Sounds of Gong and Drum in Memory 

——Liu Xiurong’s Recollection of the First U.S. Performance of Peking Opera 

From June to August, 1978, the Chinese Ministry of Culture assembled then most excellent artists in China and organized a Chinese Art Troupe consisting of 149 members to visit US. During those 40 days, they presented more than 30 performances in many cities such as Washington, New York, Los Angles, San Francisco and Minneapolis with over 120,000 audiences. They were described by media both at home and abroad as Artist Ambassadors, and it was a great cultural event in the art circles of China. Moreover, it was the first time that Peking Opera had been staged in US in the wake of Cultural Revolution since the founding of New China. 

Liu Xiurong, a performing artist of Peking Opera, is one of the main characters of that historic event. 

At that time, Liu was 43 years old. As a member, she participated in Chinese Art Troupe headed by Zhao Qiyang, then Director General of Arts Bureau of Ministry of Culture, with Kang Daisha, Zhang Dongchuan and Zhou Xiaoyan as deputy heads. They took off in Shanghai on June 26, 1978, and after transfers in Tokyo and Vancouver, finally arrived in Washington to start their official visit in U.S. 

From Washington to New York, from Los Angles, San Francisco to Minneapolis, those days were an eye-opening period for Liu Xiurong at that time. “I felt that they were well-off and very open with the relaxing life of five working days per week.” Liu remarked. At the beginning, she was greatly surprised by the 24-hour TV programs broadcast in the hotel; later, when she visited the modern dance academy in New York, enjoyed the musical Wizard of Oz in Broadway and was shown around Hollywood shooting base of simulated landscape, she could not help thinking that her vision was indeed broadened. 

What impressed Liu Xiurong most was the performance at Lincoln Art Center. The theater of the Center was huge, but “The acoustic effect there was perfect. When we talked on the stage, the audiences at the last two rows could hear our words as well.” However, during the rehearsal on the stage, she came to realize that the stage was too huge, which posed new problems for the performance that she had never met at home. “We walked in the original paces and the complete distance at home only reached half of the length of the stage there.” Thus, they had to make adjustment and redesigned some actions of performance. They even reduced some lines. On the night of performance, the auditorium was packed to the full, while many audiences bought the standing tickets. Some old overseas Chinese were very excited and looked forward to the art greetings from their motherland.  

Liu Xiurong played the role of Chen Miaochang in the Opera River in the Autumn. In this act, there was only a little singing but a lot of speaking parts and postures. Especially in the rival show between her and the aged boatman, the former was burning with anxiety but bashful and diffident, while the latter knew all but deliberately posed many questions. Although there existed no river on the stage, through the performers’ postures and facial expressions, a vivid picture of boat crossing the river was portrayed in which the boatman deliberately teased while the girl was not in the mood. Their excellent performances won the torrents of applauses. 

On July 20, 1978, a milky white building with 3 storeys stood quietly, surrounded by the vast expanse of lawns and trees. This was the core zone of US, the White House. Led by American working staff, all the members of Chinese Art Troupe entered the White House slowly. At local time 1:30 pm, Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of US met with the visiting Chinese artists in the Rose Garden outside the White House. He said, “It is my great honor to receive you and thank all of you for your excellent performances for American people.” 

Along with the reform and opening up, it will no longer be a problem for Peking Opera to go abroad. Afterwards, Liu Xiurong went to Japan, France and other countries to perform on many occasions with her masterpieces The Legend of White Snake and Mu Guiying Fighting in Hongzhou. With the passage of time, the reflections over Peking Opera art are more penetrating. As a matter of fact, during the performance in foreign countries, there still exists an inevitable question that always challenges Peking Opera circle, that is, how to enable foreigners to understand and appreciate Peking Opera? Initially, those plays and selected acts focusing on action, postures and Kungfu fighting used to be the main form of overseas performances, such as River in the Autumn and Making Havoc in Heaven. However, the overseas popularity of The Legend of White Snake brings Liu Xiurong to realize that love is an everlasting issue and suitable for the people of every country. The key is to get to the point, arouse sympathy and emotions, and mould characters successfully. 

In recent years, Li Shengsu, the disciple of Liu, has come down with all skills, and resorts to Peking Opera as a way of promoting international cultural exchange. The Legend of White Snake has become a great sensation in France. The White Lady, who used to be like a snake monster, now turns out to be an elegant lady who is loved and sympathized among the audience. The play itself continues to make self-polishment step by step. As “the leading character in the play”, Liu Xiurong and Li Shengsu, with the remarkable virtue and outstanding professional skills, have applied their art exploration to carry out good tradition of external cultural exchange persistently.