Celebrating Chinese opera's heritage: embracing timeless traditions

BEIJING, Sept. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from China Daily

Chinese opera is an important feature of the country's art and culture, with a long history and diverse elements such as literature, music, dance and martial arts. The ninth Chinese Opera Culture Week, to be held from Monday to Oct 5 in Beijing Garden Expo Park, is a golden opportunity for visitors to learn more about Chinese opera.

Performances in the event's main venues will cover 23 opera genres and 33 professional troupes, with nearly 100 shows in total. It will also feature cultural and tourism consumption, with more than 150 merchants on site.

The history of traditional Chinese opera can be traced back to a time before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the art reached its peak, and Yuan zaju, a genre known for its profound social content and artistic techniques, became a treasure in the history of Chinese opera.

Given China's vast territory, different regions developed their own distinctive opera styles. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 360 local opera styles in China, with Peking Opera, Yueju Opera, Huangmei Opera, Pingju Opera, and Yuju Opera, collectively known as the five major opera styles of China.

Chinese opera culture insists on promoting good and punishing evil. It fully affirms good people and virtuous deeds, such as Dou E in Injustice to Dou E, and criticizes evil deeds, often targeting those who abandon their wives after becoming rich, like Chen Shimei in Qin Xianglian.

Opera culture also opposes feudal dictates and pursues romantic happiness. Many famous works focus on themes of love and marriage, such as The Peony Pavilion, The Romance of the Western Chamber, and The Butterfly Lovers. These works criticize feudal dictates such as obedience to parental decisions and celebrate so-called "transgressive" and "rebellious" acts of choosing one's own partner and pursuing free love.

As an important representative of Chinese culture, traditional Chinese opera plays a significant role in international cultural exchanges.

In recent years, various Chinese opera troupes have performed abroad multiple times, bringing outstanding forms such as Peking Opera and Yueju Opera to the world stage, allowing more foreign audiences to understand and appreciate traditional Chinese opera.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2782778/Actors_perform_at_a_previous_Chinese_Opera_Culture_Week.jpg