: Han Zaifen

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Main actors: Wu Mei Lian, Zhang Min, Zhang Yin Wang, Ma Zi Jun, Pan Wei, Wang Ze Xi

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Cast:

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Feng Su Zhen – Wu Mei Lian (first half) Han Zaifen (second half)

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Princess – Zhang Min

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Liu Wen Ju – Zhang Yin Wang

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Emperor – Ma Zi Jun

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Li Zhao Ting – Pan Wei

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Feng Yi Min – Wang Ze Xi

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Chun Hong – Zhu Jian Qing (first half) Wang Yi Jia (second half)

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Feng Shun Qing – Ning Bao Long

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Mrs. Feng – Li Jun

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Feng An – Ding Fei

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Liu Fu – Ma Ding

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Grand Eunuch – Hu Xiang, Xie Jun

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Eunuchs, Palace Maids, Servants, Warriors – Actors of Zaifen Huangmei Opera Troupe

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*The content above (including performance time, cast, program, and ticket prices, etc.) is subject to change and is for reference only.
She is a visiting professor at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, an adjunct professor at Tongji University and Shanghai Normal University, and the first ‘resident artist’ of the University of Science and Technology of China. A national first-class actor, she has won the Chinese drama ‘Plum Blossom Prize’ twice, the ‘Wenhua Performing Arts Award’, the ‘Magnolia Drama Award’, and the title of ‘National Artist with Both Moral and Artistic Excellence’. At the same time, with her own charm, she has won the love of the broad audience. She has won the first Huading Award ‘No. 1 in Public Image Satisfaction of Chinese Film and Television Celebrities in 2007’ and the title of ‘Best Drama Actress in Public Image of Chinese Performing Artists in 2008’. In the ‘Online Selection of the Most Influential Cultural Figures to Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of New China’, she was ranked first in the drama category. While her performing career is in full swing, Han Zaifen is also active on the stage of social welfare. She serves as the image ambassador of ‘Honest China’, the public welfare image ambassador of China’s aerospace industry, and the image ambassador of cultural volunteer service of ‘Happy Childlike Innocence’ on a voluntary basis. Han Zaifen became famous overnight at the age of sixteen for starring in the Huangmei opera TV series ‘Zheng Xiaojiao’. She has successively starred in more than 30 influential stage plays such as ‘Female Consort Prince’, ‘Huizhou Woman’, ‘Company’, ‘Huizhou Past’, ‘Immortal Jiao Yang’, ‘Lady Qingning’, and more than 20 excellent film and television dramas such as ‘Towards Republic’, ‘Changge in Zhenguan Period’, and ‘Li Qingzhao’. She has not only expanded the performance tension of Huangmei opera art but also won a large number of young audiences for Huangmei opera through these works, pushing the artistic expression width and breadth of Huangmei opera to a new platform. In 2005, Han Zaifen became the president of Anqing Zaifen Huangmei Art Theatre, the first domestic theatre named after an artist after the reform and opening up. She has always been committed to the inheritance and development of Huangmei opera and talent cultivation, forming the management framework and cultural characteristics of the ‘Zaifen Huangmei’ brand. She pioneered the concept of ‘endowing cultural products with brands’ in China. In 2010, Han Zaifen’s performing art history and the Huangmei opera art form she represents were recorded, collected, and permanently preserved by the Library of Congress of the United States as classics of different cultures in the world. She became the second Chinese drama performing artist included in this project after Mr. Mei Lanfang. In September 2012, ‘Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Culture and Art Co., Ltd.’ was completed. Han Zaifen became the chairman, making a brand-new exploration for the shareholding system reform of China’s first state-owned drama performance group.

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Performance group: Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Art Theatre. Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Art Theatre, with the famous performing artist Han Zaifen as the president, is a famous drama art creation and performance institution in China and also the first theatre named after an artist’s name since China’s reform and opening up.

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The predecessor of Zaifen Theatre is the Huangmei Opera Troupe of Anqing Prefecture. Its history can be traced back to the 1950s. At the end of 2005, Anqing City deepened the reform of the cultural system and established the Zaifen Huangmei Art Theatre, with Han Zaifen as the dean.

