TSMC Education and Culture Foundation Cultivates Future New Talents Through the “Chinese Opera on Campus” Program

TSMC Education and Culture Foundation is committed to promoting the inheritance of Chinese traditional opera, inviting its long-term collaborator GuoGuang Opera Company to perform spectacular Peking operas at TSMC Hsin-chu Arts Festival and launching a new type of radio program “Tales from Chinese Opera” in an attempt to guide the public to explore the beauty of Chinese traditional opera. In order to further pass on Chinese traditional opera to the younger generations of college students, the Foundation exclusively sponsors GuoGuang Opera Company to launch the “Chinese Opera on Campus” program, offering a series of courses on Peking opera at National Tsing Hua University and Tunghai University for the first time. In 2022, the students who enrolled in the classes together with the actors of GuoGuang Opera Company showcased the results of their learning and performed a classic Peking opera play “Chun-Tsao Braving the Court.” The classes aim to cultivate new talents, polish their skills and techniques and enrich their learning. They also inject new momentum into the efforts to continue the art of Peking opera.

Three Major Courses Designed to Comprehensively Teach New Peking Opera Aesthetics

Commencing in September of 2021, the “Chinese Opera on Campus” program is a three-year elective course at National Tsing Hua University and Tunghai University. The core of the course focuses on three major aspects: knowledge of Chinese opera, script appreciation and analysis, as well as demonstrating and teaching Peking Opera performance techniques. In the spirit of ‘continuation, assistance, and guidance,’ professional actors from GuoGuang Opera Company are the course lecturers and they pass on the basic physical and vocal techniques of how to play Peking opera roles as well as how to sing the melodies, thereby guiding the students to appreciate the beauty of Chinese traditional opera performance art.

“Chinese Opera on Campus” Program

Teaching University	National Tsing Hua University	Tunghai University
Course Name	New Peking Opera Aesthetics: Exploration and Experience	Contemporary Theatre and Practice
Course Duration	Three Years, Starting from September of 2021
Course Design	Knowledge of Chinese Opera Lectures and talks by lecturer and specialist scholars Introducing a brief history of drama, the development of Peking opera in Taiwan, and the contents of the new Taiwan Peking opera aesthetics developed by GuoGuang Opera Company Approaches to Drama Analysis and Appreciation Viewing classical Peking Opera recordings and analyzing play texts Guiding the students in in-depth discussions on the aspects of playwrights’ creative thinking, the historical background of the play text, characteristics of the roles, and plot organization Demonstrating and Teaching Peking Opera Performance Techniques Using the play “Chun-Tsao Braving the Court“ as a case study, professional actors from GuoGuang Opera Company instruct students the basic Peking opera’s physical and vocal techniques to play the roles and sing in the opera, its music and costumes The students rehearse a selected section of “Accidental Encounter” from “Chun-Tsao Braving the Court” and showcase the “Braving the Court” section via play reading while the GuoGang actors demonstrate the “On the Journey” section. Together they showcase the results of their learning in the final public performance

TSMC Education and Culture Foundation will continue its partnership with GuoGang Opera Company to inject Chinese opera culture into the campus. The “Chinese Opera on Campus” program is expected to launch its second-year course in September 2022, thereby enabling the beauty of traditional art to continue in the face of the vicissitudes and circumstances of the times. In doing so, the Foundation creates a gratifying experience that allows the young college students to understand the content of Peking Opera and enrich their humanistic heritage.