Classic Peking Opera work to grace the silver screen

Crew excited

On Jan 4, the crew finally arrived at Xiangshan Film and Television City, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and started shooting in two large studios, one covering about 3,500 square meters and the other 1,800 sq m. Both studios were built exclusively for the movie.

Teng Junjie, director of The Jewelry Purse, who was invited to join the project in 2018, said: "Last winter was cold and humid. All of us were very excited because we had prepared and waited for this moment for an extremely long time."

The Jewelry Purse is the sixth time that Teng has turned a classic Peking Opera work into a movie. His Farewell My Concubine: The Peking Opera, the first film in China to capture the art form by using 3D photography, won the Golden Lumiere Award in Los Angeles in 2015.

For The Jewelry Purse, Teng combined the latest film technology — 8K display resolution — with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, giving audiences an immersive visual and audio experience of Peking Opera.

"We look to movie technologies to capture and amplify the beauty of Peking Opera. For example, we use closeups when a performer has an extremely intense, emotional moment in a particular scene. Unlike an audience member in a limited seating position in a theater, we ensure the viewer always has the best-seat experience when watching a movie," Teng said.

Before shooting started, Teng watched Zhang perform in theaters, and said he was impressed by the enthusiastic fans who came to see her.

Zhang's deep, expressive singing style and her graceful portrayals of the art form explain why she enchants audiences, Teng said.

Performing onstage and acting in front of the camera are totally different experiences for Peking Opera performers, the director added.

In theaters, the performers complete a show from beginning to end, and it is a "final" product and a one-off experience. But in shooting a movie, they have to adjust themselves to work with the camera. They also have to cope with retakes to get the perfect shot.

Li Huayi, who has taught at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts since she graduated from the institution with a major in movie and television directing in 2010, said, "It was a big challenge for Zhang, but thanks to her previous experience of working with filmmakers, she did a great job."

In 2007, Zhang played the leading role of Bai Suzhen in the movie The Legend of the White Snake, adapted from the classic Peking Opera piece with the same title. Five years earlier, she played the main role in the movie Jiang Jie, which is based on the contemporary eponymous Peking Opera that features the story of the female martyr Jiang Zhuyun.

Li said The Jewelry Purse was Zhang's third Peking Opera movie.

In 2016, the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts launched the Zhang Huoding Peking Opera Cheng School Art Inheritance Center, with Zhang mentoring young female students performing in the style of the Cheng School.

Li, who has worked with Zhang as a member of the center, traveled with her to Xiangshan Film and Television City in January to go through the entire shooting process.

"It took 19 days to finish the shooting, and the team worked for eight to 10 hours each day," Li said.

Traditionally, stage settings and props for Peking Opera shows are kept to a minimum. However, the makeup is often exaggerated and the costumes are flamboyant, as both are considered to symbolize the characters' personalities and social identities.

Zhang, 51, rose early to begin applying makeup and putting on costumes, which usually took three to four hours.

Dressing for the role required her to tie a piece of cloth around her head before putting on exquisite headwear. She had to tie the cloth tight enough to ensure the headwear stayed in place throughout the performance.

Li said: "When people go to watch a Peking Opera show, they never leave disappointed. However, working behind the scenes is a different story. When Zhang performs in theaters, it takes her four to five hours to put on the full makeup and costumes. But during shooting for the movie, she had to wear full makeup and costumes for about 12 hours a day, which was very challenging, and even painful."

One of the most memorable days during shooting was when Zhang performed her signature water sleeves dance, Li said. Water sleeves are the long, white silk sleeves attached to the cuffs of female characters' costumes in Peking Opera.

Whenever Zhang performs this dance in theaters, audiences react with bursts of applause.

A day before shooting the water sleeves scene, Zhang arrived on the set and practiced for three hours, as she wanted to find the right position and perform the dance moves in front of the camera to get the perfect shot," Li said. "The next day, she did 17 takes to get the ideal shot. After she finished the takes, the shirt next to her skin was soaked in sweat."

Teng said: "Beauty and difficulty are two sides of the same coin in Peking Opera. As an artist, Zhang is a perfectionist. She is fully committed to the art form and cares about all the details of her performances. I once asked her why she was so attentive to detail, and she told me she didn't want to fail the expectations of her teacher, Zhao Rongchen."

Zhang always wears her hair short and neat. She keeps a low profile, rarely giving interviews. With traditional genres such as Peking Opera facing challenges from contemporary forms of entertainment, she is dedicated to preserving the old art form and is doing her best to tell more people about the genre.

Born in Baicheng, Jilin province, Zhang was introduced to traditional Chinese opera by her father, who performed Pingju Opera, a traditional art form popular in northern China.

Her elder brother, Zhang Huoqian, who began studying Peking Opera as a child, was trained to play wusheng - male roles with martial arts movements.