In late February 2008, just as children in China were packing up for the new spring semester, the Ministry of Education announced an addition to their curriculum-Peking Opera. The program will be piloted in 10 provinces and municipalities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Jiangsu from March 2008 to July 2009, with 10 primary schools and 10 junior middle schools selected from each province or municipality. Students in grade one to nine will study 15 Peking Opera episodes.

Promoting traditional art

The Peking Opera course is promotional rather than compulsory, which is to help students to better understand traditional Chinese culture, Jiang Peimin, Director of the Department of Basic Education, Ministry of Education, pointed out on February 25.

Wang Jun, an official in Beijing Municipal Education Commission, explained that Peking Opera has been in the Music Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education for a long time. In the past, Peking Opera accounted for only a small share and its teaching was not systemic. The newly amended curriculum standards have put Peking Opera in the music courses of all students below grade nine.

Students in primary and middle schools generally do not have a good understanding of traditional culture. In addition to teaching students singing and acting techniques, instructors need to introduce the storylines behind Peking Opera episodes. "Systematic study of Peking Opera will get the students interested in traditional arts," said Wang.

Zhao Jingbo, a professor in the National Academy of China Theater Art applauded the pilot program. He said that many countries have listed their traditional art in the basic education curriculum.

In Beijing, many schools have already offered courses in Peking Opera. Heizhima Hutong Elementary School is one of them, where a Peking Opera course has been taught for nearly two years. The instructor of the course has conducted anonymous surveys among the 120 students that have taken the course. In the survey, a majority of the students expressed a liking for the course even though they might not pay to watch opera in the theater; about 30 to 40 students said that they began to like Peking Opera after taking the course; and only one to two students responded that they still had no interest in opera after taking the course.

Competent teachers are key to quality Peking Opera education, stressed Wu Jiang, President of National Peking Opera Theatre of China. Wu is one of the editors of the textbooks to be used in the Peking Opera courses. A parent worried, "Most primary and middle school teachers are young, how many of them know the opera well, and how much can students learn from them?" The worry was echoed by Yang Guohua, a teacher at No.47 Middle School in Guangzhou City, south China, a school selected for the pilot program. Yang said that most middle school music teachers specialize in dancing or piano, few specialize in Peking Opera. Several school headmasters admitted having difficulty in finding qualified teachers or providing teachers with proper training in such a narrow time window.

The Ministry of Education is to launch training sessions for Peking Opera instructors in the schools covered by the pilot program, starting from March 2008. Liu Changxing, Associate Director of Tianjin Education Academic Society, proposes an innovative solution to the teacher scarcity, that is to record the teaching programs on CDs, DVDs and videotapes and distribute them to schools.

Compulsory or optional

Not everyone is ready to have Peking Opera in the school curriculum. A resident surnamed Liu in Beijing thought that art courses such as Peking Opera should be optional rather than compulsory. "If we force-feed children, they might resent the teaching," Liu said.

Mei Demei, a middle school music teacher at No.25 Middle School in Wuhan City, central China, has mixed feelings about the issue. Mei welcomes the listing of Peking Opera in the school curriculum, yet believes it will be challenging to get students interested in the course. Peking Opera has already been offered in her school, but so far not many students are interested in the course. Instead the youngsters are drawn to modern music such as rock and pop.

A parent surnamed Li is also skeptical whether students will really get interested in the ancient culture that is remarkably different from modern society. "Peking Opera is an ancient art, whereas the children are born in modern society. How can they reconcile the two different lines of thinking? Can they understand the traditional culture presented in the opera?"

Yet to Liu Changxing, Deputy Director of Tianjin Education Academic Society, the reason that the children are not yet interested in Peking Opera is that they do not understand the art form well. He is confident that, "More efforts in promoting Peking Opera will make a difference. Past experiences show that not only senior citizens, but children can be fascinated with Peking Opera."

Tai Feng, Principal of Beijing No.8 Middle School, is also positive about the future. He holds that the traditional culture should be passed down. Including Peking Opera in the curriculum will promote traditional culture.

Classical or modern

Of the 15 episodes included in the curriculum of the pilot program, a majority are Model Beijing Operas. Model Beijing Opera was a new form of Peking Opera born during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), when the government decided to inject modern revolutionary themes into the traditional art form. The domination of Model Beijing Opera in the school curriculum raises questions as to what is the proper weight to be given to modern and classical Peking Opera.

Model Beijing Opera is the product of a special time period, and is not a good representative of the traditional art, said a Peking opera fan living in Beijing remarked. He insisted that the student should be taught classical Peking Opera.

Compared with classical Peking Opera that is written in classical Chinese language, Model Beijing Opera is relatively easier for students to understand because it is written in modern Chinese language, explained Professor Zhang Guanzheng at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts. Wu Jiang, one of the editors of the textbooks, noted that the 15 episodes included in the curriculum were meticulously chosen, based on feedback from many primary and middle school teachers as well as experts in the field. "All the episodes included in the curriculum have been carefully reviewed by a panel of experts nominated by the Ministry of Education to ensure that they represent Peking Opera," confirmed Jiang of the Department of Basic Education, Ministry of Education, on February 25. Jiang welcomed public feedback on the pilot program.

Heavy burden?

Chinese students face increasingly heavy course pressure as competition in schools heats up. In addition to regular schoolwork, students living in cities often attend after-school training sessions in English, piano, and fine arts, among other things. Under the current education system, admission into universities is based predominately on test scores. As students have to cram for exams, they have little spare time. If not designed well, the Peking Opera courses might not achieve the desired effect or might add a new burden to students, according to some experts.

Wang Meiyi, a junior middle school student in Wuhan City said that she would like to learn Peking Opera provided that it would not place an excessive burden on students. In response to these worries, the Ministry of Education explained that Peking Opera courses are not intended to turn students into Peking Opera fans or masters, but to promote traditional Chinese culture.