Sun Hongju (left) and Shang Jinyang perform Maoqiang Opera Farewell at Rizhao City Square in July 2023. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Audience enthusiasm

Wang Jinxia, the 37-year-old deputy director of the Wulian New Era Maoqiang Art Troupe, started studying Maoqiang Opera under her cousin at 19 after graduating from high school. Initially, her parents did not support her decision.

"Just like most parents who want their children to have a bright future, my dad and mom didn't think opera was a promising job," she says.

But Wang did not give up. Beginning in the winter of 2006, she practiced at least an hour a day and subsequently became a full-time performer at the government-funded Wulian County Maoqiang Opera Troupe in 2013. Seven years later, she was invited to join the privately run Wulian New Era Maoqiang Art Troupe.

Wang says that she is glad that more young people are becoming fond of folk art, with many choosing to study the opera. Nearly half of the 42 members of the New Era troupe are under the age of 35 and its youngest performer, Xu Ting, was born in 2002.

Sun Hongju, a national first-class opera performer and director of the Wulian New Era Maoqiang Art Troupe, says she has been deeply moved many times by the enthusiasm of the audience.

"One day when we were about to perform, it started drizzling. We planned to postpone the performance, but when I turned around and saw the audience sitting under umbrellas, waiting eagerly, we decided then and there to perform, rain or hail!" Sun says.

The troupe gave 469 performances last year for residents in the vast rural areas.

"Folk culture should not be absent in the national rural vitalization drive," she says.

The troupe's performance during this year's May Day holiday at the county's Furong Square, drew throngs of residents, estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

"It was so popular that you couldn't even find a place to stand if you arrived late," says 34-year-old Wulian resident, Zheng Bin.