On the evening of September 19, the 2026 Yangtze Culture and Art Season formally opened in Wuhan, Hubei province. The play "The Protagonist," a winner of the Wenhua Grand Award — the Chinese government's highest honor for professional stage arts — was chosen as this year's opening production, staged at Hubei Theatre to a packed house, with reported opening-night attendance at around 90 percent of capacity — also marking the first time the stage version of 'The Protagonist' had appeared before Wuhan audiences, following the earlier television adaptation's popular run.

"The Protagonist" was produced by the Shaanxi People's Art Theatre and adapted from the novel of the same name by writer Chen Yan, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize. It tells the story of Qinqiang opera performer Yi Qin'e, who rises from an 11-year-old shepherd girl to become the "Queen of Qinqiang Opera" at 51, over nearly half a century of struggle and life on stage, woven together with the rise and fall of Qinqiang opera itself across different eras. The play won the Wenhua Grand Award at the 17th Wenhua Awards in 2022, alongside works such as the dance-poetry drama "Only Green" and the dance drama "Five Stars Out of the East," and is widely regarded as one of the standout realist works in Chinese theatre in recent years.

It is worth noting that Qinqiang is an ancient regional opera form popular in northwest China, particularly in Shaanxi province, and is considered one of the oldest opera genres within China's "bangzi" (clapper opera) tradition; "The Protagonist" uses the rise and fall of this traditional art form as its narrative backdrop. In addition, the novel "The Protagonist" had previously been adapted into a television series of the same name, which aired in May 2026, directed by renowned filmmaker Zhang Yimou and starring Zhang Jiayi, Qin Hailu, Liu Haocun, Dou Xiao and Zhai Zilu. The series drew widespread discussion during its broadcast, further raising the profile of both the original novel and the stage adaptation. The play's selection as the season's opening production in Wuhan is seen as another sign of the work's continuing cultural influence across both stage and screen.

This year's Yangtze Culture and Art Season runs from September 19 to October 30 in Hubei, under the theme "Together Appreciating Yangtze Civilization, Together Composing a New Chapter of the Era," covering 11 major activities: the "New Yangtze" fine art exhibition, the "Moving Yangtze" themed photography exhibition, the "Reflected Yangtze" film week, the "Listening to the Yangtze" music wave, the "Vibrant Yangtze" stage arts exhibition, the "Audiovisual Yangtze" media week, the "Fragrant Books of the Yangtze" reading week, the "Encountering the Yangtze" literature week, the "Refined Yangtze" themed calligraphy exhibition, the "Radiant Yangtze" museum and cultural-heritage exhibition series, and the "Dialogue with the Yangtze" academic exchange — all open to the public. This marks the third edition of the Yangtze Culture and Art Season since it was established in 2024: the inaugural edition ran from September 14 to November 4, 2024, and the second edition in 2025 ran from September 12 to October 30. This year's edition continues the eight core activities from previous years with fresh content while adding several new core activities in response to audience demand.

One of this year's season highlights is the "Vibrant Yangtze" stage arts exhibition, guided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, hosted by the Hubei Provincial Party Committee Publicity Department, the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Hubei Performing Arts Group, and organized by Hubei Theatre, running through October 31. During the exhibition, 15 outstanding productions will be staged in 25 performances across multiple Wuhan venues, including Hongshan Auditorium, Hubei Theatre, Qintai Grand Theatre, Qintai Concert Hall and Shouyi Theatre. Besides the opening production "The Protagonist," the lineup also features two other Wenhua Grand Award winners — the song-and-dance drama "Cat God in the Forbidden City" and the Wu opera "Thrice Beating the White Bone Demon" — with all three Wenhua Grand Award-winning productions appearing together a major highlight of this year's exhibition.

Beyond the three Wenhua Grand Award productions, this year's "Vibrant Yangtze" stage arts exhibition lineup also includes several other notable domestic and international works. Domestically, these include "A Dream Like a Dream" and the play "Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water," both produced by Rongyue Theatre, along with an officially licensed concert based on "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality." The Yue opera "The Nine-Jin Girl," starring popular Yue opera performer Li Yunxiao and drawing considerable market buzz, will serve as the exhibition's closing production, staged October 30-31 at Hongshan Auditorium. On the international side, the Russian National Ballet Theatre will bring "Swan Lake" to Shouyi Theatre on October 5; a crossover ensemble long active on Europe's mainstream stages will make a Wuhan stop on its world tour on October 4; and an English-language original production of "The Phantom of the Opera," along with a concert by a Spanish ensemble, will also be presented to Wuhan audiences, further adding to this year's season's international flavor and giving local audiences the chance to enjoy a range of world-class productions without leaving the province.

This year's season does not confine all its activities to Wuhan alone. Under the "Listening to the Yangtze" music-wave segment, for instance, the Yangtze Folk Song Festival, themed "Singing the Yangtze, Echoing Across Mountains and Seas," will be held on September 21 in Xuan'en County, Enshi Prefecture, Hubei, bringing together numerous singers and musicians to perform original and adapted folk songs on Yangtze themes amid the mountains — one of the few core activities held outside the provincial capital, reaching into prefecture-level areas and reflecting the season's expanding geographic footprint. The season's overall schedule also happens to span both the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and the National Day "Golden Week" holiday, with organizers hoping to leverage holiday travel to further broaden public participation and the events' social reach.

Based on previous editions, the Yangtze Culture and Art Season has grown steadily in popularity since its founding: reports say that during the second edition in 2025, the "Vibrant Yangtze" stage arts exhibition staged 27 top-quality performances, many of which sold out early. The high attendance on this year's opening night continues that trend. Some audience members shared their experiences on social media — one Wuhan mother, whose child attends school in Xi'an, traveled back specifically to watch "The Protagonist" and rated the production "9 out of 10," saying its portrayal of Qinqiang opera and the characters' fates was deeply moving, with similar positive feedback appearing widely online.

Analysts note that the continued staging of the Yangtze Culture and Art Season is an important part of Hubei's broader strategy in recent years to build itself into a "cultural highland of the Yangtze" and promote deep integration between culture and tourism. Through three consecutive years of high-caliber stage arts programming, Wuhan is gradually building a brand identity around its autumn cultural performance season, while giving audiences a chance to experience outstanding domestic and international stage productions up close. As the season's remaining core activities roll out, whether this year's edition can sustain the box-office and critical momentum of previous years will be an important gauge of how well Hubei's cultural industry strategy is working.