The White-Haired Girl () is a Chinese contemporary classical opera by Yan Jinxuan to a Chinese libretto by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi. It was later adapted to a ballet, a Peking opera, and a film. The ballet adaptation was regarded as a revolutionary opera.
The folklore of the white-haired girl is believed to have spread widely in the areas occupied by the Communist Party of Northern China since the late 1930s. Many years later, a literary work was created in the liberated area controlled by the Chinese Communist Party in the late 1940s. The film was made in 1950 and the first Peking opera performance was in 1958. The first ballet performance was by Shanghai Dance Academy, Shanghai in 1965. It has also been performed by the noted soprano Guo Lanying.
The opera is based on legends circulating in the border region of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei, describing the misery suffered by local peasantry, particularly the misery of the female members. The stories are based on real-life stories of no fewer than half a dozen women, in a time frame stretching from the late Qing dynasty to the 1920s or 1930s. The political overtone and historical background when it was created means that communist propaganda was added in inevitably, and the most obvious example was the added portion of happy ending and the protagonists joining the communist force, which did not happen in real life.
Along with Red Detachment of Women, the ballet is regarded as one of the classics of revolutionary China, and its music is familiar to almost everyone who grew up during the 1960s. It is one of the Eight Model Operas approved by Jiang Qing during the Cultural Revolution.The White-Haired Girl also intentionally showed the political meaning by creating a figure of diligent and beautiful country woman who was under the oppression of the evil landowner. As it aroused an emotion against the "old ruling class", it satisfied "moral ideas of the left-wing literary and artistic intelligence, the popular social and cultural values of rural and urban audiences". The film presented "the traditional Chinese agricultural lifecycle", where the poor lived in poverty no matter how hard they tried. It implied a revolution to overthrown the unchanging social structure. As the mise-en-scene of the film, it used a fair amount of medium-shot to define the character through facial expressions.
Characters and cast
Yang Xier
The daughter of a tenant farmer Yang Bailao and the fiancée of Wang Dachun. She was forced to sell to the landlord Huang Shiren to repay his father's debt. After suffering humiliation and mistreatment from the landlord and the landlord's mother, Xier eventually escaped and hid in a mountain temple while surviving on offerings. Due to lack of sunlight and little salt intake, her skin and hair gradually turned white causing local villagers to mistakenly perceive her as a powerful white-haired goddess. In the end, Xier was found by Dachun and they reunited.
Performer: Tian Hua (b. 1928, Hebei, China)
Tian Hua is a well-known actress famous for her role of Xier. She received extensive learning from the Central Academy of Drama. She was nominated and received Hundred Flowers Awards, Golden Rooster Awards and Golden Phoenix Awards.
Huang Shiren
The landlord who forced Yang Bailao to sell Xier to repay debts. He abused and humiliated Xier and the other maids. After Xier escaped, he encountered white-haired Xier and recognized her as a reincarnation of a goddess who came to punish him for his mistreatment of Xier. Huang Shiren was eventually punished by the villagers.
Performer: Chen Qiang (1918-2021, Hebei, China)
Chen Qiang was a film and stage actor best known for his performances as antagonists in The Red Detachment of Women, The White Haired Girl and Devils on the Doorstep. His performance in The White Haired Girl gained the Special Recognition Award in 6th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Wang Dachun
A farmer, a neighbor and fiancé of Xier. After Xier was taken away by the landlord, Dachun joined the Communists's Eighth Route Army and fought in the Anti-Japanese War. After his return from the war, he overthrew the landlord and distributed his farmland to peasants. In the end, he found Xier in the mountains and rejoined.
Performer: Li BaiWan (1926-2010)
Li BaiWan joined the Communists's Eighth Route Army at the age of 11.
Plot
(Based on the ballet version)