A Chinese community group in Australia has called on the Sydney Opera House to scrap a November 4 performance of 'Lake Honghu in concert', an opera based in the 1930s which documented events leading up to China's Cultural Revolution.
The Australian Values Alliance set up an urging the community to be on "full alert" ahead of opera, which was produced by the Chinese state-owned Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre.
The group claimed the opera, which was based on the true story of the conflict in the Honghu Base Area in 1930, represented a move by the Chinese Communist Party to conduct an ideological "silent invasion" in Australia.
The petition, which has received more than 2700 signatures, called on the Opera House to cancel the performance.
The Alliance has also announced a rally to be held on the night of the concert in front of Sydney Opera House to protest against it.
Responding to the petition, the Opera House conceded that the performance’s content didn't represent the venue's views, but fell short of cancelling the show.
"It is not part of the Opera House’s artistic program and the decision does not represent a view by the Opera House as to the content of the show," a spokesperson told SBS Cantonese.
"Each year, commercial hirers present more than 270 shows at the Opera House. Ausfeng Event Productions is a regular venue hirer at the Opera House. On this basis, the Opera House approved its venue hire application for a concert by the Hubei Symphony Orchestra."
At a reception announcing the show in September, the Director of the Hubei Theatre company Xiangrong Lu said the performance was a piece with "strong Chinese nationalist characteristics" which told the story of the Chinese in the 1930s and their pursuit of life.
Source: SBS
Originally performed in 1956 under the name 'Red Guards on Honghu Lake', the theme and its lyrics were considered controversial by some communities for its representation of the Chinese revolution.
The Australian Values Alliance said they were “disgusted” that the opera was being showcased using an alternate name.
The group also claimed the lyrics praised the Red Army and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
When asked whether it is inappropriate to perform the contentious piece to the Australian audience, Mr Lu said the opera was not relevant to the Cultural Revolution and the songs performed were not written to glorify anyone.
Vanessa Scammel, an Australian conductor who will participate in the opera told the story conveyed in the performance was part of the history and it is part of their responsibility to tell these stories - good or bad.
"Australian audiences are often drawn to stories of our history, which [were] perhaps unpleasant, [but] it's happened," she said.
This was rejected by Alliance member Xiaogang Zhang, who said: "The opera does not [reflect] the accurate version of the history. It is a distortion of history. The Communist Party has made numerous historic distortions in the past and brainwashed [the future generations]. Many history textbooks and these so-called 'artistic performances' have distorted the truth, giving many the wrong perspective of our history."
Mr Zhang said that Australia neither welcomes nor was it appropriate for such "brainwashing propaganda" to be presented at the Opera House.
The petition called on NSW Minister for the Arts Don Harwin to intervene on the matter.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr Harwin said the NSW Government "does not involve itself in Opera House venue hire and programming decisions, which are made independently by the Opera House. In the chance of receiving the petition letter, the spokesperson said the Minister's office will again direct relevant parties to contact the management of the Sydney Opera House".
Xiaogang Zhang (supplied) Source: Xiaogang Zhang (supplied)
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【社區消息】《洪湖赤衛隊》11 月澳洲公演
