The slogan "Come to Hefei for great opera!" is far from empty words. In this city, opera culture has become woven into daily life, with Hefei's unique and powerful "opera magnetism" continuously gaining attention and breaking into the mainstream.
As April progresses, Hefei's opera scene is bustling with continuous high-quality performances and soaring popularity. The entire city is filled with the lingering charm of opera and overwhelming public enthusiasm.
On April 15, the "Quintessential Opera, Starring Hefei—China Central Television's First Opera Connoisseur Convention" completed its offline preliminary rounds in five cities. On April 17, the "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui, Starring Hefei" opera theme event launched, featuring a grand performance by renowned masters broadcast on CCTV, receiving widespread acclaim. On April 18, the 2026 Luyang Shangsi Quhui, combined with the 15th-anniversary celebration of the Qiufeng Xulai Kunqu Opera Study Society, elegantly commenced, drawing opera enthusiasts from across the nation to Hefei. On April 19, the youth version of Lu Opera "The Butcher Number One Scholar" will be staged at the Hefei Grand Theatre... From national-level grand events to refined private gatherings, from the fusion of northern and southern opera styles to the innovative preservation of local intangible cultural heritage, a wave of opera fever—encompassing master performances, national auditions, folk elegance, and local heritage—is sweeping across the city. Hefei is deeply cultivating its opera cultural lineage through normalized, systematic, and long-term efforts, ensuring that the "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" initiative is not merely a temporary trend but a profound cultural embedding that takes root in the city, enriches public life, and achieves lasting impact. With opera charm permeating the city and performances available throughout the seasons, Hefei is consistently polishing its golden cultural brand: "Hefei, City of Opera."
Dual-driven empowerment establishes a national opera culture highland. With support from national platforms and coordination across the country, a dual-driven approach has elevated "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" from a regional cultural activity to an annual national opera spectacle. This also showcases Hefei's strong "opera magnetism," highlighting the city's robust cultural capacity and industry leadership.
At the performance venue. On April 17, the launch of the "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui, Starring Hefei" opera theme event and the grand performance by masters was simultaneously broadcast on multiple platforms including CCTV-11 Opera Channel, Yangshipin, and CCTV.com. The gala brought together nine major opera genres such as Kunqu, Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yu Opera, Yue Opera, and Hui Opera, featuring nine Plum Blossom Award-winning performers on stage.
Modern lighting and stage design blended with traditional opera movements, while classic opera highlights and original opera songs complemented each other. Using contemporary melodies to narrate the perseverance of the opera world and demonstrating national artistic standards, the event displayed the profound cultural charm of Chinese opera to the entire nation, simultaneously propelling Hefei's opera culture image into the national spotlight.
Complementing and resonating with CCTV's high-caliber performance was the national five-city preliminary round of the China Central Television's First Opera Connoisseur Convention. Since April, the convention has successively visited Chengdu, Xi'an, Luoyang, Fuzhou, and Shanghai. Masters competed on the same stage, while veteran and new opera fans gathered together, featuring both brilliant displays by professional actors and sincere expressions from amateur enthusiasts, collectively creating an opera feast for all to share.
At the Chengdu event for the China Central Television's First Opera Connoisseur Convention. Renowned Peking Opera artist Li Peihong, Dean of the Opera School at Shanghai Theatre Academy, stated that the Connoisseur Convention brings people together through opera and seeks kindred spirits through charm, not only connecting opera enthusiasts but also guiding the public closer to traditional art, ensuring the continuous vitality of national cultural heritage in the new era. She expressed anticipation for gathering in Hefei with the Connoisseur Convention.
This cross-city preliminary round not unearthed a large number of outstanding opera talents but also ignited an opera fervor nationwide. All the excellent results from the preliminaries will ultimately converge in Hefei, gathering national opera talents and premium productions in the city.
Now, Hefei has inscribed "establishing the 'Hundred Operas Enter Anhui' national opera activity brand" and "planning and constructing the Chinese Opera Museum (Hefei)" into its "16th Five-Year" cultural development plan, proposing the goal of "building a national highland for opera culture inheritance and development." From master performances broadcast on CCTV to the five-city preliminary rounds of the Opera Connoisseur Convention, "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" has achieved bidirectional empowerment through "high-end guidance" and "nationwide participation." This not only signifies high recognition of Hefei's opera cultural atmosphere but also represents a crucial opportunity for the inheritance of Jianghuai opera and the dissemination of Anhui-style culture, enabling "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" to become a cultural bridge connecting national opera resources and igniting public passion for opera.
