ASIA IN HELSINKI - Chinese Yue Opera

Chinese Yue Opera

Yue opera is the youngest of the classical Chinese opera forms. It was originated in the beginning of the 1900s around Shanghai. The uniqueness of the yue opera lies in the fact that also the male roles are performed by female actors. Although it has been influenced by the Western theatre where music, the orchestral combination and visualisation are concerned, it is in essence deeply Chinese. Today this art form is very popular all over China, and the most famous yue-singers are worshipped as great stars.
More about Yue Opera

Friday 15.5. & Saturday 16.5. at 19:00 hrs Alexander Theatre
Chinese Yue Opera: The Butterfly Lovers

"The Butterfly Lovers", also called "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", is one of the most beloved yue opera classics in China. It has been compared to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". In the play a young maiden is anxious to study, but she has to disguise herself as a boy to be allowed to begin school. Before long, she falls in love with a poor fellow-student. But the young lovers' marriage plans are ruined by her father, who wants to marry her off to a wealthy man. The young lovers perish in despair. Finally they meet each other again as butterflies in the here-after.

Tickets FIM 120 / 100
Read the plot for the Butterfly Lovers

Saturday 16.5. at 15:00 hrs Alexander Theatre
Chinese Yue Opera:
Scenes from Famous Chinese Yue Operas

The scenes to be seen are "Lamenting in the Ancestral Temple" from the opera "The Prince of the North", "An Attack to the Palace" from the opera "Picking up the Golden Twigs", a scene from the opera "Disentanglement of Emotions", and last but not least, the final scene from the opera "The Butterfly Lovers".

Tickets FIM 100 / 80

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What is yue opera?

Yue opera - also called the Shaoxing opera - is a newcomer among the Chinese local operas. It was originated in the beginning of the 1900s near Shanghai in a place called Shaoxing from local musical plays, which used only the ban-clapper in accompaniment of the play. The popularity of this art form began to grow in 1916, when it was performed in Shanghai to large audiences of Shaoxing origin. Gradually, first string instruments and later other instruments were added to the orchestra, although the music was still based on the same Shaoxing melodies. The performances were, in fact, very successful.

In 1923, the training of female actors for this art form was set up. Since 1928, the Shaoxing opera troupes, consisting of solely female actors, began their performances in Shanghai. In a few years, females impersonating males had become the most important feature of this opera form, and at the same time the yue opera became well known all over China. In the Qing dynasty China (1644-1911) mixed troupes consisting of both male and female actors had been prohibited, and even in Peking opera, the lady-actors were not allowed to enter the stage together with men before 1930.

The texts of yue opera are based on romantic love stories, and they do not include acrobatics or fighting scenes. In yue opera, stage properties and light effects are used and the costumes imitate the light-colored clothes, fashionable at the beginning of this century in China. The most famous plays performed in Shaoxing style are ”Liang Shanpo and Zhu Yingtai”, which is a kind of Chinese version of ”Romeo and Juliet”, and the love dramas "The Dream of a Red Chamber" and "The Romance of a Western Chamber".