To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Tibet Autonomous Region, a unique drama, which for the first time fuses Peking opera and Tibetan opera together, will be staged at the end of this month in Tibet and in September in Beijing.

Named Princess Wencheng, the drama tells a real story, a historical event that occurred in the seventh century. In 641, Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) left Chang'an (present-day Xi'an in Shaanxi Province) for the Tubo Kingdom, 1,875 miles to the west of the Tang capital. She was on her way to marry Songtsan Gambo, king of the Tubo Kingdom in Lhasa. The interracial marriage served as a bridge to promote the friendship between Tibet and inland China, and Wencheng became the first one to introduce Buddhism and the Tang culture to Tibet.

The opera depicts Princess Wencheng's love for her country by travelling from afar to get married with the king. It also displays the love between the couple and the friendship-bearing long history between the Hans and the Tibetans.

Both the nations have commemorated the legend. Princess Wencheng is among the eight great classical Tibetan operas that have been played for hundreds of years. In the opera, Princess Wencheng is regarded as "Green Tara" and Songtsan Gambo, the living "Kwan-yin".

But the marriage between traditional Tibetan opera and Peking opera in the new play has not been so easy. The two forms have major differences in music, setting and performance style.

Tibetan opera, also called "Ace Lhamo" in Tibetan, is an ancient art form that has developed over the centuries. Hailed as "the living fossil of traditional Tibetan culture", it boasts a history of more than 600 years - about 400 years longer than Peking opera.

There is usually no stage for Tibetan opera and the artists perform in a square or a field. The actors and actresses wear the masks of figures, birds and animals to help the spectators figure out the nature of the heroes from a distance. This function is similar to the types of facial make-up in Peking opera. Usually there are three sections of a show: In the prelude, known as "Wenbadun," Wenba men in blue masks, two Jialu men and several fairies perform religious rituals and songs and dances, and introduce the actors and actresses.

The second part is the main body of the show, during which a narrator will explain the plot and two musicians, a drummer and a cymbalist, will sit on the side of the stage to play the background music. The third part is 'tashi', when beautiful actresses dance and sing to pray for the spectators and to collect alms.

To combine the two operas harmoniously, the play has involved both the National Peking Opera Theatre of China and Tibetan Opera Institute in the production. "The music is the most difficult, for the two kinds have entirely different tunes." said Zhu Shaoyu, the music arranger. The play hence manages to absorb the cream of the both: The Peking opera band add a Tibetan drum and cymbalist; and the singing also fuses unique Tibetan harmonies and duet.

New tunes, "Yao Ban" and "Yuan Ban", were also introduced to Tibetan opera. And the stage costumes, keeping Peking opera's features of long sleeves, refined brocade and dragon robes, assimilates Tibetan touches of wildness and primitiveness.

"Both ancient operas need renovation today and the play is a worthwhile experiment," said Deng Min, the player of Princess Wencheng in the drama. "In recent years the two kinds of operas have experienced a long period of stagnation and face the problem of shrinking domestic audiences."

The situation of Tibetan opera is especially serious. Many of its repertoires have been lost, including even part of its "eight classics". With the passing away of elder artists, Tibetan opera now faces a drain in the reserves of traditional works as well as excellent performers.

"Thus we have a strong sense of responsibility to promote both operas by the drama," said Deng. As the leading actor in the play, Deng has faced great challenges both in art and psychology to rehearse and perform in Tibet, the summit of the world.

"The play requires me to perform long periods of singing and complex actions. But because of high altitude, sometimes I cannot sing a complete sentence without gasping," she said. When sleeping, Deng even feared to lie down, since it might bring suffocation.

She said some actors in the play had even drawn up farewell letters for their relatives in advance, because of the high physical risks of performing in the anoxic environment in Tibet.

The play will be broadcast live by CCTV on August 27 and is planned to be performed in September in Beijing.

(China Daily August 5, 2005)