Kunqu Opera production honors famous linguist

The story of famous applied linguist Li Pei has been adapted into a contemporary Kunqu Opera production, which, staged by the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, premiered at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing on Oct 13.

The production is a tribute to Li's remarkable life and legacy, reflecting her resilience, groundbreaking achievements as an educator, and story with her husband Guo Yonghuai (1909-68), one of the founding fathers of China's atomic and hydrogen bombs and satellite programs.

Award-winning Kunqu Opera actress Wei Chunrong plays the role of Li Pei in the production.

With a 19-member ensemble featuring traditional Chinese musical instrumentalists and a small symphony orchestra of 30 members, the Kunqu Opera production combines a contemporary storytelling approach with the Kunqu Opera.

Born in Jiangsu province in 1917, Li was accepted into Peking University to study economics in 1936. She continued her studies at Cornell University in the United States in 1947, where she married Guo in 1948. The couple returned to China with their only daughter in 1956.

Li began teaching English at the University of Science and Technology of China in 1961 and transferred to its graduate school in 1978. She remained at the graduate school until she retired in 1987. Li passed away in 2017.

Besides being an educator and linguist, Li is also credited with being one of the most important initiators and promoters of the development of Zhongguancun, a small village in Beijing, which later became the high-tech innovation hub dubbed "the Silicon Valley of China". She also set up the Zhongguancun Forum and invited eminent scholars from many fields to give lectures, arranging more than 600 between 1998 and 2011.

The Kunqu Opera production also features a role based on Yang Jia, one of Li's students, who studied under Li after being admitted to pursue her master's degree at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences at age 22. Two years later, she became a teacher at the university and at 29, lost her sight. With Li's encouragement and a great deal of determination, Yang Jia became the first blind person from outside the US to obtain a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University.