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Han Zaifen has been adhering to and active on the front line of Huangmei opera creation and performance for more than 40 years. She is a landmark artist in the group of second-generation Huangmei opera performing artists. Her performance is all-encompassing and combines the strengths of various schools. With every gesture, she can always turn the limited stage of time and space into an infinite spiritual world and convey the temperature of the work through the characters. She has formed a unique performing style that is good at depicting the inner world of characters and guiding the emotions of the audience. She has twice won the title of ‘excellent in both artistic and moral qualities’ for literary and artistic workers issued by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Culture, and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the ‘Magnolia Performance Art Award’ in Shanghai, the ‘Wenhua Performance Award’, and the highest award in Chinese drama, the ‘Plum Blossom Award’. She has also been elected as a deputy to the National People’s Congress for the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th sessions successively. She served as the vice chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association for the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th sessions. In 2010, Han Zaifen’s performing art history and the Huangmei opera art form she represents were recorded, collected, and permanently preserved by the Library of Congress of the United States as classics of different cultures in the world. She became the second Chinese drama performing artist included in this project after Mr. Mei Lanfang.

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Under the leadership of Han Zaifen, Zaifen Theatre adheres to the hospital motto of ‘be honest in life, work diligently, be dedicated and peaceful, and treat the audience kindly’. In addition to restaging classic plays such as ‘Female Consort Prince’, ‘Goddess Marriage’, and ‘The Story of Luopa’, it has also transplanted more than ten large-scale Huangmei operas such as ‘Spring River Moon’, ‘Five Daughters Offering Birthday Felicitations’, and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. At the same time, nearly sixty folded plays and short plays have been revitalized and created. Since the new century, Zaifen Huangmei has adhered to the artistic concept of ‘one play, one character; one play, one style’ and successfully created large-scale new plays such as ‘Huizhou Woman’, ‘Company’, ‘Past Events in Huizhou’, ‘Promoted by Virtue’, ‘Deng Jiaxian’, ‘Blessing’, ‘Sister Duck Farmer’, ‘Immortal Proud Yang’, ‘The Golden Powder Family’, and ‘Madame Qingning’, forming a unique style of ‘traditional charm and modern aesthetics’.

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Zaifen Theatre has been focusing on the inheritance and development of Huangmei opera for many years, actively cultivating talents and expanding the market. Now there are four echelons of actor talent resources. In addition, the theatre conducts all-round inheritance in terms of scriptwriting, directing, acting, costumes, makeup, sets, stage design, and lighting, thus forming a vibrant performing group with successors and an independent creative team. At the same time, the theatre has been insisting on national tours all year round, forming several well-known performance brands such as ‘Zaifen Huangmei · Beijing Performance Season’ and ‘Zaifen Huangmei · Hefei Performance Season’.
In the new era, Zaifen Theatre is in line with the present. Online and offline are synchronized. It is based in the theater and active in the cloud. It has created the LIVE broadcast brand “Zaifen Huangmei Residence · Watching Operas”. The cumulative number of single live broadcast online audiences has exceeded 2.35 million, becoming a phenomenal work of “opera + live broadcast”.

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With favorable timing, geographical location and harmonious people. Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Art Theatre takes advantage of the east wind of the country’s promotion of traditions and prosperity of literature and art. It builds the brand of “Zaifen Huangmei · Brand Drama”. It “creates good plays, promotes new actors, and combines integrity and innovation”. It takes every step steadily and well, and strives to open up a broad space for Huangmei opera art and drama art. At the same time, it keeps up with the pace of the times, tells good stories of the new era in drama forms welcomed by audiences in the new era, explores new ways for traditional Chinese operas, and completes the evolution from “Zaifen Huangmei · Brand Drama” to “Era Huangmei · Zaifen Drama”. The full text is open from November 23rd to November 24th, Saturday to Sunday. The performance time and duration are subject to the site.

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