The Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Troupe perform The Butterfly Love at the Expo Shanghai 2010 in June last year.  

The dreams of members of the well-known Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Troupe are finally being met as the construction of a new art center broke ground on August 2.

The kick-off ceremony for construction of the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Art Center conveyed the excitement that many of the troupe’s members are feeling. Young women in their early 20s dressed in Shaoxing opera costumes were sweating in the summer heat while beating drums amid the sounds of chirping cicadas while fireworks displayed and color bands where shot in the sky.

In all the excitement Mao Weitao, director of the troupe, stood in a corner of the rostrum clapped her hands with a beaming smile on her face. Shaoxing opera, or Yueju opera, is a form of Chinese opera that originated in the early 1900s. It first grew in popularity in Zhejiang and then nationwide.

Now it is second only to Peking Opera in terms of popularity. Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Troupe was founded in 1984 and is famous at home and abroad as a leading Yueju troupe. Its success won successive support from the local government, which has shown its support by donating the land that will house the troupe’s center.

The land is located at a prime area in Hangzhou. “With the establishment of the new center, first-rate conditions will be created for the troupe. It will also help to promote Shaoxing opera, attract talents and enhance the cultural exchange with more overseas countries and regions,” said Zheng Jiwei, vice-governor of Zhejiang province.

The new art center, south of Shuguang Road, is expected to be completed by summer 2013 and will cover 18,520 sq m. The center will be separated into two parts, with the east part of the center being a four-story exhibition hall mainly displaying pictures, videos and exhibits showing the 100- year history of Shaoxing opera.

The west part will have a few smaller theaters able to seat 800 people altogether. Mao hoped to create a place that embodied traditional Chinese characteristics in a modern building.

She recruited C.Y. Lee, a Taiwanese architect best known for the design of Taipei 101 in downtown Taipei, to work on the project that she and the troupe have been dreaming for eight years. Lee’s design resembles a butterfly on the banks of the West Lake, and the art center will also embody the opera extract that Mao excels at — The Butterfly Love.

“The butterfly symbolizes the ambassador of beauty, a romantic poet, a speechless dancer and a poetic masterpiece chanting love through the years,” said Lee, referring to the art center to a butterfly. After careful study of the history of Chinese operas, Lee will build a caotai, or grass platform, on top of the art center.

“In the past, when farmers finished a day’s work, they would put a rice container upside down, lay some grass on it and compose a platform upon it. They would perform right on the top of it. This is the prototype of Chinese operas,” Lee said. “The utmost important mission of an architect is to realize the dream of a city”.

 He adds that an architect finds three factors key to a city’s construction: building a sanctuary, completion of security and prosperity. “Security is ensured by the country’s military force and prosperity depends on its economic growth. The building of a sanctuary is highly dependant on the construction of a city’s own culture. In this sense, Xiaobaihua is the start for Hangzhou to grow into a sanctuary, for art is the essence of culture,” Lee said.

The competition among nations has been specified to the city level. Whatever development path it takes, a country will finally arrive at the ultimate goal of development, that is, growing into a country with splendid culture, he added. “Every nation, or every person should be rooted in culture.

The most expressive parts of culture are arts, religion and philosophy. To me, Xiaobaihua is the top representative form of culture — a perfect combination of music, literature and performing arts,” Lee said. “And I would like to define the new art center as a haven for art, or a beautiful legend woven in the most fashionable way.”

As Mao had always hoped, the new art center will become an icon in Hangzhou. “A trip around the West Lake, a sip of the Longjing tea and a show at Xiaobaihua Art Center” will later become hallmarks of Hangzhou, Mao said. “We will be able to stage the classic Butterfly Love every day in this theatre. At the same time, tourists can take their time here and enjoy a traditional local dessert — a bowl of lotus root starch,” Mao said.

Mao has lofty aspirations for the center. She said she hopes the center can emulate the Takarazuka Revue in Japan that is featured with an all-female troupe. Her ultimate goal will be the new center becoming one of the city’s next biggest tourist attractions.

“One of the most popular recreations among New York residents is to watch a show on Broadway, which is very much in line with the lifestyle among young people,” said Mao, echoing the theme of constructing the center: creating a beautiful legend in a fashionable way.