Keeping the flame burning

Veteran actress Shao Zhiqing has devoted her life to promoting Guizhou's Huadeng opera, Fang Aiqing and Yang Jun report

The Moon Shines on the Maplewoods Ferry, a classic Huadeng opera play of Southwestern China's Guizhou province, is a landmark in the 300-year history of the local opera form. And it earned lead actress Shao Zhiqing, the Plum Blossom Prize, the highest theater award in China, in 2007.

Shao, a delegate to the 19th CPC National Congress - who was recently recognized as one of the representative inheritors of this national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture - is a key figure in the development and promotion of Huadeng opera, which she has been involved in for 40 years.