Experts are calling for efforts to rescue China's outstanding local operas, especially those on the verge of extinction.

Despite the efforts of theatrical circles, they urge government support and planning that are also vital for the health and survival of local operas.

These experts suggest that local governments give preferential treatment to supporting superb operas, which are of high artistic value and popular with the masses of local residents.

Moreover, they stressed the importance of finding and fostering eminent playwrights and performers and cultivating a sound environment for the future of local operas.

At present, China has more than 300 types of local operas, and some of them still flourishing in their original areas. Kunqu, China's oldest opera, was declared a masterpiece of humanity's oral heritage last year by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO).

However, according to a survey in the 1990s, many local operas are disappearing. For example, the opera-rich Shanxi Province, in north China, boasted 52 local operas in the first few years after the founding of new China in 1949, but now its opera troupes specialize in only a dozen such operas.

Playwright Dai Yinglu suggested raising new ideas for developing local operas as a solution.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2002)