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Not long ago. some 20.000 local opera fans in eastern China`s Jiangsu province have again enjoyed a number of the best of Wuxi operas created in recent years during the 7th Wuxi opera festival in the opera`s hometown. Wuxi. Ö¯ÃÎÄÚÈݹÜÀíϵͳ

The soundtrack we`re hearing now is taken from the Wuxi opera ``Drizzle in South China``. This is the opera that was unveiled at this year`s Wuxi opera festival. The story is about when a rich man dies and leaves behind six pretty young wives. The central character in the story is A Xian. the first wife. To protect the giant feudal family from losing face. A Xian tried all means to pacify the other five wives. to prevent them from having affairs with other men. Yet. the most luxurious lifestyle still can`t replace the hearts` deepest yearning. All five wives. and finally A Xian herself. fall secretly in love with other men. which puts A Xian into a really bitter struggle between genuine love and the family`s name. as women in feudal China times were supposed to remain loyal to their dead husband.

Wuxi Opera. which was originally called Tanhuang. first appeared during the Qing Dynasty. and has about 100 years of history. Sung in the Wuxi dialect. this opera style was originally a rural art from. written and performed by farmers. It was not until the early 20th century that Wuxi opera was introduced to cities. The opera is characterized by vivid colloquial language and slang. and the rich flavor of everyday life. Today. this art form is still is popular in East China`s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

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Although the plot of ``Drizzle in South China`` is an ancient one. the opera is now being staged in a most trendy way. Actually. it has overthrown part of an age-old tradition of Wuxi opera. During the performance. the long-sleeved traditional opera costumes are replaced by realistic traditional dresses. while western musical instruments such as the violin are introduced to the live accompaniments. which were originally only made up of traditional musical instruments such as the ``erhu``. a two string instrument. and the ``pipa``. a plucked string instrument. as well as the Chinese lute.

The opera`s director. Tao Xianlu. was a drama director. Although this is the first time for her to work on a Wuxi opera. Tao Xianlu is famous for combining traditional and western operas.

``I`m a director specialized in drama directing. Yet I come from a family where all members are loyal opera fans. With this Wuxi opera. I put a lot of drama and western opera elements into it. to better represent the inner struggles of A Xian. her fight with the feudal system and her deep longing. This basically requires the opera actress to also possess the quality of a drama performer. As for how far the character A Xian could go. we also don`t know. but at least she says `No` to the part of herself who intended to abide by feudal society rules. It can easily remind us of Henrik Ibsen`s Nora.``

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In fact. to fully depict the inner struggle of her character A Xian. actress Huang Jinghui experimented in combining the vocal characteristics of both modern and operatic singing.
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``My specialized role types are Qingyi. which is a role for young graceful women of traditional merits. and Huadan. which is usually a role for eloquent. lively and naive little girls or a role for beautiful but evil women. Now the role of A Xian requires me to transcend both the roles of Qingyi and Huadan. because she has a double character. This is the first time for me to try such a role. So I borrowed some stage skills from Peking opera and Kunqu opera to present the role. I also used some characteristics of drama to help present her character.``

The splendor of beautiful traditional dresses. a well-woven plot. exquisite choreography. and Wuxi opera`s unique arias have helped this two-hour long opera gain much audience applause. Even old Wuxi opera fans appreciate this innovative opera. Ping Fan. an 84-year-old Wuxi opera fan. was still very excited after watching this opera: ±¾ÎÄÀ´×ÔÖ¯ÃÎ

``This new. trendy Wuxi opera really surprised me. Before. I only loved the repertoires sung by renowned opera singers such as Wang Binbin and Mei Lanzhen. Their classic `The Pearl Tower` had been my favorite. Now this `Drizzles in South China` is also very impressive to me with its innovations. Its plot was unveiled to us like a bamboo shoots` hard skin being peeled off bit by bit until the tender shoots pop out. It`s really a story made up of women`s tears. The young performers are very tentative in their roles. which made it very touching. I think I`ll come to watch it again next time they come to town.``

During the opera festival. traditional-themed stories. such as those depicting events in different royal courts. and love stories set in the feudal eras are still popular. Meanwhile. much of today`s social issues also emerge in Wuxi opera themes during this festival. The most heatedly discussed opera is ``March in a Village``. as it is the first opera to talk about the issue of AIDS. a previously untouched-upon subject for operas. It tells of the anxiety caused by the accidental arrival of an AIDS orphan in a small southern village. But a local farmer adopts her and finally the village accepts her. This opera was also warmly received by the audience. During the performance. sighs of sympathy often flow from the audience seats. copyright dedecms

During the festival. most repertoires place much emphasis on modern aesthetics and elements while maintaining the traditional melodies and acting. The effect is obviously profound. Different from past festivals. young Wuxi opera fans sit alongside the old. Ö¯Ãκ㬺ÃÖ¯ÃÎ

The festival has proved to be very attractive to some foreign audiences as well. A man named Rainer. from Germany. saw ``Drizzle in South China``. This is what he told us after the performance. ÄÚÈÝÀ´×Ôdedecms

``I found this play very beautiful. It`s entirely different from the western operas that I`ve seen. Its stage effects are very good and I was especially impressed by the vocals and the stage movements of the performers.`` Ö¯ÃÎÄÚÈݹÜÀíϵͳ

Eighty-three-year-old Wuxi opera performer Mei Lanzhen also expressed satisfaction with these daring experiments. ÄÚÈÝÀ´×Ôdedecms

``The theme of ``Drizzles in South China`` is not an easy one to present. The character of A Xian is also very challenging in that it`s not easy to bring out the two sides of her. because she is a protector of feudal rules on one hand. and a women yearning for true love on the other. And we also need to present it in a mild way. because they are living in South China. which was famous for its elegant behavior. But Huang Jinghui was very good this time. She made a breakthrough in Wuxi opera tradition.``

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Breakthroughs. traditions. innovations in stage settings and costumes. more modern themes. and borrowing from other art forms ¨C all this is demonstrated through this Wuxi opera festival. showing that traditional operas can continue to entertain. Maybe artists from other opera forms who are complaining about a loss of audiences should learn from Wuxi opera and other successful opera forms. and take daring steps to recapture some of their past glory.