Renowned Peking Opera artist committed to both old and new material

Yuan Huiqin can still recall the day she enrolled to study Peking Opera at an art school in her hometown of Yichang, Hubei province, when she was 10 years old.

She practiced very hard for eight hours daily and sometimes fell asleep during the daytime as she imagined the roles she would play.

She focused on female warriors such as the patriotic retired general She Saihua, one of the best-known roles in The Female Generals of the Yang Family, who is guarded by her dragon-head cane.

Since those days, Peking Opera has become a significant part of Yuan's life. Now 53, she is a well-known actress playing lao dan, or older female roles.

On Wednesday and Thursday, she will play a leading role in Red Army Stories, a new work by the National Peking Opera Company that tells three stories from the Long March, the two-year tactical retreat by the Red Army to evade Kuomintang forces in 1934.

"From the day I started to learn Peking Opera, I knew that the art form was more than just entertainment," said Yuan, who has worked at the company in Beijing since 1993.

Yuan became an apprentice to Peking Opera master Li Jinquan in 1983 and traveled to Beijing frequently from Yichang.

"There is a profound culture behind Peking Opera, especially the traditional Chinese philosophies and values. Audiences get inspired by the stories and characters we portray. I have also gained my own insights into the art, especially the underlying values of Chinese culture conveyed through each piece," she said.

Peking Opera, known as jingju in Chinese, has a history of more than 200 years and was declared a world intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2010. It combines a variety of art forms, including singing, dancing, martial arts and acrobatics.

In her early days in Beijing, Yuan stayed at a small hotel near the Forbidden City and learned Peking Opera from her master, singing from early morning until evening. Her master was very strict, and she once had to sing a single word repeatedly for a whole day until he nodded approval.

As vice-president of the National Peking Opera Company, Yuan is dedicated to promoting the art form both in China and abroad, besides performing onstage.

She has taught Peking Opera at universities, including Peking University, Wuhan University and also the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts.

In September last year, Yuan led a team of young artists from the company on a tour of Kazakhstan, Russia and Sweden. She gave two lectures in each country, combining the history and techniques of the art form with demonstrations of classical pieces such as San Cha Kou (Divergence) and Ba Wang Bie Ji (Farewell My Concubine).

"We've been committed to reviving the classic pieces as well as choreographing new material. But the essence of the old art form never changes. We never get too far away from that, because if we do, we lose the magic," Yuan said.