00:00Iron Heldenleben, a hero's life originally composed by Richard Strauss, sets the stage
00:14for this ambitious cross-cultural production. But the hero of this story is not a figure
00:20from Western history, but rather Cai Lun, the Chinese inventor who revolutionised the
00:26art of papermaking nearly 2,000 years ago. The show's director says her vision is to
00:32unite these great art forms and share them with the world.
00:36The symphonic music is the West's greatest contribution to the arts. Peking opera is,
00:46I believe, the most significant art form in China, and Cai Lun is one of China's greatest
00:52historical figures. My aim is to bring these elements of greatness together on one stage.
01:00In 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, I was struck by how little many northern Europeans
01:06knew about modern China. At that moment, I felt a strong desire to show the West both
01:12the reality of today's China and the great figures in our history.
01:19The story is told through a unique fusion of traditional Peking opera and Western symphonic
01:24music, creating not just a symbolic collaboration, but a true blending of East and West. The
01:32conductor describes it as a journey of mutual discovery.
01:36I think it's an interesting experiment of sort of cross-cultural contamination and possibility
01:43of making two very different cultures talk to each other and somehow work towards a certain
01:52degree of harmony that had not been envisaged by those people who created the independent
01:59bits out of which this whole work is made of. And so it's, from a creative point of
02:06view, it's very stimulating.
02:09Little is known about Cailun's personal life. An imperial court eunuch, he held high
02:15office but later took his own life following a political scandal. Despite this tragic end,
02:21his legacy as the inventor of paper has secured him an enduring place in Chinese history.
02:28Cailun's story is virtually unknown in the West, yet his paper-making innovation had
02:34a lasting impact on human history. It went beyond China to the Islamic world and eventually
02:40here to Europe. And now his personal life has come to life on the London stage.
02:47Li Jianhua, CGTN, London.
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