Wuxi Opera taught in schools

Primary school students rehearse a Wuxi Opera program in Jiangyin, Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Over 20 primary schools in 17 towns in Jiangyin have introduced local opera classes, allowing 4,000 students to learn traditional Wuxi Opera in their spare time.

All kinds of activities are offered to encourage primary school students to respect and appreciate traditional Chinese fine arts and culture, as well as promote the development of traditional arts. Among these activities are Wuxi Opera performances, courses, and lectures.

The operas tell slice of life stories set in rural areas, most of which oppose feudal marriage, old ethics, and greedy landlords.[Photo/Xinhua]

Wuxi Opera is commonly known as Wuxi Tanhuang, which is popular in the southern part of Jiangsu. After the War of Liberation, it gradually spread to the Yangtze River Delta and reached its "golden age" in the 1950s and 60s, with more than 40 Wuxi Opera troupes in Shanghai's Jiading, Jinshan, Qingpu, and Fengxian, Zhejiang province's Jiaxing, and Anhui province's Langxi.

It is one of the three most popular operas in East China, and one of the major local operas in Jiangsu. There are currently more than 10 Wuxi Opera troupes in Jiangsu.

The operas mainly tell slice of life stories set in rural areas, most of which oppose feudal marriage, old ethics, and greedy landlords.