A scene from the Chinese-language production of Carmen. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Chinese-language rendition of Georges Bizet's Carmen returned to the stage at Xiamen Tan Kah Kee Theater on Aug 20, more than a decade after its last performance. It will also be presented at the 6th China Opera Festival in September.

The performance bridged three generations — from mainstays of the original 1982 production to newcomers stepping into the roles in 2026. Among them were 97-year-old conductor Zheng Xiaoying, a key figure in the 1982 production, and Tang Zixin, born in 1999, who took the title role this year.

Professor Zheng Xiaoying conducts the performance. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Chinese-language Carmen premiered in 1982, when the China National Opera House staged the opera in Chinese under a Sino-French cultural exchange agreement. The production drew international attention, and its live recording won two international recording awards the following year.

Zheng played a key role in developing the Mandarin adaptation. Working with translator Sun Huishuang, she revised the lyrics for 27 sections of the opera six times, making more than 2,000 adjustments to ensure every syllable aligned with Bizet's score. She later conducted the production in Shanghai and Hangzhou and at Finland's Savonlinna Opera Festival.

By 2014, Zheng's version had been performed nearly 120 times both at home and abroad. Its return to Xiamen has brought together performers, music educators, and young musicians from Fujian, giving the decades-old production a new local foothold.