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昆曲首次进入高校课程，成为北京大学的选修课，由白先勇老师授课。对于文化传承来说这门课有着深远的意义。本次课的主题是“传统与现代——从汤显祖《牡丹亭》到青春版《牡丹亭》”。

A full house of 400 students wait in a lecture hall at Peking University for one of the university's most popular optional courses. Many who come late must stand in the aisles.

Ma Bingyi, a junior management major, arrived at the lecture hall two hours before the class started and found 100 students already waiting there.

"Last semester, I watched the Kunqu opera performance of the‘Young-Lovers' Edition of Peony Pavilion' created by maestro Pai Hsien-yung. I was shocked by the show's tremendous beauty. I've only read the text of ‘Peony Pavilion' before. It's well-worded. But it's even more elegant when Kunqu opera performers express it with singing and dancing on stage. So I chose this course and hope to learn more from Mr. Pai Hsien-yung."

Kunqu opera originated from Kunshan, in east China's Jiangsu Province. It is one of the country's oldest performing arts boasting a long history of 600 years. With a combination of different arts such as singing, dancing, literature and martial arts, it has had a great influence on many other Chinese performing arts, including Peking opera.

The art form reached its heyday in the 18th century, but faded to the verge of extinction in recent decades. In May 2001, it was listed as one of the world's "masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage."

Taiwan-based writer Pai Hsien-yung has been working on the revival of this ancient art form for many years. In 2003, he produced a modern version of "Peony Pavilion," a traditional Kunqu opera show created 500 years ago by Tang Xianzu, China's Shakespeare, during the Ming dynasty.

Pai named the new show "The Young Lovers' Edition of Peony Pavilion" and used modern theater techniques to satisfy the expectations of contemporary audiences while preserving the story's integrity.

The class at Peking University officially starts at 7 p.m.. Students give a round of applause when Pai Hsien-yung enters the lecture hall. The topic of the first class is "From Tradition to Modern Times, From Tang Xianzu's ‘Peony Pavilion' to the ‘Young Lovers' Edition of Peony Pavilion.'"
Pai vividly summarizes the story of "Peony Pavilion."

"The ‘Peony Pavilion' tells a love story from the southern Song Dynasty. Sixteen-year-old Du Liniang, a daughter from a rich family, has a dream in which she meets a young scholar and promises to marry him. When she wakes up, she yearns for her lover and falls ill. After a while, she dies of lovesickness. Her soul meets the young scholar again, who later helps her return to life by reuniting her soul with her body. The two live happily ever after, together."

During this class, Pai introduces the plot of "Peony Pavilion" and talks about ancient art, history, philosophy and politics connected with the work. He gives a further explanation of a scene called "Wandering in the Garden" which is the opera's most important scene. It depicts Du Liniang and her servant girl wandering in the family's back garden.

"You may think it's nothing for a girl to wander in her family's garden, but in the Ming Dynasty, this was not the case. The girl needed to get her father's consent probably because at that time the garden was a danger zone. There might be a handsome scholar who would jump out and seduce his daughter."

Pai's funny explanation makes the students burst out laughing. To their surprise, he then announces, "Welcome Du Liniang to the stage!" Two beautifully dressed Kunqu opera actresses enter the class and give a demonstration of the scene on the podium.

This is the most important aria of the whole repertoire. The lyrics go like this: "Already, bright purple and passion pink bloom in profusion. Yet to the crumbling well, faded walls, such splendor is abandoned. But in this glorious season, where are sounds of joy in this garden?"

Their performance takes the class to a climax. Students are amazed by the actresses' graceful gestures and singing.
Pai explains that unlike western opera, Kunqu opera features both singing and dancing at the same time.

"You see images of all movements. Each performer has continuous and graceful body language matching the arias."
After the show ends, students descend on the podium to take photos with the actresses.

Jiang Qiufen, a graduate student majoring in Chinese aesthetics, says she has been greatly inspired by the class.

"I'm thinking about how we should inherit such an elegant cultural heritage of our nation in this modern society. There're too many vulgar shows and performances occupying our TV screens. Maybe it's time to awaken our rich traditional arts and bring them to a great height of development."

In the early 20th century, Peking University's former president Cai Yuanpei had introduced Kunqu opera into the university's curriculum.

Ye Lang, Dean of the Cultural Industries Institute of Peking University, says he is happy to see Kunqu opera undergo a great revival a hundred years later.

"Inheriting Chinese traditional arts is a long tradition of Peking University. It's not strange to see that Kunqu opera has garnered such great attention from our students in modern times. They still have a strong feeling of identification to our traditional arts."

For China Now, I'm Yingying.

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