This year marks the 90^th anniversary of the victory of the Long March by the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. On October 22^nd ninety years ago, the Second Front Red Army reached Jiangtaibao and joined forces with the First Front Red Army. This rendezvous, the final chapter in the meeting of the three main Red Army forces, brought the great expedition to a victorious close.

 

The Long March, an earth-shaking revolutionary feat, marked a great turning point for the CPC and the Chinese revolution, putting them on the path to victory and making a new advance in the Party’s struggle for national independence and liberation, standing as a towering monument in the historical process of national rejuvenation.

 

 

On the night of October 22^nd, the NCPA’s new production of Chinese epic opera The Long March reached its climax in the chorus “Marching on to Yan’an”. Over 2,000 in the audience broke into prolonged, rapturous applause. Yan’an, the sacred land of the Chinese revolution‌ and the cradle of the PRC, was where the CPC and the Chinese revolution turned from setback to victory.

 

 

WANG Ning, Secretary of CPC Leading Group and President of the NCPA, said: This year marks the 90^th anniversary of the victory of the Long March by the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. At this important historical juncture, the NCPA has carefully planned and is now presenting a new production of The Long March, a stage work of high quality, to commemorate the Long March, a great event that deeply shaped the course of the Chinese revolution, to sustain the revolutionary legacy and carry forward the great spirit of the Long March, and to join audiences in looking back on those eventful years to draw strength from faith, pass on the red gene and stay on course for the new Long March.

 

The grandeur of the Long March on the stage owes much to the craftsmanship of the creative team and the performers’ total immersion in their roles. The composer YIN Qing spent two full years composing the opera, and the director TIAN Qinxin, President of the National Theatre of China, led the creative artists through countless nights of conception and refinement.

 

 

That night, the China NCPA Orchestra launched into a magnificent prelude under LÜ Jia’s baton. On the huge screen at the centre of the stage, the route of the Red Army’s Long March unfolded slowly like a spark starting a prairie fire, taking the audience back to those years of hardship and glory.

 

 

 

Faithfully, the opera brings to the stage such pivotal moments as the departure from Ruijin, the bloody battle at the Xiangjiang River, the Zunyi Conference, the seizure of the Luding Bridge, the crossing of the snow mountains, the trek through the marshes, the joining of forces at Huining, and the march on to Yan’an. One vivid heroic figure after another steps onto the stage through the smoke of gunpowder.

 

YAN Weiwen and WANG Zhe played Commissar PENG and Dr. HONG. At the time of parting, the two characters sing “I Don’t Know What to Say”, sublimating the sorrow of separation into a revolutionary ardour, summed up as “for victory, toward the future”.

 

 

 

As the Red Army climbs the snow mountains, WAN Xia, a woman soldier portrayed by XU Jingjing, sings “Snow, Snow, You are to be Melted by Hot Blood”, an aria that eulogises firm revolutionary ideals and pure, noble feeling.

 

 

As the Red Army treks through the marshes, Boy Ping, played by WANG Hongwei, tastes a wild herb, getting poisoned and sinking into the bog. He sings “I Cannot Bear to Leave the Red Army”, calling out to his comrades with deep emotion, “Please Salute the New China for Me”, and then he dies a hero’s death.

 

 

WANG Haitao, who takes on the role of Commander ZENG, GUAN Zhijing, as Army Commander, LI Yang, as LI Wenhua, and MA Xiaoming, as LIU Pingquan, each gave a brilliant performance, bringing to life the heroes plodding onward along the Long March and the close bond between the army and the people.

 

 

 

 

 

The China NCPA Chorus sang with richly layered voices and full artistic expression. The female chorus “Peach Blossoms Bloom in My Heart” was moving and melodious. The male chorus “Who Dares to Invade the Sacred Land” was uplifting and impassioned. The mixed chorus “Victory Will Be Ours” was rousing and majestic.

 

 

In a single day and night, the Red Army marched 240 li. Through a powerful body language, the dancers from the Lyuliang Municipal Culture and Art Center / Linxian Daoqing Research Center re-enacted the harrowing episodes - the forced march, the bloody battle at the Xiangjiang River, the seizure of the Luding Bridge - and in their movement, the spirit of one nameless hero after another came alive on the stage.

 

 

The new production of The Long March is an upgrade of the original in terms of stage presentation. The silent pontoon bridge outside the city of Ruijin, the surging waters of the Xiangjiang River, the lamps burning all night in Zunyi, the snowstorms all over Jiajin Mountain, the boundless marshes that seem to offer no way out, the red flags fluttering above the walls of Huining… Scene by scene, they unfold on the stage. The audience is taken into the Long March, following the great Red Army along a road paved with life, and along that road rereading the power of faith.

 

 

As the story develops, unfurling through the key historical moments—the departure from Ruijin, the Zunyi Conference, the seizure of the Luding Bridge, and the trek over the snow mountains and marshes—the screen above the stage presents giant relief portrait‌s, creating a strong visual impact.

 

 

 

That night, descendants of the Red Army commanders who took part in the Long March were invited to the NCPA as guests, watching the NCPA’s new production of Chinese epic opera The Long March in seats provided by the NCPA as part of its public-interest initiative.

 

 

The new production of The Long March will continue to be staged until October 28^th. On October 23^rd, another cast, led by WANG Kai, WANG Hexiang, LIANG Yufeng, LI Xintong, ZHANG Wenqin, YANG Yi, HAN Junyu and JIN Zhengjian, will present this red classic epic to audiences. Magnificent, The Long March will once again resound on the NCPA stage.

 

 

On the night of October 22^nd, the opera was live-streamed at 183 venues nationwide through “NCPA Live”. Audiences across the country followed the Red Army officers and soldiers on the stage “forward all the way” from Ruijin to Huining, where the Red Army joined forces, and finally to Yan’an. They completed the “Long March” across time and space amid grand sounds of singing.

 

At the very moment the new production of The Long March was sung on the NCPA stage, it began being broadcast live at 183 venues nationwide through “NCPA Live”. By “art + technology”, this red classic epic crossed mountains and seas, reaching audiences far and wide across the country.

 

Broadcast live on the NCPA’s glasses-free 3D screen through “NCPA Live”

 

“NCPA Live”: control room for the NCPA’s new production of Chinese epic opera The Long March

 

MA Rongguo, a member of the CPC Leading Group and Vice President of the NCPA, shared three highlights of the “NCPA Live” broadcast. First, the broadcast had a broader reach. It covered many red landmarks along the route of the Long March, and for the first time, it went into 16 cadre education and training institutions, including the Central Party School, and 15 colleges around the country, delivering high-quality stage art everywhere “with no time lag”. Second, technology played an even greater role. In addition to 4K UHD and 5.1 surround sound technology, AR virtual production technology was creatively adopted for the broadcast. For the first time, a domestic higher-order ambisonics (HOA) spherical microphone‌ was used to capture the ambient sound, layering real and virtual imagery in scenes of snow mountains, marshes and battle to create a more powerful audiovisual impact. Third, the pre-performance talk was more innovative. Before the performance and during the interval, the hostess LI Yangwei led the audience backstage for in-depth communication with the creative team and lead cast, so that they could not only “watch the performance before the stage” but also “understand the creative process behind the scenes”.

 

 

 

“NCPA Live”: pre-performance talk on the NCPA’s new production of Chinese epic opera The Long March

Since its launch on April 19^th, 2025, “NCPA Live” has presented nine high-quality broadcasts, covering drama, opera, concerts, operetta, and large-scale theme performances‌, by partnering with nearly 300 theatres, cinemas and grassroots cultural venues across the country, reaching a total audience of 150,000.