Yuju Opera specialist Li Shujian has dedicated his entire career to helping his beloved stage art to not just survive but also thrive, Chen Nan reports.
Li plays the role of Cheng Ying in The Orphan of Zhao. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Editor's Note: China Daily profiles ordinary people doing incredible things in the cultural sphere as the country has advanced over the past decade.
Over the past four decades, Yuju Opera actor Li Shujian has performed at locations ranging from outdoor areas in small villages to grand theaters in big cities.
After the COVID-19 pandemic spread in early 2020, Li, then the director of Henan Yuju Opera Theater, started to hold online meetings to discuss ways of keeping theater staff members and artists busy.
It took many sleepless nights and a lot of patience to realize the revival of Yuju Opera, but it was all worthwhile.
Li Shujian, Yuju Opera actor
Before the pandemic hit, Henan Yuju Opera Theater, which has four affiliated groups, gave more than 3,000 performances every year. The sudden halt to the regular performance schedule forced Li to consider the troupe's future, before he realized that online platforms could provide a stage for them.
On March 29, 2020, the theater gave its first online performance, which attracted 1.57 million viewers within three hours. The livestreamed performance also brought the theater additional income－a total of 320,000 yuan ($47,187).
"I never expected that over 1 million people would watch my performance at the same time, a number I could never achieve in theaters," says Li. "Their 'likes' are like applause and the audience can leave comments while watching the video, which is a kind of 'real-time interaction' that will not happen in theaters. It is a totally new way of engaging with audiences."
Yuju Opera actor Li Shujian plays Su Wu, the protagonist in Su Wu Herding Sheep. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Since then, actors and actresses at the theater have been sharing their performances and rehearsals on social media platforms, as well as telling their stories about learning the ancient art form and showcasing their daily practice sessions. Li, 60, also started his own channel, which gained him nearly 500,000 followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
"The theater tours nationwide, especially giving performances in the villages of Henan province. Our audiences are mainly made up of older people. However, it is the younger generation that uses social media, and I am surprised to see that many of our livestreaming shows are watched by young people," he says, adding that a livestreamed performance on Douyin he gave on April 28 attracted more than 8 million viewers.
In 2017, working with Zhengzhou University, Li launched an art center devoted to Yuju Opera with the goal of popularizing the art form among college and middle school students, as well as primary school pupils. Recently retired from Henan Yuju Opera Theater, Li now has a hectic schedule of teaching students Yuju Opera and sharing his experience of reviving the old art form through livestreaming.
Yuju Opera, which originated and thrived in Central China's Henan province, is among the top five traditional opera genres in China. With a history dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Yuju Opera is known for its melodic singing, dazzling martial arts movements and stories, which are based on Chinese folk tales, especially those about brave heroes who are loyal, honest and patriotic.
Li plays the role of Cheng Ying in The Orphan of Zhao. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Like Peking Opera, the characters of Yuju Opera, whether they are loyal or treacherous, good or bad, beautiful or ugly, all showcase their personalities through the vividly painted faces of the performers.
Li is known for playing heroes, from generals battling for the country, to noble-hearted intellectuals. One of his most well-known roles is Cheng Ying of The Orphan of Zhao, which is based on the classic Chinese tragedy by Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) playwright Ji Junxiang. The first Chinese tragedy to be translated into European languages, The Orphan of Zhao follows Cheng, who sacrifices his baby son to be replaced by the only survivor and heir of the persecuted Zhao family. Cheng then raises the child as his own, only to reveal the truth when the young man is grown up and ready to exact revenge.
In 2013, he performed the Yuju Opera piece in New York and at the Dolby Theater, Los Angeles, as part of a 29-country tour that also included shows in France, Turkey, Italy and Australia. So far, he has played the character more than 1,600 times worldwide.
According to Li, there are 13 State-owned Yuju Opera theaters in the country and over 2,000 private Yuju Opera theaters. Of all the 348 traditional Chinese operas, Yuju Opera currently has the largest number of people engaged in the business, from performers and musicians to costume makers and scriptwriters.
However, the situation was quite different when Li first started his career.
Born into a poor family in a small village of Ruzhou city in Henan province, Li, whose father died when he was a little boy, became a Yuju Opera actor because it allowed him to get three meals a day at his school.
Li Shujian, Yuju Opera actor. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
He had failed many times before, but at the age of 17, he was finally enrolled in the Luoyang Chinese Traditional Opera School to study Yuju Opera. Unlike youngsters who have softer bones, Li had to work hard to learn the martial arts movements. Within five years of starting his formal studies he had the opportunity to perform onstage, playing some minor characters.
In 1984, he graduated and worked with a local Yuju Opera theater in Luoyang, Henan province. He was paid about 40 yuan a month and, thanks to the large fan base of Yuju Opera, he had many performances, which provided a steady income.
"It was apparent that Yuju Opera, like many other traditional Chinese operas, was in decline during the 1990s. For example, we toured every year around Henan and the number of audience members in one village decreased drastically. The following year, we returned and the senior people couldn't go to the theater due to poor health," Li recalls.
In the 1990s, a shrinking market and a lack of innovation drove thousands of traditional Chinese opera troupes to the edge of closing.
Li found it challenging, but felt it was important to keep the old art form alive, because "that's the only thing I can do and I truly love", he says.
Li, who started to work with Henan No 1 Yuju Opera Theater in 1997 as its director, went on a mission to revive the old art form.
Li Shujian in character as Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) general Guan Yu. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
The first thing he did was to increase the number of performances by taking the theater to perform in rural villages as much as possible. As he recalls, the theater gave about 300 shows a year and 80 percent of the shows were held on construction sites or in senior homes and remote mountainous areas.
The income was low and only allowed him to cover basic life expenses. However, Li remained optimistic and never stopped restaging classic Yuju Opera pieces, as well as producing new ones.
In 2003, he took over as the director of the Henan No 2 Yuju Opera Theater.
"It took many sleepless nights and a lot of patience to realize the revival of Yuju Opera, but it was all worthwhile," he adds. "We had to make changes to the old art form to stay out of the shadow of contemporary entertainment."
In 2013, Henan Yuju Opera Theater, which was established in 1956 but disbanded in 1985, reopened, and Li became its director. The theater performed in Beijing throughout 2015,2016 and 2017, and Li led the theater to livestream their shows online for three years following the outbreak of COVID-19. Though the number of viewers were not as many as there are today, he saw the possibility and hope for a new stage for Yuju Opera.
"For social media users, they get a glimpse of Yuju Opera. They may watch the performances for a few minutes or a few seconds. However, some of them will be drawn to the art form and will go to theaters to watch a full-length Yuju Opera performance. Those people are our future audience," says Li.
Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn
