A band performs a combination of traditional Chinese opera and electronic music. Photo: VCG

"Looking toward the west, I saw big and little ghosts ­brutally whipping another dead spirit with a lock around her neck and chains on her feet. What a tragedy!" 

This is a line from Exploring ­Mountain Yin, a popular Yuju Opera from Central China's Henan ­Province that tells the story of legendary Chinese magistrate Bao Zheng as he enters the underworld to investigate the tragic death of a woman who was waiting to get married.

But instead of being performed on stage in front of live audiences, the Yuju Opera, which has been around for centuries, was presented to ­audiences in the hit suspense movie Full River Red from famed director Zhang Yimou. Setting the work to electronic and rock 'n' roll music, the film stunned countless moviegoers during the recent Spring Festival holidays. 

The rock scene combining Yuju Opera vocals with fast-paced editing not only captured the attention of ­audiences, but more importantly helped revive the traditional opera among young people who used to think of it as something only their grandparents would watch on TV every night.  

The music in Full River Red was sung by Zhang Xiaoying, a well-known Yuju Opera actress in Henan Province. With 40 years of experience, she is a household name in the industry, but the film marked the first time she had attempted such an "odd combination" of styles.

"I was very nervous at first since I wasn't sure what this combination would sound like," the 52-year-old told the Global Times in a recent interview. 

"However, since the movie was released, dozens of people have called me every day to ask me if the singer was me or to congratulate me. Their recognition has been greatly encouraging."

Zhang Xiaoying, a well-known Yuju Opera actress from Henan Province Photo: VCG

'My phone exploded'

Zhang was born to an opera family. Her father is a musician with the Xingtai stage troupe in North China's Hebei Province and her mother is a ­Chinese opera actress. 

Throughout her childhood, Zhang traveled around to different places, watching her parents' work.

Now she is an actress with the Henan Opera and Drama Troupe, which traveled around the country until 2019 when COVID-19 hit the world. From October to the end of November 2022, Zhang traveled to Beijing several times to do recordings for the film. In addition to the excerpt from Exploring Mountain Yin, several more Yuju Opera song adaptations appeared in the movie.

In order to match the modern style of this music, Zhang had to make some changes to her singing style. 

"The singing in the movie lacks the long notes of traditional Yuju Opera and incorporates rock elements to enhance the rhythm and penetrating power of the sound," explained Zhang.

"At that time, I thought nothing more than completing it as a task," Zhang said, noting that she was worried that her fans would object to the combination of styles.  

But after the movie came out, her phone exploded with messages congratulating her.

Many young netizens poured into the chat for her livestreams, commenting that they hoped Zhang would recreate her performance in the movie. 

"I don't think the movie has made me more popular, but it has popularized Yuju Opera. It is my responsibility and mission to spread this art form," she said. 

Modernized tradition

Chinese operas, a pearl among China's excellent traditional culture, were popular among the masses long before the release of Full River Red.

In May 2021, the 4K panoramic sound Cantonese Opera film White Snake, inspired by the ­Chinese folktale Legend of the White Snake, was highly praised by young audiences who flocked to movie theaters to see it. The movie currently has an 8/10 score on Chinese review platform Douban.

In 2020, the performance Jing Hong, performed during streaming site Bilibili's New Year Gala, used a "dream dance" to connect Kunqu, Qinqiang, Pingju, Sichuan Opera and Hebei Bangzi opera styles and create a never-before-seen art experience for young audiences. 

"Adding a modern touch to ancient operas has made this traditional art even more popular, which also gives us confidence in inheriting such a wonderful art," Yang Yuchao, a 21-year-old Yuju ­Opera performer from Henan told the Global Times. 

Yang said that traditional operas are becoming more and more diverse and trendy, which fits the aesthetic tastes of young audiences. "And now the older generation of artists are also setting examples for us by making bold changes." 

"The combination of opera and electronic music cannot be a simple collage. It could be too trendy or too old-fashioned if the ­musician doesn't balance it right. In the end though, such a combination is a model for a dialogue between Chinese and foreign musical instruments, which from what I see is quite promising and may become a new trend in the future," said Shanghai musician Tian Mi.