''Red Guards on Honghu Lake'' () is a Chinese modern opera in six acts. It was first performed in October 1956 in

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

by the Hubei Experimental Theater Society (湖北省实验歌剧团). It is set in

Honghu Honghu () is a county-level city in the municipal region of Jingzhou, in the central south of Hubei province. The city lies on the northwest (left) bank of the Yangtze River, across from Hunan Province and Xianning, Hubei. It is named after the ...

, Hubei. Its music was composed by

Zhu Benhe Zhu or ZHU may refer to: *Zhu (surname), common Chinese surnames *Zhu River, or Pearl River, in southern China *Zhu (state), ancient Chinese state, later renamed Zou *House of Zhu, the ruling house of the Ming dynasty in Chinese history *Zhu (stri ...

Zhang Jing'an Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Zha ...

, and Ouyang Qianshu. It was adapted to the cinema in 1961.

Plot synopsis

The opera is based on a true story. In the summer of 1930, a landlord of Pengjiadun named Peng Batian takes advantage of the departure of the Red Army, cooperating with colonel Feng of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

to attack the Honghu Base Area. Secretary Han Ying and Captain Liu Chuang lead the Red Guards to withdraw, then raid Pengjiadun with the help of an Underground Party spy, lieutenant Zhang, seizing all the weapons and cartridges of the Kuomintang Army. Peng Batian is ashamed into anger, and bullies the villagers to confess the whereabouts of Han Ying and the Red Guards. Han Ying is arrested for rescuing the villagers. Peng Batian gets hold of Han's mother, attempting to influence Han Ying, but fails. Lieutenant Zhang brings Han Ying off, but loses his own life. Han Ying leads the Guards to annihilate the Vigilance Group and Baiji Society along with the 2nd Red Army at last.

References

{{Authority control Chinese western-style operas Operas set in the Republic of China (1912–1949) Operas 1956 operas Operas based on actual events Operas by multiple composers Honghu Hubei in fiction