CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- As the gongs and drums are beaten and erhu played, with their faces painted, Characters in Sichuan opera such as Sheng (male characters), Dan (female characters), Jing (the role of warrior or characters with prominent appearances), Mo (old male characters) and Chou (the clown or jester characters) appear on the stage. This is Longqun Sichuan opera troupe starting their performance in Ciqikou Ancient Town. Their performance is given every weekend, and you can enjoy a two-hour performance by paying only 30 yuan for the tea.

This is a formal private Sichuan opera troupe in Chongqing, which has been rooted in Ciqikou Ancient Town for nearly 30 years. On the stage actors shake their sleeves and peacock feathers, while under the stage audiences sit around the table, drinking tea and enjoying the performance.

What is different slightly compared with previous years is that the content of Sichuan opera is becoming increasingly “fashionable”, with more and more young people appearing both on and under the stage.

The head of the opera troupe, Long Qun (right), and her daughter Tang Rouwei, born after 1995 (left, with stage name of Xiaolongnv), are both "opera fans". "My biggest wish is to carry forward Sichuan opera, and now my daughter is doing very well," said Long Qun proudly, who has been singing Sichuan opera for over 40 years.

Tang Rouwei, who started to learn Sichuan opera formally in college, always brings her mother many surprises - shooting short videos to promote and develop Sichuan opera culture, introducing costume changes, face-changing, and magic to fans, and rehearsing comedies by using new singing styles in Sichuan opera…

In 2020, Tang Rouwei started to shoot short videos, which has brought her over 100,000 followers so far. "Wrap your left hand in the shape of 8, and place it around your waist to lift your hips, wrap your right hand in a circle, and keep your eyes fixed on your fingertips..." She choreographed the complex Sichuan opera finger movements into a pithy formula. Unexpectedly, this video was viewed for up to thousands of times.

Her live streaming room is always crowded with post-95s and post-00s. She teaches everyone opera makeup and also shows fans costume decorations. “Netizens are particularly interested in decoration and costumes. After adding them as friends, I found that they are much younger.”

Her mother Long Qun supports her daughter to make innovations. The mother and daughter adapt the repertoires of Sichuan opera together, compressing a one-hour repertoire to 20-30 minutes. They also keep up with current social focus and bring stories about wildfires and ordinary people onto the stage.

Internet catchwords are also put on the stage, with the popular face changing performance of Sichuan opera, the lines like "Laotie 666" instantly excite the audience. Due to the content being close to the life of young people, more young faces can be seen in the audience, and many of them come to check in and take photos after watching her short videos.

For a while, some high school students came every weekend. Drinking a pot of tea and sitting quietly under the stage, they enjoyed the graceful and pleasant singing and delicate and vivid performances. In their eyes, a love for Sichuan opera could be seen, which left a deep impression on everyone in the opera troupe.

At the end of March this year, Longqun Sichuan Opera Troupe will move to the "Houlang" area of Ciqikou Ancient Town, which is a key scene of consumption in Shapingba District, with a large screen on the stage. "In the future, we will put the lyrics onto the screen so that young people can understand what’s happening in the performances when watching them," said Tang Rouwei.

Young people like Tang Rouwei make up one-third of the Longqun Troupe. In addition to attracting young audiences, Tang Rouwei also hopes to set up a Sichuan opera training class, so that the children in this mountain city can learn Sichuan opera from a young age. She is also considering combining costumes with cyberpunk elements, and combining Sichuan opera with English to make it easier for Sichuan opera to go abroad. (Translated by Hu Chuanmin, Fathom Language Limited)