What the 1949 show is about

The premise

The ticket text describes the performance as set on the eve of Chongqing's liberation, and as a dialogue across time and space. An encyclopedia entry on the play places the story in Ciqikou. The production presents the events of 1949 through a stage that turns around its audience, so the history arrives as scenes rather than as a lecture. It is useful to know the premise before you go, because the show is performed in Chinese and the translation arrives by headset.

Four threads

The encyclopedia entry lists four threads. The first follows the conflicting choices of the three Lin brothers. The second follows Communists and democratic figures imprisoned at Zhazidong and Baigongguan. The third covers the rescue efforts of the underground Communist Party. The fourth follows the children who survived imprisonment. The ticket text matches this outline: it names the three Lin brothers, prison scenes and a child in a cell. Knowing the four strands makes it easier to follow where the stage has turned to.

The places behind it

Wikipedia says Baigongguan and Zhazidong are two prison sites in the Gele Mountains of Chongqing, run in the 1940s by the Kuomintang with the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, and that they were later developed into museums. China Daily's English report says the show centres on revolutionaries imprisoned at Baigongguan and Zhazidong. The show is a drama built on these places, not a record of them, and the museums are separate visits that you would plan on another day.

Chongqing in 1949

Wikipedia says Chongqing served as the wartime capital of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and that the Kuomintang used the city as its capital until late 1949. That is the period the show is set around. It helps explain why a story of 1949 belongs to this particular city. The ticket text calls the performance a dialogue across time and space, which suggests the production wants its audience to feel the distance between that moment and today.

A drama, not a documentary

China Daily's English report quotes the chief planner calling the show a combination of musical drama, dance drama and opera, and it describes a large cast of mostly young performers. The chief director said the show was created entirely by nongovernmental organisations. So expect singing, choreography and spectacle on a moving stage. The story is told from the standpoint of the people it depicts, as the production frames them, and it uses music and movement to carry feeling rather than to lay out events in order.

Following it without Chinese

The show's visitor guide says its visual and emotional content crosses language barriers, and the theatre rents English translation devices. Guests describe the show as immersive and moving, and some say the headset is hard to hear or out of step. One guest found it engaging despite the language. A practical approach is to read the four threads above, wear the headset only when you want a line explained, and let the staging carry the rest. Read the outline once, and the stage tells you the remainder.

Read next: Chongqing 1949 show: how to book

Who this isn't for

This show suits poorly anyone looking for a balanced academic account of 1949, since it is a commemorative stage drama told from one side. It also disappoints anyone wanting an English-language performance, because the English comes only through a rented device. If you like large-scale staging, moving sets and music, and you are curious about how a Chinese city stages its own history, it is a reasonable choice for an evening.