Model role

A young Peking Opera actress follows in the footsteps of a veteran to revive the old art form. Chen Nan reports.

Actress Li Li walks quickly around the stage in a circle. Painstakingly, she repeats the moves again and again. The dust from the carpet billows in the air, catching the sunlight as it streams through the window.

For three hours every morning, she has been practicing the walks that transform her into a typical female character, or dan, in the traditional Chinese art form of Peking Opera.