Before 1949, all costume shops were privately owned. During the Socialist Transformation of 1952, opera dress shops like Jiuchun became part of the State-owned Beijing Opera Dress Factory. Headdress workshops were merged into the Beijing Headdress Association in 1955.
The opera costume industry was completely nationalized and boomed until 1966, the start of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).
Liu Senpu thinks of the decade before 1966 as Peking Opera and the costume industry's golden age. Skills and know how improved drastically and the business boomed with opera troupes mushrooming at different levels with the government's help.
Unfortunately, the disastrous "cultural revolution" stopped it in its tracks. Traditional Peking Opera was listed as one of the "four old" sijiu -- old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits -- because of its themes and characters, which involve royalty, the aristocracy and their feudal rituals.
State-owned dress factories had to remake half-finished opera clothes into common frocks and trousers, while the headdress association burned everything it had. It was a near-fatal blow to the trade.
Zhang Baojun still remembers many precious opera costumes and accessories being discarded on Xicaoshi Alley, with nobody daring to take them home. Liu Senpu stopped his craft in making headdresses and worked in the association's canteen. Many craftsmen abandoned the trade and never threaded their needles again.
With the end of the "cultural revolution," traditional Peking Opera underwent a revival, and with it, the costume business. In 1984, the government approved some private businesses to open up in the trade, and one after another costume shops started appearing again on Xicaoshi Alley, including old brands like Jiuchun.
But Peking Opera is facing serious challenges as modern recreations turn people away from the traditional genres. The costume business is also lacking a new generation to pass its craft on to.
(China Daily September 6, 2004)
