Product: Modern Peking Opera Film THE RED LANTERN
Starring: Hao Liang, Gao Yuqian, Liu Changyu, Yuan Shihai
Director: Cheng Yin
Performed by China Beijing Opera Company
Produced by August First Film Studio of PLA
Published by China Three-ring Audio-Visual House, 2005
Media: 1 DVD
Language: Chinese
Subtitle: Chinese-English
ISBN: 7880541438
ISRC: CNA600500090

When Li Yuhe (Qian Haoliang as Li Yuhe, a rail road worker who engages in underground work) has been taken away by special agents and Grandma Li (Gao Yuqian as Grandma Li) has a premonition of being arrested inevitably, Grandma has decided to tell Tiemei (Liu Changyu as Li Tiemei) the true story about their family; she expects the girl to be as strong-willed as her father is. Grandma Li tells Tiemei how the girl's own parents have sacrificed their lives in the revolutionary struggle. Li Yuhe has taken up the unfulfilled task of the martyrs. After hearing the heroic story about her family. Li Tiemei is determined to follow the example of her dad and carry the revolution through to the end.

8 Model Plays

The so-called eight model plays were officially formed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). They were the only plays performed at that time. Materials were from the communist activities or related subjects. Actually the then staged modern plays were not just limited to eight. They are the "The Legend of Red Lantern", "Sha Jia Bang", "The Harbor", "Takeover of Wei-Hu Mountain", "Hymn of Dragon River", "Battle on the Plain", "The Du-Juan Mountain", "Sweeping the White Tiger Regiment", "Pan-Shi-Wan" and "Red Woman Detachment". The model plays were then " translated" into other local operas. Usually that means adopting the play scripts as they were and changing the music accordingly.

Modern plays can be understood as a trial of reform to this grand old art. Traditional plays feature the stories of ancient or pre-modern Chinese history. There are certain forms for the costumes, the character face paintings, stage properties, musical melodies and stage actions. But most of these are not applicable to the modern plays. For example, modern weapons, such as pistols and rifles, are used on the stage in stead of pears and swords. Therefore new perforating forms were developed. The most famous change in the modern plays is the use of a huge orchestra including violins, piano etc instead of the usually small musical group, producing the most beautiful sounding effect. Stage setting was also enriched. Painted or light projected scenes were adopted. Costumes were different from the traditional plays. There were hardly any makeup applied. Therefore there was no face painted in the plays although some of the roles were still classified as painted faces.

商品名称：现代京剧电影《红灯记》
领衔主演：浩亮、高玉倩、刘长渝、袁世海
导演：成荫
演出：中国京剧团
摄制：八一电影制片厂
出版社：中国三环音像社，2005
介质：DVD
碟数：1
字幕：中英文
ISBN：7880541438
ISRC：CN-A60-05-0009-0/V.J9

革命现代京剧之一，八个样板戏之一。《红灯记》的故事取材于电影《自有后来人》，它的原创作者是沈默君。《自有后来人》是一部以东北抗日联军为背景、反映东北人民抗日斗争的电影，故事的发生地点在虎林铁路上的“辉崔”小站（黑龙江省虎林市境内）。铁路工人、共产党员李玉和一家异姓三代人在日寇铁蹄下进行党的地下工作，为保护密电码而宁死不屈。上世纪60年代，电影在全国上映，不久，该剧便由上海沪剧团改编为沪剧，接着由哈尔滨京剧院率先搬上京剧舞台，当时名叫《革命自有后来人》。