Chinese classic Kunqu Opera Butterfly Lovers, also known as the Chinese Romeo and Juliet, for the first time costarring both mainland and Taiwan Kunqu artists, is scheduled to be staged Saturday at the Asia Arts Festival opening Friday in Foshan, south China's Guangdong province.

The Chinese popular classic love story has been staged in several Chinese traditional play forms, such as north China's Peking opera, east China's Shaoxing opera and southwest China's Sichuan opera, but excluded from the play list of Kunqu opera, said Zeng Yongyi, a Taiwan elite scholar of Chinese traditional opera and playwright of Kunqu Butterfly Lovers, here Friday at the press conference.

"So it's significant for us to stage a Kunqu version of Butterfly Lovers' so as to fill in the blank," added Zeng who has devoted himself for almost 30 years to preserve Kunqu heritage and promote Cross-Straits exchanges.

"Kunqu Butterfly Lovers is a perfect combination of delicate literature and fine arts," said Zeng, adding that artists from both Taiwan Kunqu Opera Troupe and east China's Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe present the love story in vivid Kunqu form together in a bid to enrich Kunqu storage and highlight cross-Straits cultural dialogue.

Butterfly Lovers tells a love tragedy in the Eastern Jin Dynasty when Zhu Yingtai, daughter of an official, dresses herself as a lad to attend school out of town where she falls in love with her classmate Liang Shanbo, a poor lad. After knowing Zhu is a girl, Liang decides to engage with Zhu but Zhu's family opposes them and forces Zhu to marry rich. The two commit suicide and become butterflies.

Kunqu, China's oldest and one of its most influential theatrical traditions, is an almost 500-year-old theater form which originated in Kushan, east China's Jiangsu province and uniquely blends poetic eloquence, musical refinement and drama. In May 2001, Kunqu opera was officially listed by the UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Kunqu is especially popular in Taiwan, where Kunqu Butterfly Lovers made its debut and received a warm welcome.

"Tickets also sold out quickly for tomorrow's performance in the Asia Arts Festival", acknowledged Zeng, adding this play marks a milestone for Cross-straits cultural dialogue.

The Seventh Asia Arts Festival is scheduled to be held from Nov. 11 to 17 in south China's Foshan city where art troupes and cultural officials from 22 Asian countries get together to display their fine arts attainment and confer on prospective cultural cooperation among Asian countries.

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2005)