EAST ASIAN STUDIES

China began to create its own ballets in 1964. The White Haired Girl was listed as one of the Dance Classics of the Chinese Nation in the 20th Century. It and another Chinese ballet, The Red Company of Women, are regarded as milestones in the development of Chinese ballet. The two ballets have become important components of the world's ballet collection with their distinctive Chinese characteristics. The collective wisdom of Chinese ballet professionals made up for their lack of experience and helped speed up the development of Chinese ballet and elevate the work to a higher level. The White Haired Girl was adapted from the opera of the same title. The story was about Xi'er, the daughter of a poor farmer. To pay the debt of the family, she was sold to the despotic landlord Huang Shiren. After suffering, she fled into the deep mountain and lived lived for many years in the mountain without adequate food. As a result, Xi'er's hair turned white and she became known as the White Haired Goddess by those who didn't know the truth. Fortunately, Xi'er was rescued by the Eighth Route Army at last and was reunited with her lover Da Chun, who had become a soldier of the Eighth Route Army. The story rejected old society, which turned humans into ghosts, and celebrated the liberated society that turned the ghosts back into humans. This was a way to promote communism within the country. In adapting the opera into a ballet, emphasis was placed creating something new and original. The elements of Chinese classical folk dances were employed to create a new ballet, and each development in the story was unfolded in a combination of realism and romanticism. Each character on the stage impressed the audience with its uniqueness: the innocent, sweet Xi'er and the tough, persistent White Haired Girl; the honest and sincere Da Chun and his valor and competence after joining the army; as well as the sinister landlord Huang Shiren.