ABSTRACT
The issue of human rights remains critical in relations between the United States and China and continues to complicate the international relationship between these two countries. The opera explores this issue by highlighting communist ideals, which claim to value the civil rights of all citizens, especially the peasant class; by painting the rise of communism as a reaction against human rights abuses that had occurred in the past; and by showing how even the best of intentions often fall short of these ideals. The opera makes it clear that respect for human rights is an essential component of Chinese communist doctrine, beginning with the choral recitation by a gathering of Chinese citizens in the opening scene. Later, a theatrical re-enactment portrays past human rights abuses by people of power and reveals a strong reaction against these abuses by the people of China, aided and organized by the rise of militant communism. At the same time, however, this re-enactment reveals human flaws which serve to perpetuate the human rights abuses that the revolution aimed to repair. The opera addresses these matters in a fairly even-handed way, and the vehicle through which the opera treats many of these concerns masks the creators’ intentions to a great extent, leaving much room for contemplation of exactly what stance the opera takes on communism and its relationship to human rights.
