Anderson's old tales holds new inspiration in Guizhou

The final of the first Zhengyuan Cup competition in children's literature was held on Jan 12 in Guiyang, Guizhou province. Organized by the Royal Danish Consulate General in Chongqing and Zhengyuan Education Group, children recreated fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen with their parents. Taking place over two months, 27 out of more than a thousand competitors went on to the finals.

"The main reason for having this competition is to encourage more parents to read with their children", said Jing Yazhen, chairman of Zhengyuan Education Group. "Our competitors are children from three to six years old. We wish they can preserve a good memory through performing Anderson's story with their parents."

On Saturday, four year old Li Yikun performed a five minute stage adaptation of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" with his mother Zhang Hongmei in the final.

Li Yikun performs "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" with his mother. [Photo by Li Hanyi/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The story was adapted from Hans Christian Anderson's well-known fairy tale about a tin soldier's love for a paper ballerina. However, in Li's show, instead of melting in the fireplace, the tin solder beats the devil resourcefully and protected the paper ballerina.

"If you can show me your heart, I will yield to your superior magic", Li said while performing as the titular soldier on the stage, enticing the devil, as performed by his mom, into the trap.

As the devil opened up her chest and arrogantly took out a grey heart, she suddenly dropped on the floor in pain. However in the end, the tin soldier helped the devil by giving her a kind heart while also protecting the paper ballerina.

"It was a little bit tiring to prepare our stage show, especially when preparing the costumes", Zhang said after the performance. "But it was rewarding. Through the competition, I hoped my son could develop his speaking skills and expressiveness, as well as his stage performance ability. Besides, it was a chance to tell him how to be a good guy when we read Anderson's story together."

Lars Lund Rasmussen, Denmark's consul general in Chongqing added, "we are so happy that Guiyang were so creative in creating this event. We have done a lot Hans Anderson's joint events in all the provinces, but the way that Guiyang did it was a little bit different from other cities as parents and kids recreated Anderson's story together. In addition, it gave them a chance to incorporate a modern spin based on their day to day lives on these classic stories."

Li Hanyi contributed to this story