A Peking Opera project for primary and secondary schools launched by China's Ministry of Education in February has met cold reaction from the public, a recent survey shows.

More than half of the 1,000 respondents from ten big cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu expressed doubts about the practical meanings of the project, in the survey conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China.

The project plans to add 15 Peking Opera pieces into music courses in 200 schools in ten provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangdong and Gansu. The pilot programs will last from March to July next year.

At present, teaching materials and video tapes are still in production, China News Service reported.

The Ministry of Education hopes that the promotional course can help students better appreciate Chinese culture and cultivate patriotism.

The surveyed public does recognize Peking Opera as a comprehensive art form and a representative of the traditional culture. They also understand the purpose of the educational project. However, they wondered whether it's necessary for every student to learn to sing Peking Opera, when they are already stressed from endless exams.

In fact, most music teachers themselves know little about this ancient art form, thus are not confident in arousing students' interests in its slow pace and abstruse lyrics, the report says.

Peking Opera, known as China's national opera, is a synthesis of music, dance, art and acrobatics and is widely regarded as a symbolic expression of Chinese culture.

Today, this unique art form is facing the danger of extinction as the younger generation is immersed mostly in pop culture.

(CRI March 13, 2008)