Song of the Female Textile Workers; Drawing to a Conclusion
Song of the Female Textile Workers, UK-China digital connectivity is drawing to a conclusion
On 12 October 2021, the final rehearsal of the mixed reality digital performance Song of the Female Textile Workers was filmed at the Shanghai Yue Opera House whilst directed at stage@leeds UK via WeChat and Zoom symbolizing the conclusion of the one-year Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) awarded project.
Song of The Female Textile Workers, UK-China digital connectivity was a one year long project developed in response to the AHRC call on "UK-China Creative Industries Partnership Responding to the Long-term Impact of the Covid-19". The project takes Shanghai Yue Opera, a Shanghai female working class opera form as a case study and developed a mixed reality performance. The process examines the possible continued UK-China collaboration amid travel restrictions, and digital platform compatibility as well as UK-China audience connectivity.
The project is led by Professor Haili Ma from the University of Leeds, in collaboration with stage@leeds, Leeds Industrial Museum, UK-based Human VR digital company, Shanghai Textile Museum and Shanghai Yue Opera House. Outputs include museum exhibition at Leeds Industrial Museum as well as streamed performance at stage@leeds is entirely developed and produced online.
Song of The Female Textile Workers, UK-China digital connectivity is built on the two awarded AHRC projects: AHRC Newton Fund Creative Economy in China, Popular Performance for New Urban Audiences: reconnecting M50 creative cluster with Shanghai All-Female Yue Opera (2018-21), and the AHRC UK-China Partnership Development Fund Bridging the Gaps: mixed reality performance of Chinese opera in Shanghai’s rural and urban heritage sites (2019 and 2020- 2023). Both projects have been put on hold since April 2020 due to COVID travel restriction.
This project brings together digital resource of existing partners to examine opportunities and challenges of UK-China digital theatre online streaming, both live and recorded, for audience engagement. The digital products will be developed for educational as well as commercial purposes. It therefore, will not only respond to issues rising directly in response to COVID-19, but also address its long-term impact to sustainable UK-China creative industries partnership development.
The performance tells the story of three generations of women and their intertwined love and passion in pursuing their careers, set against individual historical socio-political backgrounds. The story presents a hundred years of China’s socio-economic and political transition: from the pre-1949 rise of textile industry and yueju as China’s first female working class’ own art form; Mao Zedong’s era of textile industry and yueju’s nationwide expansion; to the new millennium post-industrial economic transition of textile industry heritage, whilst yueju remains China’s second largest and most popular opera form and the cultural symbol of working class women in Shanghai both past and present.
As both Shanghai and Leeds are the birthplaces of the world's textile industry, this project has attracted significant media and audience attention from across UK and China. The Leeds City Council press release described this project as ‘A fascinating new partnership project between Leeds and Shanghai is weaving together the histories of female textile workers through the power of Chinese opera!’ – Leeds Council News
Rousang Wang (top), national star Shanghai Yueju performer (国家一级演员) at Shanghai Yue Opera House(上海越剧院), Steve Ansell and Haili Ma, addressing the audience in their post-performance discussion. 22nd September 2021
On 12th October, at 10am UK time and 6pm China time, Wang Rousang, Chai Liangjie, Vice President of the Shanghai Yue Opera House, Steve Ansell, the artistic director of Stage@Leeds and Haili Ma worked on the final stage of rehearsal and film over a course of over three hours. The final rehearsal and filming was again developed entirely via multiple social media platforms, including WeChat and Zoom.
In mid-November, the Chinese and British partners will come together to hold an online symposium to discuss the results of the collaboration and the challenges in the process, and to prepare for the next stage of research development. The project will be widely disseminated in English and Chinese through performances, digital tools, documentaries, and journal articles.
The project has demonstrated the potential UK-China arts and theatre collaboration via the digital space, which will have long impact in response to Covid-19 and future long-term UK-China partnership.
