The old tunes of Peking Opera have been sounding from the Political Consultative Conference Hall in recent evenings, captivating not aged Peking Opera buffs, but audiences of children.

The Peking Opera plays being performed are by the children, for the children and of the children.

To celebrate Children's Day, young performers from four local Peking Opera companies from Huaiyin, Qingdao, Ningxia and Nanchang are touring Beijing, at the invitation of the ministries of culture and education, to perform their latest productions for young audiences. From May 29 to June 6, each company will perform two shows.

All four plays were featured in the Fourth China Peking Opera Festival last December and won wide acclaim from youngsters and their parents.

"They are not simply a gift for the children to celebrate their holiday. We consider it is a way to attract children to Peking Opera and hopefully grow to love it," said Liu Zhongjun, deputy director of the Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture.

"Peking Opera is the cream of Chinese traditional art, but it is losing audiences. Today's youngsters in the city mostly grow up with McDonald's, pop music from Hong Kong and Japanese cartoons, and many parents send their children to learn Western classical music. They know little or nothing about Peking Opera," said Liu.

Chen Liqun from the Arts Department added that at last December's Peking Opera Festival in Shanghai, he found many children who saw the plays were impressed.

"When asked beforehand whether they like Peking Opera, many children said that it's not the case that they do not like it, but they had few chances to see it," said Chen.

"We'd better let them see Peking Opera and cultivate their interest at an early age, otherwise the old art genre will have less and less audiences in future," he warned.

The Shining Red Star performed by Changrong Peking Opera Troupe from Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province and The Plough by Qingdao Peking Opera Troupe from Shandong Province are both adapted from a story from China's civil war.

The Monkey King Fighting at the Dragon King's Palace by the Ningxia Peking Opera Troupe and the Yinchuan Acrobatics Troupe is a new adaptation of the classic novel Journey to the West.

Featuring impressive martial arts and acrobatic stunts, the play thrills young audiences, who are particularly captivated by the smart Monkey King.

The Little Heroes of the Yue Family produced by Jiangxi Peking Opera Troupe is an adaptation of s story about the legendary general Yue Fei, from the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

The play does not focus on Yue Fei, but his sons and other children of the Yue family and tells how the young fighters defend their home in wartime while their father is away fighting.

(China Daily June 1, 2005)