Educators say Peking Opera can still be saved

By Han Manman

 

It has been a year since the Beijing schools added Peking Opera to their course list as part of a coordinated effort to preserve the traditional art for another generation.

But parents’ lack of understanding and a shortage of professional teachers continue to hamper the program’s growth as the country embraces more international art forms.

The national government announced early this week it will produce its own Peking Opera teaching materials. It seems to be determined to preserve the art form – even if many have already neglected it.

Peking Opera after a year

Li Yalan, the Peking Opera teacher at Beijing No. 2 Experimental Primary School, claps her hand in rhythm as she directs her students at rehearsal.

“Don’t mumble. You have to use your voice and your nose. Watch your arms! Grace! No, do it agai” she shouts.This was one of the first 22 primary and secondary schools to adopt the government’s Peking Opera pilot program last year.

Fifty girls enrolled in her “Qing Yi” class, in which she teaches how to play theperatic role of a dignified young or middle-aged woman.

The classroom next door is full of boys studying Lao Sheng, the bearded old or middle-aged man.

“My students have improved a lot since last year. Some of them weretrying to sing Peking Opera like pop music at the start, but now, many have gotten a feel for it,” Li says.The school asked the 70-year-old former star of the Beijing Opera House to teach the class last year.

“The studnts are kids; it’s hard for them to concentrate on studying a complicated art for 45 minutes,” Li says. She and other teachers try to mix up their lessons with background to make class more interesting.

“My grandpa liks Peking Opera a lot, but I didn’t care for it at first,” Li Hanwei, a 9-year-old student, says“Sometimes, the songs and the notes have too many weird twists. It makes it really hard to learn,” Li says. But he is pro when he can sing it in front of his friends.

Hope for the future

Chen Bihai, who heads up the school’s opera program, says the pilot is “essential” to preserve and revitalize traditional culture.

“Peking Opera is an elctive course right now, but I think one day it will be compulsory,” he says.

The current program, started by the Ministry of Education last year, put Peking Opera classes at 200 schools in 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

The course, which includes 15 classical and modern pieces, may help students better appreciate their culture and cultivate patriotism: Many plays deal with famous historical events.

Chen says Peking Opera emphasizes the gentle beauty of the woman and the machismo of the man –something he deems as important in a generation where “girls act like boys and boys act like girls.”

“Western culture has profoundlyaffected Chinese children. Few of them care about Peking Opera. The art form will die after this generation,” Chen says, hoping the classes may inspire a few students to enjoy the entertainment of their ancestors.

But more often than not, a student’s choice of electives is not his own. Most students’ parents are very involved in class selection, Li says.

“Parents ask their kids to take electives like piano or modern dance, both ofwhich come from the West,” she says. Most of her students are in the class only because their parents or grandparents are fans.

“Some other parents send their kids to Peking Opera class because it can earn five extra ponts on their middle school entrance exam,” Li said.

Chen says getting the parents on board is the first step to building a real program, and that means answering their fears.

But after the first group of students took the stage with their make-up and colorful costumes, it was hard to stop their peers from wanting to join.

What makes a teacher?

Pilot schools also lack qualified teachers.

Among 48 music teachers at the 22 pilot schools, fewer than 10 teachers – including those who taught themselves – ever studied Peking Opera, says Shen Yimin, director oBeijing Basic Education Research Center from Beijing Institute of Science and Technology Education.

“Most of the music teachers know nothing about the ancient art form, and they really can’t inspire the students to be terested in its slow pace or abstruse lyrics,?Shen says.

Classes at Chen’s school are taught by five professional opera teachers brought in from the outside. But her school is far from the norm, and Shen says more collges need to add Peking Opera to their curriculum if they plan to continue the new program.

The government is also considering adding an education major at Peking Opera schools to cultivate more teachers for the primary and middle school programs.

Music teachers in Beijing schools are required to study Peking Opera before introducing it to their students.

Shen cannot say when the pilot program will extend to all the capital’s primary an middle schools.

Tapping new talent

Peking Opera has been around at least 200 years, and was the country’s original synthesis of music, dance, art and acrobatics.

But its history is lost in a younger generation more interested in pop stars, Li says. She worries because fewer and fewer boys are studying opera – even at opera schools.

“Unlike girls, boys go through a dramatic voice change as they age. Many of them cannot continue opea after puberty because their voice is not longer suitable,” Li says.
An early education program may inspire and identify talented boys who may want to go on to Peking Opera school, she says.