'Art changes life' for children

Besides Kunqu Opera, students also received training in choir singing, drama and painting. More than 700 students' parents joined their children's courses that day.

As a part of the ongoing celebration programs to mark the NCPA's 10th anniversary, drama shows, instrumental performances and dance works by students from the two schools were staged at the NCPA in mid-December.

In 2014, the Beijing municipal government launched a project to introduce arts education into the capital's primary schools. The NCPA was among the first of 28 organizations to participate in the project. During the past three years, the NCPA has brought 24 shows to the two schools and invited students to watch more than 400 shows at the venue, involving more than 85,000 students in total.

"Many children are learning musical instruments like the piano and violin in China. Besides the chance to learn music, we also let them act, paint, read and write poetry, too. All of those programs give the students a new language," says Wang Dayu, director of the NCPA's art eduction department.

She notes that the NCPA has a slogan－art changes life－and for the young generations, art plays a key role in their education.

Li Chengyuan, an 11-year-old student from Zizhong Primary School, says that artists from the NCPA have been coming to his school to offer art classes once a month and he also visits the venue to watch shows every month.

He has become a member of the NCPA's student drama troupe since he was 7 years old and made his debut performance at NCPA last year, acting in one of the roles in the drama Wangfujing.

"I asked my best friend to come with me in the beginning because I wasn't brave enough to speak in front of so many people," says Li. "Now I am much more confident performing onstage."

Jiao Miao, a conductor with the NCPA Chorus who graduated from the China Conservatory of Music, says: "Art programs teach students to have better links between the knowledge they learn from textbooks and the actual experience of performing onstage."