The Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theater will perform The Palace of Eternal Youth, a 17th-century traditional opera, over three nights in Beijing this month. The 27-act play is a scaled-down version of the original epic work.

The performance follows last month's production by the same troupe of another Kunqu classic, The Peony Pavilion, which drew favorable attention in the capital city. The Palace of Eternal Youth will continue to promote the revival of the ancient genre, designated by UNESCO as a masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The original version of the opera, written by Hong Sheng (1645-1704), consists of 50 acts, only a handful of which are normally performed today. Many have been irretrievably lost. The version by the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre was recreated and rearranged by noted Kunqu expert Gu Duhuang.

The Palace of Eternal Youth is a mutual effort by professionals from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Suzhou -- the birthplace of Kunqu, in east China's Jiangsu Province -- and other mainland cities.

Gu is also directing the revived opera, while Academy Award winner Yip Kam-Tim from Hong Kong designed the sets and costumes. Chen Chite, a Kunqu-loving entrepreneur from Taiwan, is financing and producing the performance.

Since the 1940s, Gu has been devoted to preserving Kunqu, searching out and restoring many scripts that were on the verge of being lost forever.

He also served as deputy director of the Suzhou Cultural Bureau in early 1950s and took charge of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Ensemble when it was established in 1956. In 2002, Gu received the Award of Notable Artistic Achievement in Kunqu Opera by China's Ministry of Culture.

Elegant, slow moving and often abstruse, Kunqu was the theatre art favored by high and low alike during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). But it became increasingly intellectualized over the years and eventually fell out of favor with the common people, replaced by Peking Opera as the popular favorite.

Although it has managed to survive, Kunqu's continued existence has been precarious for decades.

Now, however, both the government and public have a better understanding of the importance of preserving the art and are investing substantial money and effort into it. The problem everyone faces today is how to do it.

"It is suicidal to turn the traditional style into a modern one, turn the elegant form into a popular one, turn the Chinese opera into something like the Western theatre," Gu said. He is working to preserve the art in as pure a form as possible, rather than incorporating flashy gimmicks and modern novelties in order to attract a wider audience.

Gu notes that the value of Kunqu is not counted in the box office: it is the cultural and artistic heritage that is precious.

(China Daily, China.org.cn December 1, 2004)