Winds of Zhejiang at World Expo Shanghai

“Winds of Zhejiang” was a collective name of programs of Zhejiang Week at World Expo Shanghai 2010. The Zhejiang Week kicked off at nine o’clock on the morning of June 18, 2010. Zhao Hongzhu, the chief of CPC Zhejiang Committee and chairman of Zhejiang People’s Congress, beat a gong to mark the opening of the Zhejiang Week.

The week-long promotion was composed of various provincial stunts such as representative masterpieces of 18 regional folk arts and crafts. Folk artists on the spot demonstrated their eye-opening arts. The week-long gala also staged a parade along Expo Avenue. The most eye-catching show in the parade procession was “Pujiang Table Show”, staged by artists from Pujiang, a county in central Zhejiang.

One special table show staged 13 young girls and boys at the ages of 3 to 7. They were dressed in traditional costumes as well known figures in China’s ancient legends and dramas. The table was like a small stage on which these young performers showed off. Some among the spectators thought, at first glance, the lovely figures were puppets. They were surprised after taking a closer look.

The tradition of the table show in Pujiang County goes back to more than 1,000 years. Its origin is associated with Hu the Great, a government official deified by local residents for his bringing benefits to local people. As the folk story goes, Hu Ze, a native of Zhejiang and official with the central government, submitted a request for waiving taxes in the south of Yangtze River Delta as natural disasters caused famines in this part of the nation. As if by magic, the official managed to have the taxation list for Zhejiang Province destroyed so that no tax would be levied in Zhejiang. Fearing that the emperor would certainly like to have him killed, Hu fled back to Zhejiang. He made four stops at four places in Pujiang and one place in neighboring Yongkang before he vanished into history and reappeared in folk legends. Hu Ze became Hu the Great in folk stories. The table show in Pujiang is part of the annual memorial activities in the honor of this deified mortal on his birthday, which falls on the 13th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar.

The table show in Pujiang is divided into real people show and paper-people show. A real people show has children dressed up as famous figures from well known dramas and folk stories. A table with children actors and props usually weighs more than 50 kilograms and very strong men are needed to carry the table. Such a show usually conveys a sense of humor and audiences often burst into laughter. A paper-people show carries paper-made bamboo-skeleton figures. A manipulator usually hides beneath a table to manipulate a show secretly. The most popular paper show is “Unicorns Spewing Fires” under the command of a child.

One table show at the World Expo is officially called “Peach Party” and it is choreographed by Zhang Genzhi, a villager and farmer from Shouxi Village located in the western mountain area of Pujiang County. A village artist, Zhang loved art and music as a child and grew up to be a high-profile artist on the village stage and cultural activities. In the autumn of 1996, he was choreographing a group of village actors for a show of human pyramid, he hit upon the idea of transforming the human pyramid upon a table show.

Everyone in the village was caught in his inspiration. All the villagers joined the production under his leadership. With 40 some days and nights, the village made an unusually large table that could stand 18 children performers. The large table was carried by a team of 32 men who worked in turn. During the Spring Festival of 1997, the renovated table show from the village wowed audiences in downtown Jinhua, the urban center of central Zhejiang.

Zhang was not satisfied with the show, thinking he could do much better. For two years, he racked his brain for a best solution. He experimented on costumes, props, weapons, music, decorations. Then he hit upon an idea of putting the children on the widespread wings of a white crane. He installed a device to move the wings so that all the immortals looked as if they were descending from the heaven.

In 2000, Zhang’s show took away the breath of about 1,000 attendees from home and overseas at Pujiang International Photographers Competition. About 30 photographers from USA, Australia and Korea came to the Village of Shouxi and watched the show again at the village’s grain-sunning ground. They were totally charmed.

The innovative village show choreographed by Zhang and staged by villagers of Shouxi became a provincial and national attraction. CCTV as well as television networks in Shanghai and Zhejiang covered the special art of Pujiang. In 2001, CCTV produced a 10-minute documentary praising it as the greatest table show in China. In 2001, the “Peach Party” won a best performance prize at the fifth Zhejiang International Folk Arts Festival. In 2006, the show starred at the 9th Beijing International Tourism Festival. In 2007, Zhang and his performers brought the breathtaking show to Singapore.

When Zhang Genzhi was invited to stage the table show on behalf of Zhejiang at the world expo in June, he was so excited that he was sleepless for several nights. He talked with village leaders about the show. The village agreed to buy new props and new costumes. And Zhang Genzhi visited villagers from house to house to recruit new kids for the expo show.

Zhang then made a special trip to Suzhou to buy a gong, for gongs made in Suzhou are better than those made in Zhejiang.

Zhang Genzhi regarded the table show at the world expo as the top priority. He worked day and night before the show that his eyes nearly went blind. After a brief treatment at a hospital emergency, he came back. He was there to make sure the show would be a success. It was. The success would be a bright chapter in the history of Pujiang Table Show and a bright chapter of the history of Zhejiang Province’s participation in the world expo Shanghai 2010.