The staging of a new, abridged edition of Kunqu Opera, The Peony Pavilion, in the Imperial Granary, Nanxincang, is set to become a legendary chapter in Beijing's cultural history. Audiences have a rare chance to experience the performance of a 600-year-old artform in a grand venue with equally long history.

Kunqu Opera was among the first selection of UNESCO's "Human Beings' Verbal and Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Works List" on May 18, 2001.

The opera is produced by POLO arts, which has been devoted to elegant music communication and enjoyed very good reputation among critics and fans.

Wang Xiang, CEO of POLO Art, said he valued helming an outstanding cultural project above earning money. Kunqu Opera is a national treasure worthy of its status and, of course, is Wang's first choice.

The Peony Pavilion is an important part of Chinese dramatic history, of great literary value, and moreover, featuring an ever-lasting and beautiful love legend. The script of The Peony Pavilion can bring the delicate and romantic Kunqu Opera into full play.

Wang, who took part in revising the abridged edition, describes the efforts spent on the project for nearly one year as, "extreme hardship and difficulty". However, with numerous excellent editions for the same play, Wang and his colleagues had to ponder on how the new edition can retain its excellent quality.

After giving the matter much consideration, Wang and others decided to give up the stage-style Kunqu Opera performance that became dominant in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Instead they would return to the original style of the "family theatrical troupe" popular in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The super-grand team, led by Lin Zhaohua and Wang Shiyu, surprises all those with a wait-and-see attitude towards the new, significantly shortened edition. Lin Zhaohua, the chief director, is an acclaimed director and an outstanding personality in the drama circle. Wang Shiyu, president of Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Showplace, is known both at home and abroad. The two masters of drama and Kunqu Opera assimilated methods of both Western and Eastern stages, finding an aesthetic route with the most creativity to bring the ancient genre into the present.

Time: 7:30 pm every Friday and Saturday
Address: the Imperial Granary, 22 Dongsishitiao.
Tel: 010- 6409-6477, 6409-6499. 1360-125-9568 (in English).
Price: 580-1,980 yuan.