Tens of thousands of theater-goers in Hawaii of the United
States have for years been appreciating authentic Peking Opera,
without ever stepping foot in China.
The opera is performed at the University of Hawaii at Monoa and
the artists, most of whom have been born and raised in the United
States, while playing traditional Chinese roles, sing the arias in
English.
Recently, they performed "Women Generals of the Yang Family," a
classical repertoire with thrilling martial arts. It was also the
sixth, full-length opera show by the university over the years.
The woman behind these productions is former opera artist Shen
Xiaomei.
For her exemplary leadership and mentoring of the Peking Opera
Resident Training Program at the University of Hawaii (UH) at
Manoa, Shen was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
Degree on February 10, the day the "Women Generals of the Yang
Family" premiered in Honolulu.
In its statement on the award, the Board of Regents of UH
writes: "Through her numerous professional accomplishments and her
contributions to student artists and the wider community in China,
Hawaii, East Asia, North America and Europe, Shen has made it
possible for generations of UH students to learn the art of Jingju
(Peking Opera)."
Shen's association with the university began in 1979, when she
began training Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, then a PhD student
engaged in research on China. Wichmann-Walczak is now a professor
and director of the university's Asian Theater.
Shen claims she is a personal disciple of the legendary Peking
Opera Master Mei Lanfang.
Shen and Wichmann-Walczak have co-operated in the Peking Opera
Resident Training Program for six years, making the cream of
Chinese performing arts a centerpiece of the university's
internationally renowned Asian Theater Program.
"Peking Opera embodies and can represent the Chinese people
perhaps more clearly and completely than any other performing art,"
said Shen in an interview with China Daily right after the award
ceremony.
"Along with generations of other artists in China, I believe it
is also an art of international value."
Shen said that for Peking Opera to win wider international
renown performing artists outside China should get involved in its
study and performance, in the same way that ballet and classical
Western music has spread in China and other non- Western
countries.
"Performing in English will help American audiences better
understand the opera and develop more interest in it," she
said.
"The intensive study and respectful performance at the
University of Hawaii are both helping bring Peking Opera the
international acceptance it deserves, and preparing the students to
contribute meaningfully to the enrichment of multicultural world
theater," Shen said.
She said it was exciting to see the opera inspire students to
learn more about China. "It's a testimony to the beauty and power
of Peking Opera," she said.
Students take turns to appear in the Peking Opera shows.
Graduate student Nicole Tessier, who plays Yang Zongbao's only
surviving son, Yang Wenguang in the newest opera, is an
example.
"This is my third appearance in a Peking Opera show at the
university," Tessier said. "I love it! I have spent two years in
Beijing to improve especially my martial arts and singing."
According to Dr Wichmann-Walczak, many students go to China to
specialize in Peking Opera or other fields of study about China
after their learning and performing experiences at the UH.
Shen's contributions to the popularization of Peking Opera have
also won acclaim in the local media:
"She has been instrumental in establishing Peking Opera
internationally, restoring the traditional repertory to the stage
and creating new, non-political works with widespread audience
appeal," an article in the Honolulu Advertiser read.
Fruitful retirement
"Madame Shen's new honorific is being viewed as something of a
cultural milestone in China," the Star Bulletin commented.
After retiring from the stage in China in 1995, Shen has devoted
her time to drawing in new audiences for the traditional arts. One
such initiative is the Jiangsu Province Program for Promoting
Peking Opera Appreciation in Education.
In the past 10 years, Shen and the Jiangsu Peking Opera theater
have organized more than 5,000 lectures, with audience members
numbering more than 145,000, most of them school students.
"Like the Great Wall and the terracotta horses and warriors in
the Qinshihuang Mausoleum, Peking Opera is a treasure of the
Chinese nation," said Shen.
"Our most important goal is to help the youngsters find
aesthetic value in Peking Opera and value the nation's cultural
tradition."
"We still have a long way to go to make Peking Opera popular
both domestically and internationally. I hope more people can join
in our efforts," Shen said.
(China Daily March 1, 2006)
