Artists from the National Peking Opera Company will give lectures in the United States and Canada starting in mid-August, on a speaking tour that will take them to San Francisco, New York, Toronto and Vancouver.

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council initiated the Masters' Lectures in 2007. The program's aim is to help overseas Chinese understand Chinese culture and boost cultural exchanges.

The latest lectures, which share the theme Close to Peking Opera — The Beauty of Oriental Arts, will introduce the origin, development, achievement and artistic traits of Peking Opera to overseas Chinese as well as US and Canadian residents. The lectures will be in Chinese, using simple terms.

Lectures will be combined with exhibitions and performances to increase understanding.

Song Guanlin, president of the opera company, will be one of the lecturers.