Chinese 1

“Lift Your Veil" is based on the Uyghur folk song "Yaria" (also known as the Uzbek folk song "Karakashi Ukhim") collected in Gansu Province. In 1932, Armenian composer A. Khachaturian adopted this melody in the third movement of the Piano Concerto. At the same time, this song also spread to China and was broadcasted among various ethnic groups in the western region. It was collected by Wang Luobin, a Chinese songwriter, in Jiuquan, Gansu in 1939. In his own notes, he described the dance based on the melody: "This dance is a local game in southern Xinjiang. During the autumn harvest, while resting on the wheat field, an elderly man puts on a woman's clothing, puts on a hood, and then makes twisting movements. A young man sings and dances next to him, and finally lifts the hood, only to see a white haired old man inside the hood. Everyone laughs loudly and continues to work. Originating from rural areas in southern Xinjiang, it is a form of entertainment invented by people to amuse and relieve fatigue during labor, and has little artistic value in itself.”

Not long after the establishment of the Qinghai Children's Anti Japanese War Drama Troupe, Wang Luobin was busy writing performance programs for the children. He recalled the folk song "Yaria" he recorded in Gansu and planned to use the music and dance materials of this local game to write a singing and dancing program for the children of the theater troupe. According to customs, the bride's veil can only be lifted once when getting married. But Wang Luobin ingeniously caused the bride's veil to be lifted four times in a row. When performing on stage, every time the hood is lifted, there will be a different artistic effect.