The White Haired Girl

The White-Haired Girl (Chinese: 白毛女; pinyin: Bái Máo Nǚ) is a Chinese opera, ballet, (later adapted to Beijing Opera and a film) by Yan Jinxuan to a Chinese libretto by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi. The first opera performance was in 1945, with Wang Kun playing the lead role. The film was made in 1950. The first Peking opera performance was in 1958. The first ballet performance was by Shanghai Dance Academy, Shanghai in 1965. It has also been performed by the noted soprano Guo Lanying.

The opera is based on legends circulating in the border region of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei, describing the misery suffered by local peasantry, particularly the misery of the female members. The stories are based on real-life stories of no less than half a dozen women, in a time frame stretching from the late Qing Dynasty to 1920's or 1930's. The political overtone and historical background when it was created means that communist propaganda was added in inevitably, and the most obvious example was the added portion of happy ending and the protagonists joining the communist force, which did not happen in real life.

Along with Red Detachment of Women, the ballet is regarded as one of the classics of revolutionary China, and its music is familiar to almost everyone who grew up during the 1960s. It is one of the Eight model plays.

(Based on the ballet version)

It is the eve of the Chinese Spring Festival. The peasant girl, Xi'er, in the village, Yanggezhuang, Hebei Province, is waiting for her father to return home to celebrate the Spring Festival together. Her girl friends come to bring her paper cuttings with which they decorate the windows. After the girls leave, Xi'er's fiance, Wang Dachun, comes to give two catties of wheat flour to Xi'er so that she can make jiaozis. In turn, Xi'er gives a new sickle to Dachun as a gift.

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