Century-old Shandong folk opera reaches young audiences through innovation

A stage photo of the newly adapted historical fishing drum opera about Zheng Banqiao, a renowned artist. (Photo courtesy of the Zhanhua Fishing Drum Opera Troupe)

A long line formed outside the Zhanhua Grand Theater in Binzhou city, east China's Shandong Province, as a newly adapted production of Zhanhua fishing drum opera, "Journey to the West: Gao Village," was about to begin.

In the audience, silver-haired fans sat alongside people in their twenties and thirties, and children.

"I worried the adaptation would lose the old tunes, but the rhythms and melodies are authentic. There are even martial arts and modern dance moves. When the lines with a local flavor come, they feel especially familiar," said Xu Changfeng, a 72-year-old fan who has followed the opera for decades.

Zhanhua fishing drum opera dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) and has been performed in northern Shandong for about 300 years. It is recognized as a national-level intangible cultural heritage item. At one point it faced a lack of new material, a shrinking audience and the loss of traditional skills.

The Zhanhua Fishing Drum Opera Troupe has continued to update its repertoire. The new production, "Gao Village," preserves the essence of the traditional storytelling-and-singing form and the local vocal style, while adding local elements, plain language, and martial arts and dance. Its warm, humorous stories appeal to audiences of all ages.

The troupe has also taken the opera beyond the stage. With funding from the local government, it has produced a film adaptation, bringing the art form to the big screen.

Over the years, the troupe has adapted or created more than 100 productions and won more than 60 provincial awards.

About 20 years ago, many classic arias and tunes survived only in the memories of elderly performers, with no complete audio or video records. Wang Chunzhen, head of the troupe, decided to build a digital archive of Zhanhua fishing drum opera. His team visited veteran artists in villages to record their singing and their movements.

The effort produced recordings of 47 arias, preserved 13 valuable handwritten scripts and restored 21 traditional tunes that were at risk of being lost. Today, the troupe films every new production in high definition and uploads the footage to an online archive. The database now holds audio and video of 67 fishing drum opera productions.

Young performers are helping bring the opera to a wider audience. Sun Pengcheng, a young actor with the troupe, has hosted livestreams and, since last year, has posted opera clips and rehearsal footage on short-video platforms — drawing more than 800,000 views.

The troupe also stages more than 200 free or subsidized performances annually, reaching over 100,000 people.

Wang Qiaoyu, a young actress born in the 1990's, joined the troupe through open recruitment a few years ago. Like most of her peers, she was new to the art form, and training started at 5 a.m. every day. "At first my arms ached so much that I wanted to quit," she said. Her teacher, a national first-class actress and representative inheritor of the opera, told her there are no shortcuts.

Founded in 2006, the troupe has 20 actors and actresses, with an average age of 38.5, making it a multigenerational team.

The art is also reaching classrooms. At Zhanhua No. 1 Experimental Primary School, Wang Qiaoyu teaches students opera movement and posture. Wu Songjia, a student there, became interested three years ago after watching a campus performance and now often shares what she learns with classmates.

"Introducing the opera to students is not simply staging a show. It is about planting seeds," Wang Chunzhen said. The troupe holds 60 school events and 36 training sessions a year.