SUN Tsui-feng's opera career began as an accident at an age most thought she had no chance to succeed. They were wrong. Xu Wei reports.

Women playing the opposite gender in Chinese operas is not news. Mostly they play gentle civilian roles and their performances are characterized by singing and acting. But famous Gezai Opera diva Sun Tsui-feng has a different story. She defies tradition, taking on challenging roles that require martial arts expertise.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, the 50-something actress will bring one of her most celebrated outdoor plays, "White Snake," to Shanghai for a performance at Hongkou Football Stadium.

"It is the only show this whole year where I play a woman," the Taiwan native said with a chuckle. "Before I took the role of Madame White Snake, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake compared with the male roles I've done, and I could take it easy. But I soon realized I had deceived myself. It was the hardest experience I ever had to deal with on stage."

During the past years, Sun and others from Taiwan's Ming Hwa Yuan Gezai Opera Company have performed "White Snake" annually in Taipei for the Dragon Boat Festival. It proved to be a big hit with as many as 100,000 spectators coming each year to celebrate the festival.

The play tells the story of young scholar Xu Xian who falls in love with a beautiful woman Bai Suzhen. Xu is unaware that Bai is a white snake who has taken on human form.

On Dragon Boat Festival day, Bai turns back into a snake, frightening her husband to death. To resurrect Xu, Bai steals a magic herb. But such a relationship is forbidden by the Law of Heaven. When Xu is imprisoned by monk Fa Hai at Jinshan Temple, Madame White Snake fights with Fa Hai. During the fight, she summons a great amount of water to flood the temple.

Though this legend has been adapted into many opera forms, the Gezai Opera version of "White Snake" combines Chinese traditional drama with modern technology and stage effects.


"About 14 fire engines will be used to vividly depict the story's best-known fight scene, the 'Flooding of Jinshan Temple'," Sun said. "Hanging on a wire I will 'stand' on the 45-meter-high jets of water to demonstrate the heroine's water witchcraft."

The scene is the climax of the two-hour show. At that time spectators are asked to put on blue raincoats to appear as "seawater" surrounding the stage.

Spectators have really taken the show to heart. In Taiwan, young fans often wave glow sticks during the performance, something that would be considered unimaginable at traditional Chinese operas.

Gezai Opera is sung in south Fujian dialect and started in Taiwan in the early 20th century. It has absorbed the elements of regional operas like Liyuan Opera, Beiguan Opera and Peking Opera. The result is a blend of performances, roles, costumes, theatrical masks and percussion.

Meanwhile, Ming Hwa Yuan, founded in 1929, has played an important role in the development of Gezai Opera. It now gives more than 200 performances every year. The company has even toured Japan, Southeast Asia, France and the United States.

Sun has performed many impressive stage roles like emperors, generals and prime ministers, as well as Li Xuan, one of the Eight Immortals according to ancient legend. However, Madame White Snake is her favorite role.

"Bai is very special in my eyes," Sun said. "She is an exceptionally outstanding woman but the only meaningful thing in her life is to love her husband. She devotes herself to being an ordinary and happy wife."

Surprisingly, Sun's opera career didn't take the usual path of countless hours of training in acrobatics and martial arts from a young age. Her career began as an accident. And it started when she was already a mother in her late 20s, an age most feel is far too old to begin an opera career.

Ming Hwa Yuan largely has developed as a family affair. Twenty years ago, all of the family's daughters-in-law, except Sun, were excellent Gezai Opera performers. Sun was an accountant at the time. On one occasion, the troupe was short of performers for a big show. They required someone to play a servant girl.

Seven long years

Sun, who had no training, was urged to take this role.

Everyone was surprised by her talent, which was due to her good memory, casual style on stage and creativity.

Though the troupe's instructors gently advised her to give up, every day Sun continued to do the tough exercises required to stretch her ligaments so she could master martial arts roles.

She even refused to miss any time when her eyelid was severely injured by a whip during a rehearsal.

"It took me about seven years to be able to play a martial arts protagonist," Sun said. "Many people thought it was impossible for anyone who started so late. But I made it. Gezai Opera has made me taste the bittersweet aspects of life."

Fans of the genre have benefitted from her perseverance.

Her handsome portrayals of men are usually adored by fans. She has even been dubbed "the most beautiful man" by many fans. Sun's devotion to her craft knows no limits.

She reads books about men every day. She tries to grasp and imitate the body language of different men, from their sitting posture, tones to facial expressions.

"Once, when I was talking a walk with my husband, I wrapped my arm round his shoulder, unaware of the curious attention from passersby," Sun said, laughing. "You know, I go too deep into it."

Over the past few decades, Sun and her husband have witnessed the decline and revival of Gezai Opera.

In the 1970s, when television and film began to exert its wide influence, Gezai Opera experienced a big decline in spectators. Almost all the Gezai Opera theaters in Taiwan were converted into cinemas. Performances could only be found in the countryside or city suburbs.

Sun's husband and a group of Gezai opera directors and performers then began to change performance styles and stage designs to revive the genre.

With bold colors and set designs, exciting action, and emphasizing innovative scripts that resonate with modern times, Ming Hwa Yuan has become one of the most popular Gezai Opera companies in Taiwan.

"Our scripts are always based on the tastes of the young generation," Sun said. "We also include lasers and 3-D animation as the backdrop for several scenes to create a fabulous atmosphere. Even the subtitles of the singing excerpts boast a modern flavor and are easy to understand. We hope that our shows can give young audiences a brand-new experience and understanding of traditional theater."