Resounding across generations

Rehearsals for their latest work took place at Fenglei Peking Opera Company, which is located in a hutong in downtown Beijing. The company was named Min Le She when it was founded in 1937 by its first president, Zhang Qi, and Peking Opera actor Liang Yiming. It was renamed in 1971.

Song Yan, who was born in Beijing and likewise learned Peking Opera from his father, who was also a performer, was offered the opportunity to become the president of Beijing Fenglei Peking Opera Company in 2001, when the art form was facing decline.

"We had few performances and struggled to survive. I joined the company when I was 12, and I didn't want to see it die," Song Yan recalls.

He borrowed 200,000 yuan from the local government to pay the company's debts and led the actors to give nearly 800 performances in 15 months, hoping to change the company's fortunes.

Now, the company has not only survived but also has become one of the country's best-known Peking Opera companies, staging about 600 shows a year. It also offers workshops for children.

"We tried various ways to expand the company's audiences, especially among the youth, and we succeeded when we brought The Net, which inspired us to tell more Peking Opera stories through contemporary plays," says Song Yan.

"Unlike Peking Opera performances, which have powerful and exaggerated movements and facial expressions, performing in contemporary plays is quite different. Thanks to my son, I also learned how to walk and talk onstage as a drama actor."