Beijing Opera’s vibrant costumes, melodious music, elegant martial arts, and sonorous gongs and drums have always held audiences captive, both at home and abroad. Chinese opera performers draw upon this allure to promote this ‘national quintessence’ overseas.
Following the successful performances of Beijing Opera’s Lingge Sandie or The Trilogy of Ancient Women’s Love Story, in Beijing and Shanghai, the team from Aaron Culture is planning an international tour. The team is set to visit Japan, Singapore, and China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in the coming year. This tour intends to bolster traditional cultural exchanges in the post-pandemic era, as revealed in an exclusive interview with the Global Times.
The performances held at the Tianchan Theater, Shanghai and Chang’an Grand Theater, Beijing attracted numerous international spectators, including individuals from Japan and France. Their enthusiasm was palpable, particularly following the performers’ curtain calls.
To aid overseas audiences’ understanding, the opera team has translated the show’s lines into Japanese and is currently preparing an English version. The team’s president, Qiu Jincheng, aims for audiences to become fans of Beijing Opera. In fact, Shuichi Akamatsu, ambassador and consul general of Japan in Shanghai, attended the show in Shanghai and applauded enthusiastically.
Qiu sees Japan as the nation with the highest acceptance of Chinese culture, hoping that their performance can bring warmth to China-Japan relations. Given recent polling data indicating Japan’s ‘Generation Z’ feels closer to China than older demographics, Qiu believes Beijing Opera’s charm could boost mutual understanding between the nations.
Furthermore, the Beijing Opera team plans to launch classes in Tokyo, aiming to deepen the Japanese residents’ understanding of Chinese culture. Mai Maita, minister of information and culture of the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai, echoed this sentiment, expressing hopes for increased cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Japan.
The team has high aspirations, intending to perform in international festivals such as the Festival d’Avignon in France and the Edinburgh International Festival in the UK, following their tour in Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. They hope that Chinese traditional art’s presence on the international stage will draw global attention to Chinese culture.
“This is a long-term plan, and we have already set up a special group to see how it all works,” Qiu said, concluding, “We believe the beauty of art is universal and transcends language, place and time.”
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