A Peking Opera (or jingju) actor puts on face paint at the Zhengyici Playhouse in Beijing on March 4. With the recent revival of interest in traditional Chinese culture, the national company CNPOC and Beijing's BOTCB dust off an old argument about the correct name of the 200 odd-year-old form of performance art when presenting it in English. Photo: CFP

The China National Peking Opera Company (CNPOC) and Peking Opera Theater Company of Beijing (BOTCB) will lead a nationwide movement to replace the translated moniker of "Peking Opera" with its Chinese name "jingju."

The CNPOC will update its English website to ensure "jingju" replaces "Peking Opera" in any communication, Song Guanlin, the head of the CNPOC, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Around a month ago, the BOTCB issued an internal notice to change its name from "Peking Opera Theater Company of Beijing" to "Jingju Theater Company of Beijing" and its logo and business cards are being redone to reflect the change, the Beijing Daily reported on Thursday.

"Peking Opera is used for the convenient understanding of foreigners. But jingju is a unique culture, different from opera," Song told the Global Times.

Opera is a singing artform, but jingju is a comprehensive stage artform which melds singing, dancing, spoken parts and even kung fu, Song said.

"Kung fu is already highly recognized globally. Like it, jingju will be accepted. It only needs some time," he said.

Replacing "Peking Opera" with "jingju" has been considered for a long time among Chinese authorities like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in artistic circles, Song said.

The same debates among scholars over whether "Peking Opera" misrepresents the genre go back at least to 2007.

"It's time for us to change as China has more frequent communication with the outside world," Wu Wen'an, a translation expert with Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.

People had to use foreign words to explain unique elements of Chinese culture as the first step of intercultural communication. Now, it is necessary to use the authentic Chinese word, Wu said.

"But such words will not become plethora, or it will affect communication," he said.

Li Zuowen, head of school of International Studies at the Communication University of China said he was worried about how foreigners would understand "jingju."

"Using a new word needs a long time to be accepted by foreigners," Li told the Global Times.

Some worry that the change from a familiar name may hurt audience numbers.

"Almost all foreigners know Peking Opera or Beijing Opera but few have heard of 'jingju,'" Ghaffar Pourazar, a British director of the International Center for Beijing Opera in California, USA, told the Global Times.

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