A wave of nationalistic music, theater and dance is sweeping China, part of Beijing\u2019s efforts to improve the party\u2019s image and strengthen political loyalty.<\/b>
\nYan Shengmin, a Chinese tenor, is known for bouncy renditions of Broadway tunes and soulful performances in operas like \u201cCarmen.\u201d But lately, Mr. Yan has been focusing on a different genre. He is a star of \u201cRed Boat,\u201d a patriotic opera written to celebrate the 100th anniversary this week of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Yan has embraced the role, immersing himself in party history and binge-watching television shows about revolutionary heroes to prepare. \u201cI feel a lot of pressure,\u201d Mr. Yan said in an interview between rehearsals. \u201cThe 100th anniversary is a big occasion.\u201d A wave of nationalistic music, theater and dance is sweeping China as the Communist Party works to ensure its centennial is met with pomp and fanfare. Prominent choreographers are staging ballets about revolutionary martyrs. Theaters are reviving nationalistic plays about class struggle. Hip-hop artists are writing songs about the party\u2019s achievements. Orchestras are performing works honoring communist milestones like the Long March, with chorus members dressed in light-blue military uniforms. The celebrations are part of efforts by Xi Jinping, China\u2019s authoritarian leader, to make the party omnipresent in people\u2019s lives and to strengthen political loyalty among artists. Mr. Xi, who has presided over a broad crackdown on free expression in China since rising to power nearly a decade ago, has said artists should serve the cause of socialism rather than become \u201cslaves\u201d of the market. In honor of the party\u2019s centennial, Mr. Xi\u2019s government has announced plans for performances of 300 operas, ballets, plays, musical compositions and other works. The list includes classics like \u201c The White-Haired Girl,\u201d a Mao-era opera about a young peasant woman whose family is persecuted by a cruel landlord. There are also new productions like \u201cRed Boat,\u201d which chronicles the party\u2019s first congress in 1921 on a boat outside Shanghai. The outpouring of artistic expression comes amid rising nationalism in China. Many artists have little choice but to comply with the government\u2019s demands for more patriotic art, with officials in China\u2019s top-down system wielding considerable influence over decisions about financing and programming. \u201cIt has become very important for artists to follow the political line,\u201d said Jindong Cai, director of the U.S.-China Music Institute at Bard College. \u201cThe government wants artists to focus on Chinese works that relate to people\u2019s lives and positively reflect China\u2019s image.\u201d Critics have denounced the so-called \u201cred\u201d works as propaganda. But Chinese artists say that is partly the point. \u201cChina is very strong now and people should respect that,\u201d said Warren Mok, a Chinese tenor who is embarking on a national tour to celebrate the centennial. Mr. Mok said he hoped to use music to remind people about the party\u2019s success in improving living standards in China. Still, he said it was important that patriotic works are balanced with Western music and other art forms. \u201cAnything you do should not be too extreme,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re so insecure about your own culture, your own nationalism, you close your door. Isolation is not good for any country.\u201d Hundreds of performances related to the party\u2019s centennial have already taken place, and scores more are expected by year\u2019s end. In Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, the choreographer Wang Yabin recently staged \u201cMy Name is Ding Xiang,\u201d a new ballet about a 22-year-old martyr who died during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In Nanjing, an eastern city, an orchestra recently performed \u201cLiberation: 1949,\u201d a symphony about the Communist revolution by the composer Zhao Jiping. Some works deal with contemporary themes, including the party\u2019s efforts to eliminate extreme poverty and its success in fighting the coronavirus, which Mr. Xi has held up as evidence of the superiority of China\u2019s authoritarian model. A play called \u201cPeople First\u201d depicts the heroism of medical workers in Wuhan, where the coronavirus emerged in late 2019. Propaganda art has a long history in China, and some of the country\u2019s most celebrated works emerged during periods of intense political control, including the decade of bloody upheaval in the 1960s and 1970s known as the Cultural Revolution. During that time, classical music was attacked as decadent and bourgeois, and many Western composers and instruments were banned. In modern China, music and dance from the Cultural Revolution still resonates with the public, including works such as the \u201cYellow River Piano Concerto\u201d and \u201cThe Red Detachment of Women,\u201d a revolutionary ballet. \u201cThese cultural products have their own artistic value,\u201d said Denise Ho, assistant professor of history at Yale University who studies 20th century history in China. \u201cFor many Chinese, there is a nostalgia for certain aspects of the Mao era.\u201d By reviving older works, Mr. Xi appears eager to remind the public of the party\u2019s glory days. His government has redoubled efforts to fortify ideological loyalty among artists. This year, a government-backed industry association released a moral code for performing artists \u2014 dancers, musicians and acrobats included \u2014 calling on them to be faithful to the party and help advance the socialist cause. Mr. Xi, in a ceremony this week at Beijing\u2019s Great Hall of the People, handed out centennial medals to 29 party cadres, including Lan Tianye, an actor often described as a \u201cred artist,\u201d and Lu Qiming, a patriotic composer known for the piece \u201cOde to the Red Flag.\u201d \u201cFor Xi, as for Mao, art is first and foremost a political instrument,\u201d Professor Ho said. The Chinese government has tried to use music, dance, television and movies in recent years to improve its image, especially among young people, many of whom have no direct connection to the Communist revolution of 1949. A rap song celebrating the centennial, titled \u201c 100 Percent,\u201d has been widely shared on the Chinese internet in recent days. But the 15-minute track, featuring 100 artists, has been mocked for its wooden propaganda slogans. \u201cOur spaceships are flying in the sky,\u201d says one lyric. \u201cThe new China must get lit.\u201d Performers say they hope the high caliber of the centennial productions, including elaborate costumes, sets and visual effects, will appeal to younger audiences. Wang Jiajun,36, a principal dancer at Shanghai Dance Theater who plays a martyr in a revival of the dance production \u201c The Eternal Wave,\u201d said young people could identify with the work. \u201cThese heroes were only in their teens,20s or 30s when they lost their lives,\u201d Mr. Wang said. \u201cThe stories of young people will attract young people.\u201d For artists taking part in the centenary, the effort has at times been laborious. Xie Menghao, a Chinese-born graduate student in music composition in Germany, spent six months repurposing a suite of Red Army songs into a piano concerto about the Long March, a 6,000-mile retreat of Communist forces that began in 1934 and established Mao\u2019s pre-eminence. He said he was proud of the piece, which the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra premiered last month, but added that the experience was \u201cmore like a job.\u201d \u201cI just did what they said,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cEvery composer just thinks about the music.\u201d Mr. Yan the tenor starring in \u201cRed Boat,\u201d said he has found it easy to connect with his character, Chen Duxiu, a founder of the party. But he said rehearsals have not always been easy. Younger performers, for instance, have needed help better understanding the emotional experience of being part of the early communist struggle, he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the ideas to fight or sacrifice for the nation\u2019s destiny,\u201d Mr. Yan,56, said. \u201cI can do it in one take.\u201d Mr. Yan said he was confident that the show would have success in China and perhaps beyond. \u201cWe\u2019re depicting history, not just lecturing how great the Communist Party is,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a communist slogan-type performance. It\u2019s plain storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n