Depiction：
In my memory, the greatest joy of my youth was none other than watching the grand operas in the village. By the
late 1970s, the temple fairs at villages began to revive, along with that, the ancient entertainment of grand opera
started to resurge in villages. It was then that I have developed a continuous affection for the old opera. The lively
and colorful scenes on the stage sparked my interests in painting and initiated my lifelong, inseparable pursuit
of art. It’s around the age of 10, my father took me to Yangying Village, six miles away, to watch my first grand
opera. The joy I felt at that time was truly beyond description; the only thing I remembered about the first opera I
watch was about the story of Fan Lihua(a female marshal from a fiction) chopped Yang Fan(a male marshal) with
her sword, which I later learned the title was 'Counterattack against Western Tang.' I was amazed by the bright
and intricate costumes, as well as the peculiar and vivid facial makeup. The clanging gongs and drums, the hoopla
crowd, the excited expressions, and the unfamiliar gazes—all were so novel. Since then on, an impulse to express
myself began to surge inside, I tried to make-up and to imitate those images in my heart, also yearning for the
enthusiasm of standing in front of the stage. My love for the opera grew day by day, and sometimes I even felt the
urge to learn to sing opera, but more often, I preferred to watch the plots and scenes on the stage. Creating this
artwork is a restoration of my memories of the rural opera and also a deep affectionate retrospect at my distant
hometown. The painting features 108 people, perhaps because I am from Liangshan! Today, the rural opera has lost
its former popularity, gradually fading away due to the impact of diversified popular cultures, the once excitements
subdued, and the once nurturing soil deprived.
