Huangmei Opera piece on cotton researcher makes its Beijing debut

The story of Li Wenying (1932-2017), an agricultural-technology researcher who devoted her life to poverty alleviation, has been adapted into a Huangmei Opera play.

It was premiered in Zhijiang, Hubei province, with a performance by the Singing and Dancing Troupe of Zhijiang in September 2017. The play, Flowery Life, has been staged over 20 times in Hubei alone.

It made its Beijing debut at the Chang'an Grand Theater on Saturday.

Li was born in Wuhan, Hubei, and graduated from Huazhong Agricultural University with a degree in agriculture. After graduation, she gave up a job opportunity in Wuhan and stayed in a small town called Bailizhou in Zhijiang city for 10 years. She successfully developed cotton resistant to wilting, which benefited local farmers.

In 1990, after retirement, Li gave up the opportunity to return to Wuhan and traveled around villages in Hubei to work with farmers and continued her research on cotton.

Lu Dongyuan, director of the play, interviewed Li a month before she died of cancer at age 85.

"She spent over 300 days every year doing research in farmlands and didn't have much time with her own family. The story is true and not well-known," says Lu, who lives in Shanghai and has been directing Huangmei Opera productions since 1990.

"It takes hours on the farms, observing and recording the cotton plants' growth and changes. It's a lonely and boring job, but Li told me that she felt peaceful and contented while working."

The Singing and Dancing Troupe of Zhijiang is known for performing Huangmei Opera, a local folk art originating from Huangmei county, Hubei, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Huangmei Opera artists Yan Fengying and Wang Shaofang propelled the art form into national popularity with the classic song, The Heavenly Match. Huangmei Opera was included in the country's intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.