Four leading performing arts ensembles with the PLA, which was founded on August 1, 1927, selected and rehearsed the recently-produced shows which have in turn won acclaim from both inside and outside of army circles.

Performances kick off on July 31, with the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Department of the PLA staging a gala show entitled "Under the Army Flag" at the Beijing Exhibition Hall Theater.

Directed by Zhang Jigang, vice-president of the ensemble, the show, with a star-studded cast of singers and dancers, features a playbill of award-winning pieces of music and dance.

"No matter whether it's a popular star or an ordinary chorus member, all the performers hope to display their artistic achievements as well as their high morale," said director Zhang.

I Would Wait for You in Heaven, a stage play performed by the senior students of the performing department of the PLA's Academy of Arts, will run on August 8 and 9 at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities.

Adapted from author Qiu Shanshan's novel of the same title, the play, which is directed by Huang Dingshan, unfolds around the lives of a two-generation army family spanning over half a century.

The sudden death of the family head, a retired army general named Ou Zhanjun, throws his wife Bai Xuemei back 50 years into the past, when they were still young and working on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

They tied the knot and adopted five orphans of their young colleagues, who had sacrificed their lives on the plateau.

For 50 years, the general and Bai have kept the mystery surrounding the births of their five children a secret. Now the three sons and two daughters have all grown up and have their own families. Each of them faces problems in their respective lives.

Poetry vs confusion

The play, with its first half featuring a poetic style in contrast to the second half filled with sound and fury, attempts to reconcile between the past and the present, the old and the young, the high ideal and the mundane.

"No matter how time changes and how society develops, I respect those who have firm convictions and devote their lives to it, and I respect those who value trust and responsibility," said Qiu.

With an average age of 20, all of the performers are younger than 25. So it's challenging for those who are performing the roles of soldiers from half a century ago.

"I did a lot of homework before rehearsal, reading novels portraying army life 50 years ago, so as to find some sense of being a woman soldier who had to endure hard living conditions and witness the deaths of her colleagues," said Su Li, who plays the role of Bai Xuemei.

"Ou is even older than my father," said Wang Lei. "It's really difficult to understand their thoughts at that time, but when I enter the role and try to share his mind, I finally realize the devotion and faith that belonged to that generation."

The play has been invited to take the stage at the Shanghai Drama Festival later this month.

The musical Melody of Peach Blossom produced by the drama troupe of the General Political Department of the PLA will run at the Beijing Exhibition Hall Theater on August 15 and 16.

The musical involves a love story between Taohua (peach blossom), a peasant girl and Husheng, a New Fourth Army soldier.

It begins with the War of Resistance against Japan in east China's Anhui Province, and ends with the Yangtze River Campaign in 1949 when the People's Liberation Army was stamping out Kuomintang rule.

"Through my music, I try to depict the roles and bring out the touching love between the young in times of war," said Yin Qing, who scored the musical.

Since its premiere in 2001, the musical has been performed more than 120 times in over 10 cities. It has also won awards both in the army's competition and in national festivals.

In October, the troupe will perform the musical in Hong Kong.

If I Would Wait for You in Heaven and Melody of Peach Blossom are tear-jerkers, Prevent You from Divorcing, created by the performing arts troupe of the Armed Police, will bring peals of laughter.

The drama will be presented at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities on August 29 and 30.

The four-act comedy tells the story of a group of armed policemen who serve in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

It tells of the friendship between Officer Zhongbao and his fellow officers and the local Kazak herdsmen, a result of Zhongbao's 18 years' hard work in the Gobi Desert.

Zhongbao has many dreams and wishes, but his wife Liu Yu does not understand him and asks him to leave the region.

She has found a job with a high salary for him in their hometown and tells him that, if he refuses to take the job, she will divorce him.

The local Kazak herdsmen and Zhongbao's fellow policemen don't want him to leave.

So they go through a great deal of trouble to prevent him from leaving, and try to help patch up the marriage between Zhongbao and his wife.

Written and directed by Wang Baoshe, the play vividly describes the life of the grass-roots policemen in the ethnic minorities region.

With amusing lines and slapstick acting, the performers will give audiences a glimpse of the armed policeman's usual life with a comic twist.

(China Daily July 14, 2003)