Illustration:
ill. 1.8 a (set: 1.8)
Date:
1970
Genre:
postcard
Material:
scan, paper, colour; original source: postcard, colour
Source:
Postcard Collection. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1970.
Keywords:
Beijing Opera, acrobatics, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, traditional acrobatics, Cultural Revolution, model works, model opera, yangbanxi

Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy: Skiing Up to Tiger Mountain (Zhiqu weihushan 智取威虎山)

As didactic as traditionally remains the use in the revolutionary operas of the spectacular acrobatics (da 打) from Beijing Opera, certainly one of the reasons why the art form has always been so popular. The model works would have been foolish to eliminate this element. There are unforgettable moments in some of these operas (and the ballets are sure to include acrobatics, too). The decapping of landmines, for example, is done in a dance-like fashion in Raid on White Tiger Regiment. Similarly spectacular are the cargo- and sack-carrying dances in On the Docks. Breathtaking, too, is the scene showing the militia on skis moving up Tiger Mountain in Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy as seen in this illustration.