Crowdfunding injects new life into ancient Peking Opera

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Li remembers he was once invited to give a lecture on Peking Opera in a university, only to find that most people in audience lacked a basic understanding of it.

He fears that "one day, Peking Opera will lose its audience".

Li's worry is based on reality: In 2015, the box office of the 1,895 Peking Opera performances staged in Beijing totaled $6.3 million, only around one-sixth of $37.4 million brought in by the 4,900 drama performances that year, according to statistics compiled by the Beijing Trade Association for Performances.

"That's because we didn't spend time cultivating an audience," Li says. "In the past, we only focused on improving our own performing skills. "

Despite low profits, all of the artists invited to perform showed great enthusiasm.

"No one even mentioned the word 'payment'," Li recalls. "If it succeeds, we will have bigger audiences in the future, and all the Peking Opera performers will have better pay."

A growing number of Peking Opera artists are making efforts to entice new viewers.

Pan, the project leader, says: "Some performers are doing crossovers with drama or music to attract fans. Some adapt popular novels, online games or TV dramas into traditional Chinese operas. Others are using new-media channels to promote their very traditional ways of performing.

"Ultimately, tradition is another word for 'cool'."

Many top-level Peking Opera artists are open to adaptation.

"Peking Opera has been constantly changing in the past 200 years," says Li.

"Traditional art forms are different from antiques. Only by engaging with new things will survive, provided that its soul remains."

Tan Xiaozeng is the sixth generation descendant of Tan Xinpei, one of the founders of Peking Opera. He believes the genre has a future.

"My great-great-great-grandfather, Tan Xinpei, created his Tan School based on many other local Chinese operas," says Tan.

"Peking Opera people are neither conservative, nor obsolete."

Wang Yiran contributed to the story.

If you go

7:30 pm, Tuesday. Beijing Exhibition Center Theater, 135 Xizhimenwai Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6835-1383.