China News Service, Baoding, February 21 (Reporter Lu Zihao) On the 21st, the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar "dragon raises its head".

The "Birthplace of Northern Kunqu Opera" was set up at the South Stage of Hexi Village, Gaoyang County, Hebei Province. The new version of the play "Kite Mistakes" starring Wang Jin and Shao Zheng, national first-class actors from the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, kicked off with a gong.

　　Northern Kunqu opera, referred to as "Bei Kun", is a branch of Kunshan tune, an ancient opera tune in my country. It is mainly popular in Beijing, Tianjin, and central and eastern Hebei.

According to the "Encyclopedia of China·Xiqu Quyi Volume": In 1917, Gaoyang Rongqing Club, one of the representative genres of Kunqu Opera led by Han Shichang and Hao Zhenji, entered Beijing to develop, and gradually formed a unique northern school of Kunqu Opera, which is called today. "Northern Kunqu Opera".

In 1957, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater was established.

　　According to Cao Ying, deputy director of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, today’s repertoire is "Kite Mistakes" created by Li Yu, a writer and dramatist in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. It is a light comedy of love with kites as a string.

The actors' lively and witty singing, reciting, and figure performances make the play more comical and life-like.

The picture shows the Gaoyang County Party Committee and the county government presenting calligraphy works to the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater.

Photo by Lu Zihao

　　Cao Ying said that since 2011, the academy has gone to Hexi Village, Gaoyang County 10 times to carry out "root-seeking" charity performances, and established the Hexi Village Inheritance Base of Northern Kunqu Opera Theater.

Set up training classes at Hexi Village Primary School to teach children the basic skills of Chinese opera and traditional Beikun repertoire.

"Now that the living conditions are better, we need to know where we come from, and more importantly, where we are going. I hope to feed back my hometown through art and keep our 'roots'."

　　Zhang Xian, a 56-year-old villager in Hexi Village, said that her grandfather and fifth grandfather both sang Kunqu opera. Influenced by her family, she also liked to listen to Kunqu opera since she was a child. Now children often download Kunqu opera videos from the Internet to learn how to sing.

　　On the same day, the Gaoyang County Party Committee, the county government and the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater exchanged calligraphy works and a performance CD of the Northern Kunqu Opera "Dream of Red Mansions".

Northern Kunqu Opera Theater signed the "Northern Kunqu Opera into Campus Cooperation Agreement" with Gaoyang County Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, and Gaoyang County Education and Sports Bureau.

　　Huang Ming, member of the Standing Committee of the Gaoyang County Party Committee and Director of Propaganda, said that Gaoyang County is known as the "hometown of operas".

In recent years, the county has actively collected and sorted out cultural heritage such as northern Kunqu opera cards, repertoires, and Gongchi scores, and compiled and published books such as "Compilation of Northern Kunqu Opera Materials in Gaoyang County" to inherit and develop Kunqu Opera.

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