Amateur stars to light up Qunxing Awards
Group dance “The Charm of Red”
Performers from the Shanghai Disabled People’s Dance Troupe put their hands together for a photo to boost the team’s morale.
As part of the China Art Festival, competitions for the 18th Qunxing Awards will be held from May 16 to 21 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. The final nominees for the award, which honors amateur artists, stage productions and community culture, have been announced.
A total of 84 entries covering music, dance, theater and folk opera will vie in the final of the competition with 20 awards eventually made.
The winning productions will be staged at the awards ceremony on May 31. The performances and final competition will be broadcast live on “Culture Shanghai Cloud.”
During the festival, all the 84 nominations will be staged for the public at the city’s 19 venues, including Shanghai Grand Theater, Shanghai Mass Art Center, Shanghai City Theater and Daning Theater.
Artists will perform and interact with audiences at local enterprises, communities and schools.
The Qunxing Award is the highest award for amateur performers and community culture. This year it received 7,900 entries, many of them new productions in diverse genres and styles. Some were inspired by real-life stories and resonate profoundly with audiences.
Folk music ensemble “He Ming”
Among the 84 finalists are seven from Shanghai. Folk music ensemble “He Ming” blends folk instruments from all over the world. Traditional Chinese music played on the guqin, a seven-stringed zither, and the bamboo flute is combined with the sounds of the didjeridoo and handpan.
“Seeds” is a chorus by local singers in memory of professor Zhong Yang who died in a car accident in 2017. The botanist from Fudan University spent around 16 years in Tibet in collecting more than 40 million plant seeds for academic research. His success filled a void of Tibetan seeds in the world database.
“Defenders,” a performance of Suzhou pinghua (storytelling in the local dialect), is also in the final.
The performance tells the story of the 800 Chinese soldiers who sacrificed their lives in defense of the Sihang warehouse in 1937. The 800 defenders resisted waves of Japanese attacks during the three-month Battle of Shanghai and gave cover to retreating Chinese forces.
Besides historic tales of men’s deeds, battles, journeys, feuds and fights, audiences will also be offered stories from everyday people.
One is a hilarious Pudong storytelling performance about pig farmers. It features Pudong slang and records the many changes to communities and the lives of local people.
The comedy sketch “Value” tells the story of a young couple who sold their property to start a business eight years ago. However, now they can only just afford to buy the property back because of rising house prices. It is an exploration of the meaning and true value of life.
The China Art Festival is hosted every three years. It is the first time it has been held in Shanghai.
Music drama “See Yourself”
