Shanghai Yue Opera House (the “House” hereafter) was established in March 1955, with Ms. YUAN Xuefen as its first President. The House has adapted and arranged over 400 traditional plays and classic stories, including Butterfly Lovers, Romance of the West Chamber, A Dream of Red Mansions, Sister Xiang Lin (adapted from Lu Xun’s novel Blessings).  

The House boasts many great names from the world of Yue Opera, among them original legends YUAN Xuefen, FAN Ruijuan, FU Quanxiang, XU Yulan, WANG Wenjuan, ZHANG Guifeng, XU Tianhong, WU Xiaolou, LU Jinhua, LYU Ruiying, JIN Caifeng, and ZHOU Baokui. In addition, it is home to eminent contemporary artists including QIAN Huili, SHAN Yangping, ZHANG Ruihong, FANG Yafen, WANG Zhiping, National Class One actors and actresses such as CHEN Ying, HUA Yiqing, ZHANG Yongmei, ZHANG Hailing, XU Jie, SUN Zhijun, ZHANG Chenghao, HUANG Hui, JIN Hong, DING Xiaowa, XU Biaoxin, YING Guoying, WU Qun, YANG Tingna, QI Chunlei, DENG Huawei; and the playwright XU Jin, the director WU Chen, HUANG Sha; opera composers GU Zhenxia; screen and set designers SU Shifeng, among others. 

Over twenty of the House’s performers have received the Ministry of Culture’s prestigious Cultural Performance Award for Excellence, National Theatre Plum Blossom Award, National Theatre Best Drama Performance Award, China’s Golden Voice Award, and Shanghai White Magnolia Award for the Performing Arts of Leading and Supporting Roles.  

Its new generation of performers is also gaining growing recognition by China’s Red Plum Opera Performance Gold and other awards; Gold and Silver Medals in the Youth Television Performance Contest, entitled “Women’s Yue Opera Challenge”. 

 

 

Furthermore, the House’s independent production of A Dream of Red Mansions has been hailed as a “signature piece embodying the grace and elegance that epitomizes Shanghai culture”. 

Performances offered by the House have also been the recipient of numerous rewards and prizes:

Stage Sisters and Family won the 9th and 11th New Cultural Series Awards; Mei Long Town won the 7th National Theatre Best Drama Performance Award; Spring of Separation won the 11th China Popular Culture Gold Award; Maidservant Yu Qing and Great Revenge of the Orphan of Zhao won China Yue Opera Performance Gold Award; The Beauty won the 10th National Theatre Drama Award; Deepening Colors of the Fall won the National Theatre Excellence in Drama Performance Award; A Dream of Red Mansions received the 2nd Ministry of Culture’s Award for Excellence in the Preservation of Classical Plays; Empresses in the Palace received the 3rd National Theatre Award for Yue Opera Performance; Lovebirds received the 4th National Award for Excellence in Regional Drama Performance.