Drama Depicts Ancient China-Myanmar Friendship

By Zhang Jing

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Drama Depicts Ancient China-Myanmar Friendship

By Zhang Jing

The Legend of the Dancing Prince premiered in Yangon， Myanmar's largest city， on April 3， 2014. Cui Yuying， Deputy Director of the Information Ofce of the PRC State Council， U Paik Htway， then Deputy Minister of Information of Myanmar， Yang Houlan， then Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar， and Zhao Jin， the Director of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee of Yunnan Province attended the ceremony.

According to Chinese historical record, in 802, Prince Shwenadaw of the Pyu State （ancient Myanmar） lef for Chang'an, capital of the Tang Dynasty（618-907）, with the Pyu orchestra. The Pyu King and Queen saw him off at the capital city of Prome. The orchestra delivered a message of longing for peace to the Tang court through music and dance. Tis was praised far and wide at the time. However, the splendid story behind this historic cultural event is largely unknown to the world.

Now, TV personalities of both China and Myanmar have brought the moving story to life again.

Cooperation in TV Production

Te Legend of the Dancing Prince brings the extraordinary story to television for the first time. It displays the grand scenes of cultural exchange on the Southern Silk Road some 1,200 years ago and the historical origins of the cultural exchanges between China and Myanmar. However, it'snot just about cultural exchange and China-Myanmar friendship, but also expresses the strong wishes of the two peoples for world peace.

The Legend of the Dancing Prince stars at the Yunnan Province premiere on December 20， 2013 （above left）. A poster promoting the show （above right）.

It is the frst full-length TV show co-produced by China and Myanmar, and also the frst of its kind in which Myanmar has ever cooperated with other countries.

It was directed by Yu Rongguang, famous Chinese actor and director, and starred by renowned Chinese actors Lin Gengxin, Yu Rongguang, Tang Guoqiang and Zhao Wenxuan, and South Korean actress Choo Ja Hyun. Moreover, the crew specially invited Sin Yaw Mg Mg, a famous director of Myanmar, to be co-director. He selected the Myanmar stars who play the King and Queen.

A historical play based on the story was actually produced by the Myanmar side in 2007. Since 2009, the Yunnan Broadcasting Media Group Co., Ltd. organized five domestic seminars to discuss the play and two seminars to discuss the project together with the Myanmar side. The Chinese director and producer, Myanmar historical experts, national religious afair experts and a writing team discussed and eventually worked out seven versions of the storyline.

In order to faithfully record the cultural events at the time, the crew retraced the route based on historical accounts, flming at locations from Myanmar to Ruili, Jianchuan, Dali, Chuxiong, Kunming of Yunnan, and Hengdian of Zhejiang.

U Kyaw San, previously Minister of Culture and Minister of Information of Myanmar, said： “Te Legend of the Dancing Prince is the first full-length TV show Myanmar ever co-produced with China and also the first cultural cooperation between two sides.”

Strengthened Understanding and Friendship

After much research, the project formally got underway on February 24, 2013. U Tein Tun Aun, general associate of the play and the CEO of the Myanmar Motion Picture Enterprise, said at the opening ceremony： “Tis is a splendid story of friendly exchange between Myanmar and China recorded in their joint history. Now, we should enhance mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation through a new form of artistic exchange, namely co-producing TV play. Let's revive that period of history and provide a perfect explanation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence through art and culture.”

The camera crew immediately started to push on with their journey to find suitable locations in the two countries. Yu Rongguang later described the “toughest conditions” he'd ever been through in his filming career. “We filmed a great many scenes. Each location at most served as the backdrop for two days. It was more like something in guerrilla warfare, especiallywhen we were in Myanmar. Te temperature was up to 50 degrees celsius, yet the actors had to wear thick costumes in the flming. It was very hard.”

A shot of The Legend of the Dancing Prince.

Shooting a scene of The Legend of the Dancing Prince at the Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang on May 25， 2013.

Te actors were from diferent countries, so there were some language difficulties during the shooting. To solve the problem, the crew prepared three versions of script, in Chinese, English and Myanmar language respectively. The poor road conditions in various locations also created difculties for the crew in creating and decorating the sets, especially in preventing damage to the large number of props they carried to each shooting location.

With four years of joint eforts by China and Myanmar, The Legend of the Dancing Prince had finally been completed in Hengdian of Zhejiang in the end of 2013.

Cultural Integration

Wang Ruiqing, former cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, as producer of the play, said： “China has an idiom that the river of friendship runs a long course from a remote source. A story that happened 1,200 years ago was fnally brought to the TV screen, which naturally displayed the cultural exchanges and traditional friendship between China and Myanmar. Artists of both sides worked together and the process itself was a form of cultural integration.”

Speaking of the play, director Sin Yaw Mg Mg said： “Facing water and with a hill at the back, China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors. I felt it was an honor to shoot the play for the cause of friendship between the countries. The play was based on history, presenting the imperial palace of Bagan, the customs and culture of the Bagan Kingdom, and traditional music and dance of Myanmar. It is of very high quality.”

Jiang Xiaorong said： “The Legend of the Dancing Prince marked the first time a Chinese crew went to Myanmar to shoot a TV play. It has opened a new chapter for China-Myanmar TV play cooperation. And it is of high artistic and historical value.”

The Legend of Dancing Prince debuted on CCTV-8 December 31, 2013. It ranked in top five in terms of audience rating. Afterwards, it was broadcast on Yunnan, Jiangsu, Hunan and many other satellite TV and video websites, and its audience rating remained high.

On April 2, 2014, the Information Office of the PRC State Council started the “Experience China in Myanmar” in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar. The following day, the premiere of Te Legend of the Dancing Prince was held in the Sky Star Hotel in Yangon. Cui Yuying, deputy director of the Information Ofce of the PRC State Council, U Paik Htway, then Deputy Minister of Information of Myanmar, Yang Houlan, then Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar, and Zhao Jin, member of the Standing Committee and the director of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee of Yunnan Province, attended the ceremony. With four years of efforts, artists of two countries worked together and built enduring friendship.