China's Peking Opera troupe returns to London

The China National Peking Opera Company (CNPOC) returns to Britain for the fourth time when it brings four performances to London's Sadler's Wells this weekend, with the debut of "A River All Red" on Saturday night attracting over 1,000 Chinese nationals and Londoners alike.

Members of the China National Peking Opera Company stage a performance at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, Britain, Oct. 21, 2017, as a celebration for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Britain diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

This is the fourth time the CNPOC has brought productions to Britain, following its tours in 2005, 2015 and 2016.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the China-UK ambassadorial diplomatic relations. With the troupe's first three tours well received by British audience and critics, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming called the troupe "a golden brand" for China and UK cultural exchange.

The performance of "A River All Red" in London is a reproduction of the classic. The opera is a show presenting all four fundamental elements of this performing art -- singing, speaking, acting and fighting.

The company has also made improvements on the original production by fine-tuning the tempo, adding more stage imagery effects with modern multimedia technology.

British audience Dylan Dryden told Xinhua that the performance of Chinese opera is extraordinary.

"It is very very good, very classic -- the costumes and the fashion expressions and the make up and the singing and story -- it's very good, I don't understand the mandarin but I read the story and it's very touching," he said.

The opera's leading actor Yu Kuizhi said in an interview with Xinhua that after three times of touring in the UK, the passionate engagement of the audience and the wide attention of the mainstream media have shown the cultural literacy and appreciation of the British audience and their strong interests in Chinese traditional culture.

As China's premier Peking Opera organization, the CNPOC comprises celebrated performers, playwrights, directors, composers and stage designers, and has accumulated some of the finest repertoire of productions ranging over the wide diversity of Peking Opera performance styles as well as innovative pioneering works.