Chongqing- The 5th Sichuan Opera Festival opens in Chongqing on June 29. Since the first "China Sichuan Opera Festival" was held in 1999, it has been successfully held in Sichuan four times, and this is the first time it has landed in Chongqing. Co-hosting the 5th Sichuan Opera Festival is one of the key tasks in constructing the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor. Sichuan and Chongqing will jointly build the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor into a cultural tourism corridor with Bashu culture, Chinese tradition, and world style.

The main event of this "Sichuan Opera Festival" will last for 15 days. During this period, 12 famous Sichuan Opera actors from Sichuan and Chongqing will bring 17 wonderful performances to Chongqing citizens. The winners of the "Plum Blossom Award" (the highest theatrical award in China) from both places will participate. Jiang Weining, an official of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, expressed the hope that through this "Sichuan Opera Festival," the traditional Sichuan Opera can be expanded from a niche drama into the popular sphere so that citizens may fall in love with Sichuan Opera.

Sichuan Opera "Li Yaxian" performed by Shen Tiemei, head of Chongqing Sichuan Opera Theater and three-time Plum Blossom Award winner. (Photo/ Chongqing Sichuan Opera)

This time, the Sichuan Opera Festival keyword is "breaking the circle." To this end, Chongqing Sichuan Opera Theatre created the Sichuan Opera Public Square Dance, held Sichuan Opera Public Square Dance performances with hundreds of people at the same time in Sichuan and Chongqing, and held Sichuan Opera fashion parades in the Shancheng Alley, shopping malls and other places, allowing Sichuan Opera to dazzle the daily life of citizens. Chongqing citizens are encouraged to spontaneously "sing Sichuan Opera and dance" during leisure and fitness to enhance the influence of Sichuan Opera art on citizens.

The performance of "The Legend of the White Snake" at Chongqing Sichuan Opera Theatre. (iChongqing file photo)

In addition, during this Sichuan Opera Festival, there will also be other activities, such as an online exhibition of Sichuan Opera Stereoscopic Image Art. The online exhibition starts in June and will last until September. For the Sichuan Opera fans, art scholars, and photography enthusiasts in Sichuan and Chongqing, this activity will collect photography works and short videos with the theme of the 5th Sichuan Opera Festival and present a feast full of the artistic beauty of Sichuan Opera to the general public.

Regarding this Sichuan Opera Festival, Jiang Weining said that this Sichuan Opera Festival is a major artistic event to promote the cultural construction of Chengdu and Chongqing and an important result of polishing the cultural cards of the two places.