Stage Play School

Entrance door of the Stage Play School in Nantong. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

The Stage Play School was established by Zhang Jian (1853-1926), a renowned industrial magnate, educator, and scholar in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, in 1919.

Zhang in 1919 invited Ouyang Yuqian, one of the founders of Chinese drama and a renowned Peking Opera performer, to prepare for the establishment of the Stage Play School.

A theater at the Stage Play School. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

The school, the first of its kind in China, mainly taught Peking Opera and also offered courses in Kunqu Opera, drama, dance, and Western-style music.

With focuses on music and dance, students were required to take courses in Chinese, mathematics, history, geography, and English to improve their artistic accomplishments.

All the expenses of students were borne by the school and after two to three years of learning, students were capable of performing on stage and after four to five years, they graduated from the school.

Peking Opera costumes at the Stage Play School. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Before its suspension in 1926 because of inadequate financial backing, the school had cultivated more than 90 students.

In 2010, Nantong authorities started renovating the Stage Play School, which reopened to the public three years later. The school also cooperated with the Beijing Mei Lanfang Arts Foundation to set up the Mei Lanfang Education Base where a variety of activities such as daily exhibitions, weekly performances, monthly seminars, quarterly lectures by famous figures, and annual competitions are held.