Hit TV drama about China's revolutionary pioneers adapted for the stage

The Chinese TV drama "The Age of Awakening" became one of the biggest hits of 2021, inspiring young people to learn more about China's revolutionary history. Adapted from the TV series, a theater production by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center has been staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on the last leg of its national tour, in the very place where the stories of these young pioneers began.

The play centers around the launch and development of "Youth" magazine between1915 and 1921. By watching the play, audiences can experience the journey of a diverse group of Chinese intellectuals and ambitious young people during the early twentieth century, including Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi.

Actor Han Xiuyi played Li Dazhao in the show. "I appreciate the spirit of Mr. Li Dazhao, who possessed a remarkably optimistic outlook on life. In hispoem titled 'Youth,' he wrote that he would dedicate his life to finding happiness. I believe that it is only when a person approaches a task with joy that they can then truly excel at it," he said.

Several social movements, including the New Culture Movement in 1915 and the May Fourth Movement in 1919 were vividly portrayed in the play. And the storytelling not only shows the depth of the Communist Party of China's history and spirit but also the warmth and brilliance of human nature.

The stories of these young people who gave everything, even their lives, to the revolution still continue to resonate with the younger generation today. "I have noticed that young people nowadays have a positive and outward mindset. They tend to believe that the qualities possessed by intellectuals from a hundred years ago should be inherited by the younger generation," said Gu Xin who played the role of Chen Duxiu.

Han Xiuyi encouraged more young people to come and watch the play as most of the performers on stage were young individuals, just like the characters they portrayed from a hundred years ago. "They were the pioneers leading China's awakening. I believe there is a kind of commonality between them," Han explained.

Thanks to the vivid and rich depictions of thesetheater and televisionproductions, the spirit of China's revolutionary pioneers and martyrs looks certain to live on.