Red Boat, an opera paying tribute to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), premiered at Zhejiang Song & Dance Theatre in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, on April 1.

The opera's publishers include the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, as well as the Jiaxing municipal government. Its producers include the Zhejiang Song & Dance Theatre, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, as well as the Jiaxing Administration of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism.

The "Red Boat" is widely celebrated as the birthplace of the CPC. In 1921, the first CPC National Congress reconvened on a red boat on Nanhu Lake in the Zhejiang city of Jiaxing after it was interrupted by authorities in Shanghai's then French concession. It was aboard this vessel that the 13 delegates announced the official founding of the CPC.

A stage photo of the opera Red Boat. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

The character of Li Dazhao (1889-1927), a co-founder of the CPC and the earliest disseminator of Marxism in China, in the opera is played by Yang Xiaoyong, a renowned baritone and professor at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music. [Photo/ zj.zjol.com.cn]

The 13 delegates arrive in the Zhejiang province city of Jiaxing and are ready to board a red boat on Nanhu Lake. [Photo/ zj.zjol.com.cn]