Peking Opera classic revived at NCPA with legendary performers

Featuring eight chapters, the Peking Opera production is adapted from the classic Peking Opera production of the same title, which premiered in 1972. It is set against the backdrop of 1927 when Chairman Mao Zedong led the farmers living in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area to launch the Autumn Harvest Uprising. The story follows Ke Xiang, a member of the Communist Party of China, leading the farmers to become a revolutionary troop.

In 1963, Peking Opera master Qiu Shengrong initiated the idea of creating the Peking Opera production, Azalea Mountain, after he watched a Chinese play of the same title. Qiu played the leading role, a poor farmer, named Wu Dou, who joined the farmers' troop, in the Peking Opera production in 1972, which was conducted by Hu Bingxu and performed by the Jingju Theater Company of Beijing.