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Kunqu Opera

2004/07/08

A globally celebrated historic and cultural city, Beijing boasts a history of over 3000 years, 850 of which have been as China’s capital. It is a city rich in cultural relics. The Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Peking Man Site and the Ming Tombs are listed as World Cultural Heritage Sites.

Kunqu Opera

Kunqu is China’s oldest, most influential folk opera, respected as the sister of the Opera of Peking. On May 18, 2001 Kunqu was honoured by UNESCO as one of 19 outstanding forms of cultural expression in the world.

Tradition says that Kunqu was created by artists in the Kunshan area more than 700 years ago. Being popular in Jiangsu, kunqu then spread to Zhejiang and other southern provinces after the Ming Dynasty, and was improved by artists including Wei Liangfu and Liang Zhenyu. Later kunqu was introduced to Beijing, and became one of two official forms of drama of the imperial court before it became popular nationwide.

Kunqu’s uniqueness lies in the combination of poetry, music, song and dance, making it difficult to perform but enjoyable to watch. Accompanying instruments include drums, the San Xian and Pi Pa stringed instruments, and wind instruments such as flutes, Shengs, Xiaos. Many famous Peking Opera players were also great performers of kunqu. But to be a kunqu performer, a grasp of more skills in both song and performance were required to give a good performance in kunqu.



	Article featured in Beijing Official Guide, BOG2004 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism