Chinese college students, traditional Kunqu opera will
no longer be just a description in a textbook, but a part of campus
life.
This year, the Ministry of Culture has required each of the
country's seven professional Kunqu theatres to give 20
free public performances at Chinese colleges yearly.
All costs of these performances will covered by the central and
local governments, said Lu Yuzhong, an official with the ministry's
department of arts, at a recent national Kunqu seminar
held in Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang
Province.
Lu said the move is a part of the country's latest program to
save, protect and support the Kunqu art drafted last
May.
Under the program, the Chinese government will establish three
to four Kunqu protection centers, create ten new
Kunqu scripts and rescue 15 classic scripts and 200
traditional scripts from 2005 to 2009.
In addition, the country will take steps to train new
Kunqu players and organize more cultural activities to
promote Kunqu's popularity.
In Zhejiang, where the Kunqu opera once was popular,
the local Zhejiang Kunqu Theater has decided to perform at
Zhejiang University
and other colleges and to discuss new scripts with the
students.
"Only when the Kunqu gets popular among the young
generation, can it be best-known from one generation to another,"
said Lin Weilin, head of the Zhejiang Kunqu Theater.
Lin said China lacks a long-term plan to publicize its cultural
heritage among the young generation. In that respect, the new
program is a breakthrough.
The 600-year
Kunqu Opera, one of the oldest operatic forms
in China, was considered the mother of many other types of Chinese
traditional operas. It is known for its gentle and clear vocals,
beautiful and refined tunes and dance-like stage performance.
The opera reached its peak of popularity by the late Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644) and early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), exerting a
tremendous influence on other types of Chinese operas, including
Beijing Opera. However, toward the end of the Qing, it lost its
appeal to audiences and was on the verge of extinction.
Currently, there are only about 300 professional Kunqu
players across the country and many traditional Kunqu
scripts have been lost.
The fate of Kunqu Opera has aroused worldwide
attention. In 2001, Kunqu was inscribed in United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) list
of "oral masterpiece and intangible heritage of humanity."
(China Daily January 8, 2005)
