The Xiju opera invitational for children was held for the fifth time on Dec 16 in Wuxi, in a bid to carry forward and inherit the Xiju opera and give full play to children's culture as Wuxi's culture visualization takes shape.

Some 300 pupils from the city's schools, kindergartens and children's palace attended the invitational event, which staged 30 performances featuring traditional and innovative Xiju opera.

The tournament was aired live on Smart Wuxi, a smart-phone app providing information on local news, entertainment and life services, through which audience were able to comment, vote and interact with experts on Xiju opera during the competition in real time.

According to the organizing committee of the contest, the stream media live broadcast was adopted to influence a larger audience through the new media, introducing new people to the opera.

Xiju opera, or Wuxi opera, is one of the most representative vernacular theatrical genres of Jiangsu. It originated from the banks of Taihu Lake in southern Jiangsu over 200 years ago. It has a strong earthy character, which is vivid and easy to understand.

It gradually spread to the Yangtze River Delta and reached its golden time in the 1950s and 60s, with more than 40 Wuxi opera troupes in Shanghai's Jiading, Qingpu, and Fengxian, Zhejiang province's Jiaxing and Anhui province's Langxi.

The Xiju invitational tournament for children was jointly organized by the Wuxi municipal civilization office, Wuxi education bureau and the Wuxi Radio and Television Group.

The Xiju opera invitational for children is held for the fifth time on Dec 16 in Wuxi. [Photo/thmz.com]

A pupil performs innovative Xiju opera during the Xiju invitational tournament. [Photo/thmz.com]

Xiju opera is staged by Wuxi's school children during the Xiju invitational tournament. [Photo/thmz.com]

Children in Wuxi attend the city's Xiju opera invitational on Dec 16. [Photo/thmz.com]