In Wenzhou pre-recorded National Spring Opera Gala 2023 is to be aired on the first day of the Chinese year of the rabbit

WENZHOU, China, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a few days, Chinese across the globe will celebrate the most lively and important traditional festival - the Spring Festival. Since 1983, it has become a habit for billions of Chinese families to watch the CCTV series of Spring Festival Galas during the festival time. The Spring Festival Opera Gala is the most popular program among the Chinese opera lovers. The 2023 Opera Spring Festival Gala was recorded in Wenzhou City. This is the first time the show has moved outdoors in more than 30 years of broadcasting.

Located on the southeast coast of Zhejiang province, Wenzhou is famous for its vivid private economy and daring entrepreneurs within China. It is also the birthplace of Southern Opera (Nanxi), the oldest mature form of opera in Chinese history. According to Wenzhou Social Sciences Association, Wenzhou has been an important port for China's maritime trade and a key node on the Maritime Silk Road since the Song Dynasty (AD 960). In 2022, Wenzhou excavated the ruins of the Shuomen port of the Song-Yuan Dynasty, including the remains of the city gates, sluice gates, and wharves, etc., as well as tens of tons of various porcelain specimens, lacquered wood, and other relics.

The development of commercial civilization has created conditions for the prosperity of art and culture, and Southern Opera (Nanxi), known as the "ancestor of a hundred operas", was born in this period, and then spread to various places and formed Kunqu Opera and other singing voices, which were named "Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.

The main stage of this gala is located in the "Nine Mountains Book Club"(Jiushan Shuhu), a Southern Song Dynasty academy that preserves the earliest surviving Southern Opera (Nanxi) manuscript "Top Scholar Zhang Xie". The evening brought together nearly 30 opera genres, more than 100 actors and rookies from all over the country, and was divided into 14 performances, fully demonstrating the richness of Chinese opera.

Chinese opera and culture lovers can watch the show on January 22, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on CCTV1 and CCTV11.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1986710/Wenzhou_Main_Stage.jpg
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1986711/Wenzhou_Performance.jpg

SOURCE The Information Office of Wenzhou Municipal People’s Government