Jiangsu Peking Opera Theatre, founded in 1953, is one of the major performing entities in East China's Jiangsu Province. To date it has a history of over 40 years.

The theatre has a well-balanced cast including a number of celebrated performing artists worldwide known. Since the 1980s of last century, some young and middle-aged performers have begun to display remarkable talents who won prizes at various domestic contests. Every year the theatre presents lots of outstanding items including new ones created on their own.

The company often tours the country, covering both sides of the Yangtze River and vast inland areas, oftener fulfilling assignments given by government authorities. It has made great contributions in spreading China's brilliant national art form, enhancing Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and intensifying contacts among literary and art circles across the Taiwan Strait.

Program: Xiangzi the Camel

Synopsis: The story occurs in Beiping in the '20s of last century at the time of war among warlords. Xiangzi, the protagonist, is an honest, hardworking rickshaw puller. What he wants in life is nothing more than a rickshaw, a bowl of rice and a home. Pressed and exploited by forces of darkness in the old society, he is totally destroyed, wandering about destitute in the end deprived of the right of survival. A well-behaved and innocent man who always does his utmost for a better life like Xiangzi, keeps struggling in a difficult position. But in old China, he is doomed to the dead end, to depravity.

Time: November 6th-10th, 2002

Venue: Tokyo Art Theatre

Japanese Sponsor: Tokyo Theatre

Assisted by:     --

Sent by: Chinese Cultural Ministry

Undertaker: China Foreign Performance Company