Louis Yu, performing arts executive director, WKCD [Photo provided to China Daily]

Designed to be a world-class platform for promoting and developing Cantonese Opera, a popular old art form of the Cantonese-speaking regions of the country, and other genres of traditional opera forms, such as Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera, the lantern-like designed Xiqu Center will feature a grand theater with over 1,000 seats, a Tea House Theatre with a maximum capacity of 200 seats, and multiple workshop and rehearsal facilities to encourage participation from established artists and the next generation of performers.

The first original Cantonese Opera production commissioned for the Xiqu Center, titled Farewell My Concubine, was staged over April 20-21 at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing as part of the Spring For Chinese Arts event, an annual festival organized by the cultural institution.

The show, featuring young Hong Kong-based Cantonese Opera performers, including Keith Lai as Xiang Yu and Janet Wong as Yu Ji, is adapted from a classic story set against the backdrop of the Chu-Han Contention, a civil war that followed the collapse of the Qin Dynasty (206-202 BC). In the story, Xiang Yu, a warlord of the short-lived Chu Kingdom, falls to the rival forces of Liu Bang, the founder and first emperor of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). And, then, Xiang Yu and his beloved concubine Yu Ji meet for the last time. The show, combining traditional Cantonese Opera techniques with contemporary stage and lighting design, serving as a showcase for Cantonese Opera.

According to Yu, like many traditional Chinese art forms, Cantonese Opera had previously endured a long period of decline, but thanks to the government investment, the art form has recently enjoyed a revival, especially after being listed as an intangible heritage by UNESCO in 2009, which led the local government to help promote and preserve it.

"We have recruited Cantonese Opera actors and actresses to join the opera troupe of the Xiqu Center. The team, which consists of 30 young people, is capable of experimenting with their new ideas about the art form," says Yu, adding that he expects to work with opera troupes from the mainland and launch exchange programs in the form of forums, workshops and master classes.