On the evening of September 20th, 2022, an event themed with “Igniting Children’s Imagination with Drama” took place in the China Welfare Institute (CWI) Children’s Theatre to mark the 75th anniversary of its establishment.

The event was attended by Wang Jiarui, Vice Chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Chairman of CWI, Zhao Jiaming, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Jiang Liang, Vice Chairman of the 12th Shanghai Municipal CPPCC Committee and Vice Chairman of CWI, Gao Yunfei, Vice Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Director of Shanghai Film Administration, Chen Dong, former Vice Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Zhang Xiaomin, Vice Chairman, Secretary of Leading Party Members’ Group, and Secretary General of CWI, Xi Meijuan, Vice Chairwoman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chairwoman of Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Xia Yujing, Secretary of Leading Party Members’ Group and Full-time Vice Chairwoman of Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Dai Ping, former Party Secretary of Shanghai Theatre Academy, Ni Minjing, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Yang Lihua, Deputy Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, Song Zhongbei, Member of Leading Party Members’ Group and Deputy Secretary General of CWI, Wang Jianzhang, Vice Chairwoman of Shanghai Women’s Federation, Zhao Guoqiang, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Standing Commission of Young Pioneers of China and Chief Counselor of Shanghai Young Pioneers, Zhao Lihong, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Writers Association, Wu Xiaoming, former Artistic Director of Shanghai Municipal Culture, Radio Broadcasting, Film and Television Administration, the leaders and guests from the Office for Cooperation and Exchange Affairs of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, Shanghai Dramatists’ Association, SMG Live, the Publicity Department of the CPC Jing’an District Committee, the Basic Education Group of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai Public Art Museum, Shanghai Dance School, Shanghai Huju Opera Troupe, Shanghai Dance Theatre, Shanghai Farce Troupe, Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House, Shanghai Huaiju Troupe, Shanghai Pingtan Troupe, Shanghai Ballet, Shanghai Pops Orchestra, Shanghai Puppet Theatre, heads of departments of CWI, as well as artists, partners, veteran theatre artists, staff representatives, and audience representatives who have supported and helped the CWI Children’s Theatre along the way.

Zhang Xiaomin said in his speech that the CWI Children’s Theatre is the first children’s art theater in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) founded by Soong Ching Ling, one of the founders of the People’s Republic of China, Honorary Chairwoman of the PRC, and the founder of CWI (CWI), for the relief and education of poor children, and is crowned as the “pearls in the palms of Soong Ching Ling’s eye”. In the past 75 years, it has created more than 400 children’s plays with manifold themes, winning a dazzling array of national awards and cultivating a large number of personnel for children’s plays in China. Embarking on a new journey, the CWI Children’s Theatre endeavors to serve as the torch bearer to build on the past by hammering out excellent educational plays that are highly acclaimed and applauded by children. It will strive to create ambitious, thought-provoking and soul-stirring masterpieces to contribute its own part to build China into a socialist country with strong and brilliant culture.

On the outdoor lawn of the CWI Children’s Theatre, the themed event vividly brought to the fore the Theater’s original aspiration since its inception and its vigorous growth over the past 75 years via a line-up of classic play pieces, poetry recitation, songs and dances, and on-site interviews, with the children passing the “pearls” in turn which rose up to the sky afterwards to commence the gala.

In the first episode Splendid Pearls, guests learned through the video about Soong Ching Ling’s unwavering care and earnest hope in her avalanche of letters to the CWI Children’s Theatre.

The actors and actresses of the Theatre reproduced the scenes of Destroying Germs, a musical drama written by Mr. Lao She, which was performed in Beijing in the company of Soong Ching Ling 60 years ago, and watched by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other leaders of the Central Government in the auditorium of the Government Administration Council of the Central People’s Government, and it was then played four times in a row in Huairen Hall – the central leadership compound of Zhongnanhai.

Liu Wuqian, who accompanied Soong Ching Ling to Beijing for the performance, and Liu Angu, the second Director of the CWI Children’s Theatre, also made their presence and talked about the interesting anecdotes back then. Liu Angu, the leading actor in the premiere of Malan Flower, shared his very own story with this iconic children’s play created by the Theater’s first Director Ren Deyao, and expressed his anticipation to carry forward the Theater’s founding mission to later generations.

Liu Yexiong, an avid fan of the Theater ever since his childhood, wrote a poem What a Beautiful Malan Flower for the Theatre’s 75th birthday, whose underlying deep love and cordial expectation was intoned and delivered by Cai Jinping, current Director of the CWI Children’s Theatre.

The event was enriched by a cluster of classic play pieces, including Small Stories in Big Forest – the Theater’s first children's play in English, Children’s Troupe which is based on real history, and the realistic drama Go! Go! Football imbued with singing and dancing, thereby highlighting the diversity and pluralism of the Theater’s works in its 75-year course.

During the on-site interview, Chinese language educator Guo Chuanzhong noted that the performances presented by the the CWI Children’s Theatre are characterized by novelty, originality and aesthetic beauty, and he looked forward to the emergence of more such plays to nourish children’s mind.

Gu Haohao, Chairwoman of the Shanghai Dramatists’ Association and Director of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, and Mao Shanyu, Vice Chairwoman of Shanghai Dramatists’ Association and Director of Shanghai Huju Opera Troupe, also came to the scene. The two prominent artists shared their stories with the CWI Children’s Theatre, and the activity was spiced up by Mao Shanyu’s performance of an extract from the Huju opera Daughter of Dunhuang.

In the second episode Serving Children to Brighten the Brand, two videos shed light on the achievements of the Theatre in telling the Chinese story, spreading and carrying forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture.

Since 2014, Soong Ching Ling’s Moving Theatre has been touring China’s Taiwan island for six consecutive years, becoming the only troupe on the Chinese mainland to reach the campus in Taiwan, followed by the tour to Hong Kong in 2019. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, online shows have been conducted on a routine basis.

As part of CWI’s Xuelian Program and one of Shanghai’s cultural exchange programs to aid Xinjiang, the CWI Children’s Theatre has been performing in Kashgar of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for multiple years in a row, attracting over 30,000 audiences.

Founded in 2004, the Shanghai International Children’s Theatre Festival is the first global children’s theatre festival ever held in China, serving as a bond for children’s theatres from all over the world to exchange and communicate.

In the third episode Envisioning Future in the Pursuit of Dreams, eight kids as representatives of audiences walked onstage to express their love and expectation for children’s plays, and they invited the whole world to attend the Shanghai International Children’s Theater Show to be held next year.

Amidst their expectations, the actors of children’s play gathered on stage and sang I Am Willing to Act for You as a cordial response to the kids.

At the event, Wang Jiarui and Zhao Jiaming jointly launched the Igniting Children’s Imagination Project, which is expected to inspire a mounting number of superior children’s theater works in the service of children by taking roots in and singing odes to the new era, thereby echoing and thoroughly implementing the important instruction of General Secretary Xi Jinping in his congratulatory letter on the 80th anniversary of the founding of CWI.

Before the event, the guests visited the book fair that illustrated the repertoire in honor of the 75th anniversary of the CWI Children’s Theatre.