It was first produced as a
Shanghai opera entitled Sparks amid the Reeds (芦荡火种) or Emerald Water and Red Flags in 1958 by the Hu Opera Troupe.[7][8] In October 1963, the First Peking Opera Company adapted it as a
Peking opera.
Mao Zedong saw it in 1964 and asked that the title be changed, as sparks would not set wet reeds alight, so it was named after its setting, the town of
Shajiabang ("sands family creek").[9]Jiang Qing (Mao's wife, a leading figure in the Cultural Revolution), insisted that the role of the
Red Army political commissar be expanded.[10] The dance routines were also revised, the opera not reaching its final form until 1970.[11][7]Wang Zengqi also contributed to it.[12][13]
Synopsis
Set during the
Second Sino-Japanese War ("War of Resistance", early 1940s) in Japanese-ruled territory west of
Shanghai. Shajiabang is a town by
Yangcheng Lake. Sister Aqing runs a
teahouse visited by officers of a Chinese collaborationist group; unbeknownst to them, she is a member of the
Chinese Communist Party, and is helping wounded soldiers of the
New Fourth Army who are hiding in the marshes.
Legacy
Shajiabang was made into a film in 1971 by the
Changchun Film Studio, and the score has also been performed as a "revolutionary symphony."[14]
An exhibition hall of Shajiabang's revolutionary history was opened in 1988, and expanded in 2006.[15][16]