“A beautiful day, with a radiant smile…”
“Lin Daiyu has fallen from the sky…”
The graceful swish of silk sleeves mingled with the distinctive melodies of Yue opera at Yuetu Theatre in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province, as young people from around the world tried their hand at one of China’s most celebrated traditional art forms.
Dressed in colorful Yue opera costumes, they followed Zoey, a 10-year-old Chinese-Canadian Yue opera enthusiast, as she showed them how to strike traditional poses, move their sleeves and sing well-known excerpts. Phones were held high throughout, capturing moments of curiosity, laughter and delight.
On September 17, young people from Sweden, Russia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Rwanda and other countries, together with their Chinese peers, gathered in Shengzhou — widely regarded as the birthplace of Yue opera — for the 2026 “Shengzhou Village Yue” International Youth Cultural Exchange.
Held under the theme “120 Years of Yue Opera, A Dialogue with Youth,” the event put international young people at the center of the experience, using their perspectives and social media voices to introduce Yue opera to a wider global audience.
Over the course of one day, the participants visited a costume workshop, explored the Yue Opera Museum, trained at Shengzhou Yue Opera Art School and finally took to the stage themselves. It was a journey from watching Yue opera to experiencing it firsthand.
Trying on Costumes and Learning the Moves
A youthful encounter with a centuries-old tradition
At Yuetu Theatre, the visitors got their first close-up look at how Yue opera costumes are made.
Li Huaying, founder of the theatre, explained the costume-making process as workers measured, arranged and cut fabric. Nearby, several embroidery machines hummed at full speed, gradually bringing a soaring phoenix to life stitch by stitch.
The costumes soon became irresistible. One by one, the young visitors tried them on, flicking their long silk sleeves and turning in their flowing skirts. For a moment, they looked every bit the part of traditional opera performers.
The group then turned to Zoey for a crash course in Yue opera.
With the confidence of a seasoned little instructor, Zoey led the participants through familiar excerpts line by line, showing them how to shape their mouths and coordinate their hand movements.
The students took it seriously — at least until someone stepped on a skirt hem and sent everyone into laughter. Some hummed along to the melodies, others practiced sweeping their sleeves through the air, while camera shutters clicked constantly around the room.
The result was a lively mix of traditional opera and youthful energy.
Zoey’s own connection with Yue opera began when she was just three.
Her mother is from Zhejiang and her father is Canadian. Her grandmother runs a restaurant where customers often sing Yue opera.
“I really liked it when I heard them sing, so I started learning Yue opera when I was three,” Zoey said.
She now hopes to apply to Shengzhou Yue Opera Art School and eventually become a professional Yue opera performer.
Her mother, Xiao Jin, said she fully supports the dream.
“Yue opera is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. She wants to become a Yue opera performer in the future, and I will always be there to support her,” she said.
The exchange also coincided with Zoey’s 10th birthday. Celebrating it in Shengzhou, the home of the art form she loves, made the occasion particularly memorable.
Later that afternoon, the group visited the Yue Opera Museum, where old photographs, opera scripts and costumes offered a glimpse into the art form’s long history.
Xing Shuohan, a museum staff member and performer of the Yuan-school style of Yue opera, performed several excerpts for the international visitors. The graceful melodies gave them an opportunity to experience the distinctive vocal style of Yue opera at close range.
The young visitors then headed to Shengzhou Yue Opera Art School, where they learned more about the art form’s movements, singing techniques, makeup and stagecraft.
Inside one classroom, students were practicing jumps and somersaults. The international visitors watched with interest before trying some of the movements themselves.
Morayao, a young man from Nigeria studying at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, quickly got into the rhythm.
“I really like Chinese culture, and I’m very happy to have this opportunity to learn and experience it together with everyone,” he said.
Arslan, from Russia, had a different kind of cultural exchange. A group of Chinese students gathered around him, eager to practice their Russian.
“This is my second year in China,” he said. “The students here are very enthusiastic. Learning Chinese opera together with them has been a wonderful experience.”
Food, naturally, was part of the cultural exchange too.
The participants sampled Shengzhou xiaolongbao, or steamed soup dumplings, with fillings and flavors ranging from tofu and pickled long beans to pizza.
Hammi from Pakistan was particularly enthusiastic about the pizza-flavored dumplings produced by Shengzhou Jichangrong Food Co., Ltd. for overseas markets.
“They really taste like pizza! Are there any more? Give me a few more!” he said.
From the Classroom to the Stage
International visitors take the spotlight at “Village Yue”
By nightfall, the entrance to Shengzhou Cultural Center was packed with spectators.
The final round of the 2026 “Shengzhou Village Yue” Yue Opera Fan Competition was about to begin, drawing local performers and opera enthusiasts for an evening of traditional music and theater.
For the international participants, however, the evening offered something more: a chance to become performers themselves.
Six of the young visitors had their Yue opera makeup done and, accompanied by teachers from Shengzhou Yue Opera Art School, stepped onto the stage.
The transformation was immediate.
With traditional makeup, elaborate costumes and silk sleeves sweeping through the air, the newcomers received a warm response from the audience. Applause and laughter filled the venue, with some spectators joking that the first-time performers were already beginning to “look the part.”
The atmosphere was relaxed and spontaneous, breaking down the distance between the stage and the audience.
The young participants greeted the Shengzhou crowd one by one and introduced themselves. Two of them spoke about their first full immersion in Yue opera at its birthplace, describing the experience as both surprising and moving.
They then demonstrated the movements and vocal techniques they had learned earlier that day.
The performances were not technically perfect — nor were they expected to be. But every gesture was performed with visible concentration, and every line was sung with enthusiasm.
The audience responded with sustained applause and laughter, cheering on the performers’ sincere first steps into the world of Yue opera.
Xia Nan, a teacher at Shengzhou Yue Opera Art School, said the art form has never been intended solely for the theater elite.
“Yue opera does not belong only on a formal stage, nor is it an art form that ordinary people can only admire from a distance,” she said. “It originated in the countryside, in storytelling and singing among ordinary people, and grew from the local culture and dialect of Shengzhou. Anyone can learn Yue opera.”
The international participants’ movements and singing were understandably still rough around the edges after just one day of training, Xia said. But for professional performers, seeing newcomers take an interest in Yue opera was itself encouraging.
“We’re very happy to see more people come closer to Yue opera, develop an interest in it and fall in love with it,” she said. “We hope it can travel from Shengzhou to audiences across China and around the world.”
That spirit captures the essence of “Shengzhou Village Yue.”
On stage, international young people performed traditional movements with a mixture of concentration, curiosity and youthful awkwardness. In the audience, Yue opera remained what it has long been for the people of Shengzhou: a familiar local voice and a cherished part of everyday cultural life.
The event offered a different way of preserving tradition — not by keeping it behind museum glass, but by inviting a new generation to try it, perform it and share it.
Bringing Yue Opera to a New Generation
In recent years, Shengzhou has sought to further strengthen its identity as the “Hometown of Yue Opera,” developing a broader cultural ecosystem through its “Yue Opera+” strategy.
The approach links traditional opera with cultural events, new forms of artistic presentation, tourism and consumption, creating new opportunities for the art form to engage contemporary audiences.
For an art form that has been evolving for more than 120 years, the challenge is not simply how to preserve its past, but how to remain relevant to the next generation.
In Shengzhou, that process is taking place through encounters like this one — where international young people can put on the makeup, learn the movements, take the stage and, for a few minutes, become part of the story themselves.
From the villages of Shengzhou to audiences around the world, Yue opera is finding new voices — and a new generation ready to listen, learn and join in.