Peking Opera Now: Farewell My Concubine / Napoleon

Cast:
Wang Hao as Xiang Yu / Napoleon
Zhao Ximei as Consort Yu
Producer/Host: Ji Chao

In Xiang Yu’s lament, there is not only grief for parting with Consort Yu, but also a deeper questioning of the collapse of his ambitions. In Napoleon’s final act, the shattering of the crown echoes alongside the melancholy of gazing back from a lonely exile.

Though separated by millennia and continents, these two legends meet on the same stage through the art of Jingju—in its singing, recitation, acting, and combat.

“Jingju: A New Live Experience” reimagines the relationship between traditional opera and its audience. Over two days, two plays—Farewell My Concubine and Napoleon—will be presented. Actors will prepare in full view of the audience: applying makeup, tying costumes, steadying their breath. The performance begins within these seemingly casual moments, drawing the audience step by step into the inner worlds of the heroes.

Between the onstage and backstage, the drama and reality, unfolds a timeless exploration of what it means to be human:

When ambition clashes with fate, when glory fades into solitude—why do we fight, and for what do we live?

Wang Hao and Ji Chao, deeply rooted in the world of Jingju, see it not merely as performance—but as a vital gateway to traditional culture. Through this innovative one-hour format of “first storytelling, then performing,” they invite the audience not only to follow the plot, but to feel the profound connections between Jingju artistry, Chinese philosophy, and aesthetic expression.