Five young women popularize Peking Opera singing
(People's Daily App) 15:14, June 15, 2022
Five female students from the Shanghai Theatre Academy have become online celebrities singing pop songs to the tune of Peking Opera.
The five rose to fame in March 2021. Four of them -- Bian Jingting, Yang Xi, Cheng Xiaochen and Zhu Huan -- were seniors of the academy and lived in dormitory 416 at the academy. So they were known as "416 girls."
The fifth member of the group is Zhu Jiayin, from a year lower. She has been friends with Bian, Yang and Cheng since 10 when they took dance lessons at Shanghai Theatre Academy's affiliated dance school.
Since 2019 the five girls began uploading footage of their practice and singing at the academy onto short video platforms. Sometimes they also display costumes, makeup and gestures to allow internet users to study the details of Peking Opera.
Their Peking Opera videos have accumulated millions of likes.
On February 1, 2022, they were invited to perform traditional opera at the 2022 Spring Festival Opera Gala.
"I sing popular songs in the way I play a senior female role, which was very rare on social media," said Bian Jingting.
She now has 1.5 million fans on Douyin, a Chinese video-sharing platform.
(Story by Huang Jingjing; Video source: Global People magazine)
(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
