Modernizing a tradition

Beijing opera tries to keep up with the times

From Correspondent Rebecca MacKinnon

BEIJING (CNN) -- Most young people prefer to go to the movies rather than spend a night at the opera, and in China, they're no different. (960K/22 sec. QuickTime movie)

Amid concerns that the non-operatic interests of China's younger population may kill off the venerable institution, some Chinese are taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen.

Wang Yuming is a cultural entrepreneur. Two years ago, he saved a 300-year-old Beijing opera house from demolition -- using most of his own money.

"As far as I know, this is the first time since liberation that a private business has invested in a national relic," he said. "In the past, work like this was only done by the government."

Now aficionados of this traditional form of Chinese drama can sit just like people did in days of old -- sipping tea and enjoying the music and the pageantry which Beijing-ers have loved for centuries.

But the theater still can't break even. The audience for Beijing opera is dwindling, and so is the number of people who know how to perform it. That's why 74-year-old Zhang Minglu can't bring himself to retire.

"Beijing opera is the essence of Chinese culture," he says. "To keep it from being lost, we have to teach it to the younger generation. Our hopes are with them now."

Becoming an opera performer isn't easy. At the Beijing Opera School, children start at the age of eight or younger. They train all day, every day. Their teachers push them to exacting precision. Crying is not encouraged.

After a grueling day of training, many of the students come at night to perform at the newly built Chang An Opera House. Both the show and the building are part of a government-sponsored effort to revive public interest in traditional opera. But the performance itself is far from traditional.

Traditional opera fans say they find Chang An's opera a bit bewildering. It combines elements of Beijing opera, modern choreography, and romance into a high tech and expensive mix. The show's creators say that Beijing opera has to adapt in order to survive.

"We wanted to make this production more accessible to young people and foreigners," says Wu Jiang of the Ministry of Culture. "Old people like the traditional style, but young people have very different tastes. You have to recognize this if you want to market your product."

And at the Chang An Opera House, there's no lack of capitalism. The complex also includes a video arcade, dance halls, and other untraditional forms of entertainment.

Managers admit that it is these things -- not the opera -- that bring in most of the money.

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