As the masterpiece of Tang Xianzu, the Peony Pavilion was composed in 1589 A.D., which was comparable to the legendary love story Romeo and Juliet (published in 1597 A.D.). It is a love story of Ms. Du Liniang from a wealthy family and the young scholar Mr. Liu Mengmei, whose love transcended life and death. It is a classic masterpiece that extols youth, love and life.

 

According to Mr. Pai Hsien-yung whose fate has been linked with the Kunqu Opera since his childhood, “Kunqu Opera is most featured by the ‘beauty’ of the lines,  dance, music and human feelings.”

 

More than ten years ago, Mr. Pai witnessed how Kunqu Opera, included in the list of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, moved quickly towards decay, and how the actors, actresses, audience and form of performance became old-fashioned and phased out. To stop the trend, Mr. Pai stood out and worked hard to build a competent team of production.

 

Mr. Pai asked senior Kunqu Opera performers from Suzhou, who are in the “Chuan” or “Ji” generation, to help train the young actors and actresses in the Course for Junior Kunqu Opera Performers. Even more, he led his people to promote Kunqu Opera on the campus so that it really “comes back to life and to youth” and presents great brilliance again. 

In 2007, 100 performances of Peony Pavilion - Youth Edition were made across the world, and 200 performances were made in 2011. The number of performances has never stopped rising in recent years.

 

In 2017, the Peony Pavilion - Campus Edition, produced by Peking University Center for Kunqu Opera Inheritance and Research, made its debut performance in 2018 and aroused great sensations. After that, it made performance tour across China. Ever since then, the “legend of Kunqu Opera rejuvenation”, which was kicked off by Mr. Pai Hsien-yung, has entered the new milestone of inheritance.  

 

The documentary Peony Pavilion in Renaissance reviews this period of Kunqu Opera rejuvenation. It is not a documentary recorded along the time axis. Instead, it carries many elements and poetry of Kunqu Opera. The director & screenplay Teng Yung-Shing said, “In the beginning, I hoped to make this documentary into a Kunqu Opera, in which the scripts of Tang Xianzu, Mr. Pai, the performance skills of Kunqu Opera and mission of inheritance over the past four centuries are arranged to show up in the scene and leave it.”

 

Mr. Teng Yung-Shing, in the Suzhou Kunqu Opera House, interviewed with Mr. Pai Hsien-yung and filmed the entire process lasting 4-5 hours, depicting the deliberate planning and experience of Mr. Pai in rejuvenating the Kunqu Opera in the past 18 years. Based on the interview, Mr. Teng made the documentary to tell, in the beautiful and plain film language, how Kunqu Opera has been passed on via lecturing and teaching, how the Suzhou Kunqu Opera performers have been persisting and inheriting the art over the past century, and how the students have learned and performed Kunqu Opera before making results.

Mr. Pai Hsien-yung, the most important writer in the Chinese world, has been working on Kunqu Opera rejuvenation for 18 years. Since launching the Peony Pavilion - Youth Edition in 2004, he has organized nearly 400 performances on the campus or in the overseas countries. Thanks to his efforts, the large cultural project, developed by elite artists in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, has helped bring back to life the Kunqu Opera with the highest aesthetic achievements and touched the heart of a whole generation of people. 

 

06:30PM on September 19, 2021 (Sunday) (sold out)

Movie Hall 9

 

06:30PM on September 23, 2021 (Thursday) (sold out)

Movie Hall 1

 

03:45PM on September 27, 2021 (Monday)

Theatre Hall

 

06:30PM on September 28, 2021 (Tuesday) (about to be sold out) 

Dolby Movie Hall

 

06:30PM on September 30, 2021 (Thursday) (about to be sold out) 

IMAX Hall 8