Five girls from the Shanghai Theatre Academy born after 2000: Bian Jingting, Yang Xi, Zhu Jiayin, Zhu Huan Cheng and Cheng Xiaochen. Integrating Beijing opera singing into modern music, they have interpreted the songs in a refreshing way, giving new life to the traditional Chinese Opera culture. At present, the cumulative number of likes for their Peking Opera-related videos has exceeded 20 million. The song “Exploring the Window” alone has a total of over 50 million plays and over 2.5 million likes on short video platforms. Many young netizens have taken the initiative to learn about Peking Opera after watching the video.
Original version of the song Visiting Window
I was inspired by the intervention of these five young girls who added a new dynamic to traditional art in their own way. I have been thinking about the balance between heritage and innovation in traditional art. Today’s Chinese youth, they grow up with little exposure to traditional arts, let alone love for them. Therefore, for the transmission of traditional art, we, as purveyors of art, need to have a ‘contemporary aesthetic’ and take the initiative to find new ways of integrating traditional art into the modern world.