Kunqu Opera still flourishing despite fears for future

Apart from organizing many activities related to Kunqu Opera at the university, Chen and his colleagues have a WeChat official account called Kunqu Base that disseminates news and information about the art form.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, when theaters were closed and troupes stopped working, Chen and his colleagues contacted more than 125 people in Kunqu Opera, including past and present performers as well as academics, and they interviewed them about their lives and work during the pandemic.

In all, 29 articles under the series "Kunqu Opera During the Pandemic" were published, receiving more than 38,000 views.

About 75 percent of the readers were aged 18 to 45, figures from the WeChat official account platform show, underlying how great a pull Kunqu Opera is having on young people. Promotion of the art form at Peking University and other universities has undoubtedly played a key role in this healthy state of affairs, as have performances and lectures held at institutions such as the National Library of China and the National Center for the Performing Arts.