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There were a number of Yongju Opera troupes active in Shanghai and Ningbo before the founding of thePeople's Republic of China(PRC). The famous Yongju Opera artists at the time included He Xianmin, Xu Fengxian, Jin Cunxiang, Jin Yulan and Huang Junqing. After the PRC's founding, Jinfeng Yongju Opera Troupe was founded in Shanghai, and Ningbo Yongju Opera Troupe in Ningbo. The former specializes in collecting and adapting traditional plays such as The Rain Falls and Mother Gets Remarried, Half Scissors, DoubleJadeCicadas, and Borrowing a Wife, while the latter, with its focus on depicting the modern life, has created many plays such as Brothers, Boy with Bright Eyes, and Red Cliff.

Since the founding of the PRC, the two Yongju troupes have mainly performed in Ningbo, Shanghai and Zhoushan. Shanghai Jinfeng Yongju Opera Troupe performed in the nation's capital in 1962, and Ningbo Yongju Opera Troupe, which is now the only existing professional Yongju Opera troupe, performed inBeijingtwice, in 1990 and 1995. The troupe also won the Wenhua Award with its new play Wife in Hock at the Seventh China Arts Festival in September 2004.