At age 65, Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang adapted from Yu Opera Mu Guiying Taking Command, his final landmark work capping four decades of tremendous artistry. The middle-aged Mu Guiying embodies characteristics of qingyi(virtuous female) and female warrior roles, encompassing such attributes as steadfast, melancholic, demure, vigorous, valiant and adroit, as her evolving thoughts and her demeanour are fully displayed through movement and percussion patterns. All of these are proof of yet new heights in the art of Mei Lanfang.

 

During the Northern Song dynasty, the Xixia ruler leads an uprising. Having exhausted its imperial armies, the Song court summons Mu Guiying to take command. Mu is apprehensive, vexed by the court’s indifference and the conspiracies of evil ministers against her family. Upon hearing her grandmother-in-law’s exhortations, Mu sets aside her personal doubts to defend her country. Together with her husband Yang Zongbao and children Yang Wenguang and Yang Jinhua, they lead their warriors to battle.

 

The China National Peking Opera Company was established in 1955 with Mei Lanfang as founding president. The Company comprises many divisions, including its First, Second and Third Troupes, along with the Mei Lanfang Theatre and the People’s Theatre. Since its founding, the Company has gathered a large number of outstanding performers, playwrights, directors, composers and stage designers, among them Li Shaochun, Yuan Shihai, Ye Shenglan and Du Jinfang. Members of the Company’s First Troupe include some of the best and most popular artists: principal artist Yu Kuizhi is heralded as the top Peking Opera artist today; Troupe Leader Li Shengsu is internationally celebrated as a successor in the Mei Lanfang tradition. In the past six decades, the Company has created more than 500 repertory works, including such iconic titles as The Boar Forest, Three Attacks at Zhu Village, Lu Bu and Diao Chan, The Legend of the White Snake and The Tale Under the Willow Shade. The China National Peking Opera Company has toured extensively around the world,having performed in more than 50 countries and regions.