Academy of Chinese Theatre celebrates 70th anniversary

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of its founding, the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts started hosting a series of events on Sep 22.

In the next four months, exhibitions, seminars and stage performances will be held on both online and offline platforms, recounting the academy's history and promoting opera education in the future.

According to academy head Yin Xiaodong, 140 video recordings of stage performances and documentaries will be screened online, including classic Chinese operas, award-winning works by the academy's teachers and students and the academy's international cultural exchanges.

The 17 offline performances will be mainly performed by current teachers and students, taking place from Oct 14 to Dec 6 at various venues, including the National Center for the Performing Arts and the Mei Lanfang Theatre.

In December, an exhibition showcasing the academy's achievements in Chinese opera education will open to the public at the National Museum of China.

"The exhibition will highlight the role of our academy in cultivating opera talents, researching and creating opera works, fulfilling social responsibilities, inheriting traditional culture and participating in international cultural exchanges, as well as the contribution to the inheritance and development of Chinese opera art and the revival of traditional culture," Yin said.

The events also include seminars that aim to systematically summarize the academy's pedagogy over the past 70 years, in order to provide reference for future opera education.