Children from Beijing play drums at the summer camp staged in the capital by the Forbidden City Concert Hall. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Birthday celebrations

To popularize the ancient art form among young audiences, the government in Yantai, Shandong province, held summer camp programs from July 19 to 24, with artists from the Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing coaching young students in painting Peking Opera masks, acting and giving live performances.

The origins of Peking Opera date to 1790, when four Hui Opera troupes came to Beijing as part of celebrations for the 80th birthday of the Qianlong Emperor (1711-99) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and stayed on. Hui opera, or Huiju, is a regional genre of the art form from Anhui province.

Later, around 1840, Peking Opera began to formally take shape, growing even faster during the reign of the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), who was a Chinese opera lover.

After this, Peking Opera went from strength to strength, and troupes were formed in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.