Every minute of a Peking Opera stage performance can be linked to 10-years of practice, according to a famous saying, and one recent opera class presentation unveiled step-by-step how an opera veteran was born.

Presented by students and teachers from the reputable Beijing Chinese Opera College, the show started with feats of athleticism. Dozens of bear-faced boys in black training clothes practiced like the way they did back in school. One by one, they twirled around on the stage center, rolled like a powerful engine in the air, and threw themselves on the ground.

Their dazzling stunts drew thunderous applause from the audience at Renmin University, including college students, Peking Opera enthusiasts and eminent opera artists.

"Wow! Cool!" said students, mostly first-time viewers of Peking Opera. They shouted and clapped lustily in amazement, mouths and eyes wide open. They looked curious as teenage performers practiced graceful hand movements and recited monologues in a unique fashion, following their mentors' demonstrations.

The performance inaugurated a campus activity, titled "Peking Opera goes with the Olympic Games", which will tour 10 universities in the capital until October.

Organizers wish to promote the long-standing opera tradition to an extensive population of students by adopting the lively class presentation.

"When I visited the Grand Chang'an Theater, I found something quite alarming: At least 95 percent of the Peking Opera viewers are white-haired," Wang Minzhong, an official of Beijing Municipal government, said before the presentation show. 

An opera enthusiast himself, Wang said the cultivation of loyal younger viewers is vital to the development of Peking Opera.

"I don't think that students dislike traditional operas, as many people assume," said Zhou Tong, deputy director of the Beijing Peking Opera Association for College Students. Zhou has been an amateur opera performer since college. He is quite experienced in popularizing Chinese operas on campus in collaboration with students' opera associations.

"Once they enter the world of Peking Opera, many will fall in love with it. Even for those who don't appreciate the opera, they still think it an enchanting art form and want to know more about it.

"All they need is a more interesting and dimensional method to learn the opera. And I think the class presentation is a good example," Zhou added. Zhou's association is one of the main organizers of "Peking Opera goes with the Olympic Games".

They also hope that as the students deepen their understanding of the Peking Opera, these volunteers-to-be will provide better cultural service during the Beijing Olympics.

"Volunteers are cultural envoys. If we know little about and take no pride in our folk arts, how could we display the most distinctive part of Chinese culture before the rest of the world in 2008?" Zhou said, adding that the project is part of the training program for the Olympic volunteers.

The model was invented by a French director after his first visit to the Beijing Chinese Opera College in 2004. It was applied in the college's performances during its four trips across Europe from 2005 to 2007. It was hailed as a golden key to the magical world of Chinese operas by local audiences. Zhou and his colleagues plan to readapt the model to the audience at home.

During the presentation, two 11-year-old boys concluded the presentation with a highlight from Sanchakou (The Crossroads). The highly rated piece features amusing and skilled acrobatic fights between a thief and a constable. The audience erupted into laughter from time to time at the boys' whole-hearted performance.

Zhou noted that the current class presentation is tailored for performances abroad. There are too many martial pieces like Sanchakou because of the language barrier.

"We should balance the program by adding pieces with more singing and talking," Zhou said, emphasizing explanations on why performers pose the gesture, what their movements indicate and how to distinguish different characters by their make-ups and costumes.

He said amateur student performers should be involved in the presentation and performance. And the audience on campus will feel more attached to the art.

"We want to develop an entirely new model that we can apply to traditional art forms other than Peking Opera," Zhou said.

(China Daily May 9, 2007)