Not many stories in Chinese history have been retold as frequently as the Legend of the White Snake. From ancient folktales and traditional operas to television series and movies, the love story of Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian has endured for centuries. Now, one of the most esteemed interpretations — that of the Kunqu Opera — has been reimagined by a troupe in Central China's Hunan province, offering audiences a heroine with a fresh spirit.

The full-length Hunan Kunqu Opera Leifeng Ta (The Leifeng Pagoda) premiered on March 18 at the Meixihu International Culture and Arts Center Grand Theater in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, drawing a packed house of enthusiastic spectators.

Based on the folktale Legend of the White Snake, this new version, presented by the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe, vividly integrates elements of Hunan's local culture into the performance, including the use of regional dialects in the characters' dialogue and adaptations to the storyline.

For more than two hours, the audience — from silver-haired elders to wide-eyed children — was swept between tender romance and thrilling martial spectacle. Familiar lines of dialect punctuated the dialogue, eliciting knowing laughter from the crowd. At the climax of the opera, actors and actresses performed breathtaking high-platform somersaults and wielded long silk ribbons that flowed like the wind, drawing gasps of amazement from every corner of the theater.

Throughout the performance, Li Yanzi, a devoted Kunqu enthusiast, quietly sang along.

"This production brought me so much joy and so many touching moments," she said.

Kunqu, one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera, originated in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, nearly 600 years ago. Over the years, it has developed and spread to different regions, and is now performed by eight major troupes across the country, including the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe in Chenzhou.

Widely regarded as one of the most important classics of Kunqu Opera, Leifeng Ta is a "touchstone" piece for every troupe, said Wang Shoudong, president of the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe.

"While different opera troupes have their own interpretations, we tried to introduce some new ideas and innovative elements into our work," Wang said.

As the most groundbreaking adaptation, the creative team reconstructed the inner world of the heroine Bai Suzhen, a millennia-old snake spirit who transforms into a woman and falls in love with a mortal man, Xu Xian.

"In many traditional opera versions, Bai Suzhen is presented as gentle, virtuous, even long-suffering," explained Liu Jie, the lead actress who portrays the character.

"But in our version, she is a 'spicy girl'," Liu said, using a term that typically describes young women from China's Hunan and Sichuan provinces known for their bold, spirited, and fiercely independent nature.

Recognizing a shift in contemporary aesthetics, particularly regarding women's independence, the team placed Bai at the absolute narrative center of the storyline. The opera focuses on her complete emotional journey — from deep devotion in love to fierce resistance against destiny — creating a heroine with more characteristics of a modern woman.

Liu cited the moment when Bai falls for Xu Xian. Unlike in some traditional opera pieces, where the courtship unfolds through elaborate hesitation and coy resistance, Bai goes straight for love in this adaptation, challenging the narrative tradition of female characters' passivity in courtship.

"This also captures the straightforward spirit of the Hunan people, thus resonating naturally with our audience," Liu added.

Technology also plays its part in the visual presentation of the opera. In the chapter Battle in the Flood, where Bai summons tidal waves to confront the monk Fahai to save her lover, holographic projections cast churning waves and shifting light across the floor and backdrop.

Yet for Zhang Diyang, the production's stage designer, the use of technology followed a deliberate approach to ensure the visual effects support rather than overwhelm the performers.

"We tried to avoid simply piling on multimedia effects," Zhang said."The visual language we used for this production mainly relies on clean lines and simple shapes."

Looking ahead, the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe envisions a broader journey for its production.

"We hope to bring Leifeng Ta to more, bigger stages," said Wang, the troupe's president. "We are also on the way to creating more works that speak to the times and resonate with people's hearts."