China is a multi-ethnic country. Since 1979 with the rapid development of our national economy and the improvement of the living standard of the people, minority drama has also flourished. A number of well-received minority plays were produced and quite a few won the Cultural New Drama Award. The award winners include Battle at the Potala Palace (performed by Tibet Autonomous Region Drama Troupe), Female Village Head (performed by Ningxia Hui Nationality Autonomous Region Drama Troupe), A Hairless Dog (performed by Yanbian Drama Troupe of Jilin Province), Hello, Standard-Bearer (performed by Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Drama Troupe).

Many people know the grand Potala Palace, but few have ever heard of what happened 300 years ago there: A group of Tibetan monks headed by Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho made great contribution to the extension of the holy palace. Based on this, Battle At the Potala Palace presents the audience with a gripping story filled with rich religious colors.

The success of the play rests with its description of the reincarnated soul boy who was tired of religious affairs and missed the worldly love after entering the Palace as the successor to the fifth Dalai Lama. This resulted in a conflict between him and Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho who thought him unfaithful and profane. This also symbolizes a conflict between humanity and deity. At the end of the play, the soul boy was exiled while Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho was murdered by Lha-bzang Khan. To commemorate the latter, the Tibetan people constructed a pagoda. The sixth Dalai Lama also came to mourn for this Tibetan political leader and script researcher. He felt confused and worried about his own future. However, he wrote many popular love songs that were collected and published by the late generations.

-- Battle At the Potala Palace

The story plot unfolded in flashback. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the fifth Dalai Lama died. A funeral ceremony should have been conducted and a reincarnated soul boy should have been found and reported to the central government for approval. However, faced with domestic trouble and foreign invasion of the Ladakhi and the Mogolian Lha-bzang Khan, Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho, the minister regent of Tibetan regime decided resolutely to conceal the news of Dalai Lama's death and accomplished the extension of the Potala Palace in the name of the deceased Dalai. Moreover, he had also done a lot of work in collating Buddhist, Tibetan scriptures and historical data.

As the curtain rises, it was already 15 years since the death of the fifth Dalai Lama. Emperor Kangxi (reigned 1661-1722) was incensed at the deception and sent an imperial envoy to investigate the case. Flashback started from the investigation and a soul-stirring story was told about what had happened in the period. First, Lha-bzang Khan broke into the Potala Palace and requested audience with Dalai Lama. Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho detained Lha-bzang Khan by ordering an adjunct to pretend the Living Buddha, thus avoiding a crisis.