Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare represent the peak of Chinese and British dramas. 2016 is the 400th anniversary of the deaths of the two masters. In order to pay tribute to them, Nanjing Week of The London Design Festival 2016 has organised a series of activities themed by “Tang Xianzu Encounters Shakespeare” (Tangshahui for short), among which Revisiting Peony Pavilion was the highlight.

Invited by Sanpower Group’s subsidiary House of Fraser, Kong Aiping, the famous Chinese opera performing artist as well as the creator of the new concept Kunqu Opera of Peony Pavilion, and Kim Hunter Gordon made a stunning début at the flagship store of House of Fraser on the Oxford Street, on the afternoon of September 21 as per local time, staging a breathtaking traverse through time and space.

As a key activity in the serial cultural events of Tangshahui in Nanjing Week, Revisiting Peony Pavilion is a new concept Kunqu Opera co-directed by the eminent Kunqu Opera artist Ke Jun and the famous British Shakespearean director Leon Rubin, and co-performed by Chinese and English drama actors. What is enthralling is that as the Kunqu Opera of Handan Dream was staged, the classic episodes of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, King Lear and other works were spliced to it, realising the “cross-space-and-time exchange” between Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare.  

Despite the language barrier, the Chinese and British teams could still understand a particular artistic detail without translation, but rather through a gesture or an expression. The artistic show that integrated drama, documentary and reality show not only re-interpreted the classic works of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, but also presented a culture feast for people of the two countries.

In 2014, Nanjing Cenbest, one of Sanpower Group’s A-listed companies, acquired the British quintessential department store House of Fraser, and thereafter has been proactively enhancing the trade and cultural exchange between China and UK. As a major partner of Nanjing Week, Sanpower Group together with House of Fraser provides full support for the serial activities of Nanjing Week, hoping to promote Chinese culture in the UK. On top of that, at the end of 2016, House of Fraser will be launched in China’s largest shopping district Nanjing Xinjiekou, thereby introducing more British culture to Chinese people.