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In 2010, Zhang bid farewell to China National Peking Opera Company and became a professor at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, one of the top academies of the traditional performance. "Life was simple these years," she says. "I'm either at home or at school. Once a week, I do some shopping at the nearby supermarket."
Becoming a mother at the age of 41, Zhang says her daughter has made her complete, and also enabled her to better understand the role of a mother onstage.
"Teaching is also self-study. As I teach students, I have to repeat every sentence of the lyrics and that gives me a chance to digest the flow of the rhythm and the meaning behind it," she says.
In her comeback show, she will take the lead in Suolin Purse, playing a young mother. She will also appear in the Butterfly Lovers.
In 2005, she first performed that story onstage after adapting its singing to fit the characteristics of the Cheng school. This time, Zhang says, she will use a symphony to better convey the tragic sentiments in the story.
"Butterfly Lovers is a beautiful story, yet it is also very melancholy," says Wan Rui-xing, composer and vocal director of the drama.
"The part when the characters are transformed into butterflies is accompanied by a symphony, as well as traditional Chinese instruments, to create a mystical atmosphere," he says.
Taking time away from her teaching and parenting schedule, Zhang worked hard to recover her previous level of skill.
"Trying to go back onstage, after four years of no practice at all, is a big decision. I don't think I'm in my peak condition," she admits.
But her fan Cao isn't worried. "Whatever she determines to do, she will focus on it and do it well.
"Zhang's quiet and reserved temperament is the best for the Cheng school as well as for the art of Peking Opera."
If you go:
7:30 pm, April 26-27. Chang'an Grand Theater, 7 Jianguomennei Dajie (Street), Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-51664621, 010-5166-2182.
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