Divergence and Dragon and Phoenix are two Peking Opera highlights that have been frequently staged and elaborately polished over and over again by generations of artists of Peking Opera. Therefore they could now project the classical modality and style on the stage.

Divergence, through the masterly design of two characters, describes the scene of a fighting in darkness on a brightly-illuminated stage and thoroughly shows the characteristics of Peking Opera, stylization, virtuality and imagism to the audience.

Dragon and Phoenix is an unconventional one-act play, featuring a full set of "Si Ping Diao", a style of opera originated from the folk flower drum song, and followed by a section of "Xi Pi Liu Shui" at the end. The repertoire incisively and vividly displays the beauty of love between a man and woman on the stage through the half-serious half-jocular conversation between Emperor Zhengde and Li Feng, the sister of a tavern owner.

Synopsis

Divergence
In the early Song Dynasty, Jiao Zan, the senior general of the imperial government being framed and declared guilty, was banished to a desert island. Yang Yanzhao particularly sent Ren Tanghui to protect Jiao secretly on his way to the island in fear that he might encounter dangers and mishaps. When arriving at Sanchakou, Jiao lodged at a tavern ran by Liu Lihua, where Ren chose to stay and rest later. Being heroic and warm-hearted people in grass roots, Liu and his wife determined to safeguard Jiao at the tavern. However, not knowing each other, Liu and Ren harbored suspicion towards each other, and mistakenly believe that the other person involved intended to hurt Jiao. The misunderstanding provoked a fight between them in darkness. Fortunately Liu’s wife and Jiao arrived in time, stopping the fight and clearing up the misunderstanding.

Ren Tanghui, starred by Zhang Xuruan (An excellent young actor specializing in playing martial male characters)

Liu Lihua, starred by Wang Xuehua (an excellent young actress specializing in playing military comic roles)

Dragon and Phoenix

In the Ming dynasty, Emperor Zhengde traveled incognito out of palace and lodged at Mei Long Tavern. Zhengde and Li Feng, the younger sister of the tavern owner, fell in love with each other. Zhengde then told Li Feng his true identity and conferred the title of Gui Fei, the highest-ranking imperial concubine to her.

Emperor Zhengde, starred by Zhang Jianfeng (An excellent actor of Xi School specializing in old male characters; postgraduate majoring in Peking Opera, gold medal winner of CCTV Youth Peking Opera Artists TV Competition)

Li Feng, starred by Zhu Hong (An excellent actress specializing in female character, disciple of Liu changyu)


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