On Sunday, the state-run China Daily newspaper noted that the country is facing a deluge of foreign entertainment. There may also be official help on the way. "Young people see this show and they want to see more." "I believe that we will see Peking Opera becoming more popular," she said. She said fans are calling and writing to her every week, seeking out more information about the opera's history. Chen said that there is a trend by many Chinese to rediscover their roots. SING A PEKING OPERA TVSo there is a kind of culture gap in China we must address," said Chen Qi, one of the instructors on the opera TV show.Īlthough the show's audience is small, Ms. In the Cultural Revolution, a lot of Chinese people lost their opportunity at an education. "Peking Opera is an art form with a rich, traditional culture content. As a result, many of today's middle-aged citizens lost the chance to study Chinese history and literature, essential elements to appreciate Peking Opera. For a decade, the old operas were banned in favour of her concoctions, which glorified Chairman Mao and the revolutionary bromides in his Little Red Book.Īt the same time, an entire generation of Chinese were taken out of schools and banished to the countryside. A minor film star, Madame Mao took control of the arts in the Cultural Revolution that began in 1966, declaring all the old operas decadent and counter-revolutionary. Perhaps the most difficult period for Chinese opera came under Chairman Mao, and his wife Jiang Qing. That stigma endured until the early 20th century, when women were finally allowed to take on roles, in itself another attempt to popularize the opera. In its earliest days, Peking Opera was performed only by men, causing those in it to be associated with homosexuality. Moving up in society was impossible for an opera player they were not allowed to take the Confucian exams, which allowed people to climb to a higher class. Members of the opera troupes, which toured the country from village to village, were once considered to be on par with prostitutes and slaves. "These attempts to popularize our 200-year-old art are not only ugly and stupid, but debase China's traditional culture."Īlthough Peking Opera is often viewed as a quintessential part of China, drawing from nine centuries of theatre tradition before it, it has never had an easy time. "If they do these sorts of things, then why don't they just give up the Peking Opera altogether?" said one seasoned performer, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal in the small world of Chinese opera. The music was amplified electronically and movable stages and smoke machines were used, all under black light to make the performers glow in the dark. In Taiwan, Peking Opera shows have even been billed with topless cabaret shows, to try to pack the house.Ī few years ago, the prestigious Mei Lan Fang Peking Opera Troupe tried to modernize the show by turning it into a sort of rock opera. Some theatres now use electronic billboards to display the words and make the plot easier to understand. Through the years, there have been other attempts to revive Peking Opera, often using methods that purists see as egregious pandering. Indeed, the highly ritualized style of Peking Opera is rife with esoteric historical allusions it is slow-moving and filled with difficult language - a tough sell in a market where high-tech action movies grab the entertainment dollars. "It's hard to make people interested in Peking Opera today. "Our young people today like McDonald's and Coca-Cola and American movies," sighed Mr. In depressing contrast, the opera hour barely manages to attract one million. The Law Today - a hit show, pulling in about 50 million viewers each broadcast. His six-month-old show shares its studio with another program, The question is whether they still want to.Īs he stands in his cramped TV studio in downtown Beijing, struggling to be heard above the background cacophony of Peking Opera singers belting out warm-up notes, Mr. Everyone in China with a television can now have a chance to learn about the opera." "We hope to once again make young people love the Peking Opera," Xiong Yi, the program's 27-year-old producer, said. Peking Opera Show, which is beamed out to most of China's 1.25 billion people. Almost every night, on CCTV Channel Four, China's state-run national broadcaster, you can catch the Now, there's a new attempt to bridge the generational divide.
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