Raid on the White Tiger Regiment explained

T:奇襲白虎團
S:奇袭白虎团
P:Qíxí Báihǔtuán
W:Ch'i2-hsi2 Pai2-hu3-t'uan2

Raid on the White Tiger Regiment (Chinese: 奇袭白虎团) is a Chinese revolutionary opera and one of the eight "model plays" permitted during the Cultural Revolution.[1] [2] Set during the Korean War, it depicts a victory of the Chinese and North Korean forces over South Korean and American forces.[3]

Production

Music for Raid on the White Tiger Regiment was composed and arranged by Gong Guotai (born 1946), incorporating some aspects of Korean folk music;[4] the script was collaboratively written in 1957 by four members of Shandong Provincial Peking Opera Troupe, and was first performed by members of the People's Volunteer Army.[5] It received its first major staging in 1964 at a national Peking opera festival;[6] it was revised under Mao Zedong's instructions in 1965–66.[7] [8] [9] The Cambridge History of China noted that continuous revision of the model operas tended to remove any "shades of grey" from the moral depictions of the heroes and villains, and to remove any trace of "bourgeois" behaviour from the heroes.[10]

Synopsis

July 1953: during the Korean War, Yang Yucai leads a People's Volunteer Army raid against the White Tiger Regiment of the South Korean Capital Mechanized Infantry Division, who are planning to sabotage peace talks by invading the North.[11] With the help of a Korean girl, Sister Choi, the Chinese troops destroy Tiger Regiment HQ and set the conditions for a successful counterattack, in cooperation with the Korean People's Army.[12]

Performance

Deng Xiaoping refused to watch Raid on the White Tiger Regiment in 1964, instead insisting on a performance of Sisters Exchange Bridegrooms, perceived as a slight on the Gang of Four.[13]

In 1972, it was made into a film by the Changchun Film Studio.[14] [11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East. British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring. Service. October 17, 1974. Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Google Books.
  2. Book: Denhardt, Janet Vinzant. The New Public Service, Expanded Edition: Serving, Not Steering. February 17, 2007. M.E. Sharpe. 9780765621818. Google Books.
  3. Book: United States and Asia at War: A Cultural Approach: A Cultural Approach. Philip. West. Steven I.. Levine. Jackie. Hiltz. June 3, 2015. Routledge. 9781317452935. Google Books.
  4. Book: Listening to China's Cultural Revolution: Music, Politics, and Cultural Continuities. Laikwan. Pang. Paul. Clark. Tsan-Huang. Tsai. January 26, 2016. Springer. 9781137463579. Google Books.
  5. Book: Chen, Xiaomei. Acting the Right Part: Political Theater and Popular Drama in Contemporary China. January 31, 2002. University of Hawaii Press. 9780824861360. Google Books.
  6. Book: Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Guo. Jian. Yongyi. Song. Yuan. Zhou. July 23, 2015. Rowman & Littlefield. 9781442251724. Google Books.
  7. Book: Chingchih, Liu. A Critical History of New Music in China. July 20, 2010. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. 9789629969707. Google Books.
  8. Web site: eClassical - Gong: Raid On the White Tiger Regiment (Orchestral Highlights). www.eclassical.com.
  9. Web site: GONG: Raid on the White Tiger Regiment (Orchestral Highlights). www.naxos.com. 2022-02-17. 2022-02-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20220217212852/https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=82063&catNum=82063&filetype=About+this+Recording&language=English. dead.
  10. Book: The Cambridge History of China: Volume 15, The People's Republic, Part 2, Revolutions Within the Chinese Revolution, 1966-1982. Roderick. MacFarquhar. John K.. Fairbank. Denis Crispin. Twitchett. November 29, 1991. Cambridge University Press. 9780521243377. Google Books.
  11. Web site: Shandong Peking Opera Theatre Raid on the White Tiger Regiment - NCPA CHINA. en.chncpa.org.
  12. Book: Red Love Across the Pacific: Political and Sexual Revolutions of the Twentieth Century. Paula. Rabinowitz. Ruth. Barraclough. Heather. Bowen-Struyk. September 16, 2015. Springer. 9781137507037. Google Books.
  13. Web site: Daily Report: People's Republic of China. United States Foreign Broadcast Information. Service. February 17, 1979. National Technical Information Service. Google Books.
  14. Web site: Amazingly Odd Operas From Revolutionary China. Anastasia. Tsioulcas. April 26, 2013. NPR.

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