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Zhang Lin wins the best leading role award at the 33rd Shanghai Magnolia Stage Performance Award. [Photo/Tide News]

Zhang Lin, a leading actress of the Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe, has won the best leading role award at the 33rd Shanghai Magnolia Stage Performance Award. The award recognizes her outstanding performance in the newly adapted Yueju Opera Yi Qian Tai Shou, or The One-Coin Magistrate.

This marks another milestone in Zhang's career, following her China Theatre Plum Blossom Award in 2017. In The One-Coin Magistrate, she challenged traditional role constraints by portraying Liu Chong, an exceptionally honest and incorruptible government official of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), with remarkable depth and innovation.

The play, which premiered in 2008, has been performed over 70 times and has been adapted into a television series aired on CCTV's opera channel.

Zhang, who began her career at the age of 11 and joined the Xiaobaihua troupe at 14, is the first Yueju Opera artist born in the 1980s to receive the China Theatre Plum Blossom Award. Reflecting on her role, she noted that the experience pushed her beyond her comfort zone and allowed her to grow as both a performer and a creator.

The Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe has maintained a unique training system that combines tradition with innovation. With a focus on talent development, the troupe has recently launched a new recruitment campaign in cooperation with the Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art to ensure the continuity of Yueju Opera for future generations.