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A Peking Opera society at the Linheli Primary School in Beijing's Tongzhou district has found enthusiastic support among students and fans across the city at festivals where they have performed.
The school is among those that have diversified their extracurricular activities by introducing Peking Opera courses in cooperation with instructors from private organizations, who can help students develop their skills.
About half of Linheli's 870 students participate in the Peking Opera society, which the school funded with money from the district's education bureau and has been free of charge to students since it was founded in 2011.
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Students with the Linheli Primary School's Peking Opera society practice classical theater at the school. Zhu Xingxin / China Daily |
Four Peking Opera fans initially volunteered to instruct the students in the vanishing art form. The school now hires teachers from the Chunhui Zixi Children's Peking Opera Theater to provide performance training.
Sun Yunyun, a professional actress at the Beijing Peking Opera Theater, trains students three afternoons a week. Students have different skill levels, so teachers have to individualize the instruction for the various opera roles, she said.
Students, who practice on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays have become so accomplished over the past four years that they won awards in Beijing's contests. The school performs annually at the Tongzhou Lantern Festival Gala, which marks the end of the Chinese New Year and celebrates family reunions.
The students' captivating performance - developed through hard work, practice and rehearsal - is popular with spectators, said Li Yuxia, the school's deputy head.
The school's headmaster Fan Zhixiao said that over time, the school began receiving invitations to perform in cultural events.
During the 2015 Beijing Foreign Language Festival on Oct 24-25, some Peking Opera groups of primary and middle school students performed at Chaoyang Park in Beijing's Chaoyang district. The audience showed more interest in their performance than other English-language contests.
"Unlike other hobbies such as basketball or soccer, Peking Opera needs much more patience and practice to get to the top of the art form. It's rare to see someone who can perform the opera, and that's why our students earn awards in events hosted by the district and the municipal governments of Beijing," Fan said.
