Huizhou Women, a newly staged Huangmei Opera, has attracted and excited a great flow of people to see it in southwest China. The producers of the opera should congratulate themselves as their success is something of a coup for the Chinese Opera genre.

As is the case with other endangered cultures, the traditional Chinese form is gradually dying out, having had its hay day in a fully integrated agricultural society, which it no longer is. Today, the opera form rarely has the mass appeal it used to.

"The success of Huizhou Women and Huangmei Opera as a whole does not result from mere saving and preserving of work but from prudent and courageous reform," says Huang Xinde, Huangmei Opera performer and one of the producers of the show, Huizhou Women, who is also a member attending the First Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.

"Although Huangmei Opera has a relatively short history among its counterparts in China, it nevertheless needs reform to keep it fresh and abreast of the times. Its short history gives it more space for reform and we are actually doing that," said Huang.

Traditional Chinese opera has a long history. It dates back to the third century, when simple plays were performed as part of court entertainment. Huangmei Opera only came into being in the eighteenth century in Anqing in east China's Anhui Province, a region that contributed remarkably to China's arts and culture.

The opera was born from local folk songs, dancing, and performances by villagers and first gained popularity in the countryside. Professional performances of Huangmei Opera in cities began in the early 20th century and only won overall recognition after 1949. Since then Huangmei Opera has experienced unprecedented development and Huangmei Opera performances and films have swept over China and overseas to Chinese communities.

At the 1st China Shakespeare Festival in 1986, the Anhui Provincial Huangmei Opera House staged an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing.

"Reform sometimes aims at catering to the changing tastes of an audience. However, the reformers didn't want to play to the gallery and essential artistic characteristics of the opera should never be sacrificed to the box office. Reform should be deemed a part of the development of the opera itself," said Huang, who also holds the post of the vice president of the Anhui Provincial Huangmei Opera House.

"We have restored and adapted some old operas such as The Emperor's Female Son-in-law, An Employer Deceived, Fallen Stars, A Goddess' Marriage; A Dream of Red Mansions" and we are also writing new operas such as the Eternal Regrets," said Huang.

"Besides the reform of old dramas, we also reformed the managerial system of our opera house, which includes the management of human resources, assessment of staff performance and the faculty salary system, and so on," said Huang.

Breaking away from the previous practice of isolated work, the opera house has expanded its cooperation with many colleagues from other parts of the country. It has also put a lot of energy into nurturing a new generation of Huangmei Opera performers, as the successors to the present, represented by Huang.

Last year the opera house staged more than 200 operas across the country and received warm welcome from audiences everywhere.

"This year will see the debut of the reform of public institutions. With the new policies to be unveiled, we'll further the managerial system of our opera house and we want to present some excellent new works before the audience," said Huang.

China launched a gargantuan project aiming at saving its folk culture heritage in February. The project, initiated by the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, includes major plans to investigate record, categorize and publicize various kinds of Chinese folk culture heritage, in ten years, according to Feng Jicai, the president of the society and also a CPPCC National Committee member.

"I think protection is necessary for some cultural forms that are out on a limb; as for us, we also seek external support mechanisms, but we'll always count for hard work and reform efforts on our own initiative as the lifeblood of the survival and prosperity of Huangmei Opera," said Huang Xinde.

(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Chen Chao, March 13, 2003)