New opera pays tribute to former Shanghai mayor

A new Huju Opera production that tells the stories of former Shanghai mayor Chen Yi will premiere at the Shanghai Grand Theater on Aug 24.

Chen (1901-72) was a military leader in the Communist army who led the battle against the Kuomintang regime in Shanghai in 1949. He became the first mayor of the city after it was liberated, and later served as the vice premier of the State Council and the foreign minister of China.

"Chen Yi showed the world how the new Communist government was capable of administrating the metropolis of Shanghai," says Wang Tianyun, playwright of the opera. "It was Chen who led the Communist army into Shanghai in 1949, when the soldiers were so disciplined that they slept on the pavement, without causing any disturbance."

Following the conflict, Chen got Shanghai's economy back on track quickly, made friends with businesspeople and intellectuals, and took good care of the industrial workers, says Mao Shanyu, director of Shanghai Huju Opera Theater.

"I remember some anecdotes about Chen Yi told by the elderly," she says. "They said he had great respect for art, and he helped to keep alive the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, which was founded by the Westerners in the colonial era. He gave some of the finest buildings in the most privileged locations of Shanghai to art and cultural institutions too."

As this year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chen, the Shanghai Huju Opera Theater decided to bring together six generations of Huju artists to create a production in tribute of this mayor who made great contributions to the liberation and the construction of Shanghai, Mao says.

Hu Xuehua, director of the opera, says that he has combined all kinds of methods in drama, musical theater and moviemaking while keeping the historical facts accurate.