A wave of public opera enthusiasm nurtures Hefei's opera ecosystem within daily life. While top-tier operas grace national television and national auditions gather talent, what truly roots opera culture in Hefei is the deep-seated atmosphere that permeates folk traditions, embeds itself among the masses, and integrates into everyday life. Under the fervor of "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui," Hefei's opera ecosystem exhibits a distinct characteristic of "coexistence of refinement and popularity, with participation by all." Professional troupes, folk opera societies, ordinary citizens, and youth groups are mutually engaging, allowing the charm of opera to infuse the vibrant life of the city's streets and alleys.
On April 18, the 2026 Luyang Shangsi Quhui arrived as scheduled, coinciding with the 15th-anniversary celebration of the Qiufeng Xulai Kunqu Opera Study Society. Nearly 200 Kunqu enthusiasts from 24 provinces and municipalities and 38 opera societies gathered in Hefei, engaging in elegant a cappella singing and joint performances, perpetuating the refined elegance of the opera world through traditional gatherings. This Kunqu fever is a vivid microcosm brought by "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui." Since the initiative began, multiple Kunqu special performances have sold out instantly, with tickets being highly sought after by seasoned fans, visibly driving up the popularity of opera.
Xu Qiang, President of the Anhui University Qiufeng Xulai Kunqu Opera Study Society, candidly expressed that as an amateur Kunqu enthusiasts group, they genuinely feel the continuous warming of the city's opera atmosphere. The number of high-quality performance stages is increasing, and more university teachers, students, and young enthusiasts from various sectors are actively joining the opera community. Folk opera societies are vibrant, interactions among enthusiasts are frequent, and the once niche and高雅 (elegant) Kunqu Opera has truly entered the public view.
On one hand, the Connoisseur Convention's five-city preliminaries unearth folk talents; on the other, folk enthusiasts spontaneously hold elegant gatherings to pass on cultural heritage. On one hand, tickets for performances by famous masters and renowned plays are hard to come by; on the other, opera benefit performances are held throughout the city, reaching communities and staying close to the people. Since the launch of "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" in September 2025, over 36 opera genres from across the nation have performed more than a hundred times in Anhui, with Anhui local operas like Huangmei Opera and Lu Opera staging over 150 benefit performances, allowing ordinary citizens to enjoy high-level opera feasts right at their doorsteps. High-end art is not aloof; traditional opera is接地气 (down-to-earth). The interweaving of master performances, folk elegance, and grassroots benefits ensures that opera is no longer a distant, ancient artistic symbol but an observable, participatable, and relatable part of daily urban life, nurturing Hefei's warm, profound, vibrant, and enduring urban opera character.
Local rooting strengthens the foundation of inheritance through youthful energy. The core of "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" has never been the one-way convergence of external operas but rather a two-way engagement of "bringing in" and "going out." It both gathers the essence of national operas to nourish local opera development and promotes the innovative preservation of local intangible cultural heritage, leveraging the momentum to break into the mainstream and ensure the long-term sustainability of the city's opera brand.
As a national-level intangible cultural heritage native to Anhui, Lu Opera carries the millennial humanistic memories and local sentiments of the Jianghuai region, forming the root of Hefei's opera culture. On April 19, the youth version of Lu Opera "The Butcher Number One Scholar," produced by Hefei Performing Arts Group and meticulously restaged by the Hefei Lu Opera Theatre, was performed at the Hefei Grand Theatre.
The production adheres to the core of the traditional story and its humanistic spirit while boldly employing post-90s and post-00s young actors and a young creative team. It revitalizes the classic through youthful aesthetics, modern arrangements, and contemporary stage expression. Shedding outdated stereotypes, it retains the authentic Jianghuai flavor while integrating modern stage aesthetics, making the ancient Lu Opera light, agile, and full of vitality, achieving a youthful breakthrough for the local intangible cultural heritage.
Beyond this, in the city of Hefei, upcoming performances include youth versions of Lu Opera such as "Qin Xuemei," "Double Locked Cabinet," "Liu Lanzhi," the Huangmei Opera classic "The Female Consort," and the Hui Opera "Qi Jiguang," among other quality productions. This also demonstrates that Anhui's local operas are continuously refining themselves and being passed down through generations amidst the convergence of various operas, preserving their cultural roots while keeping pace with the times. This avoids fleeting popularity and truly achieves the preservation, innovation, and long-term inheritance of traditional culture.
Persistent efforts paint the urban landscape of "Operatic Hefei." From the ongoing "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" series of performances to the nationwide linkage of the Connoisseur Convention's cross-city preliminaries; from the traditional Shangsi Quhui gatherings to the continuous creation and rehearsal of local youth opera productions... Hefei is deeply cultivating its opera culture, not through short-term traffic stunts or one-off festive excitement, but by insistently shaping it through branding, normalization, and long-term mechanisms, making "Operatic Hefei" a lasting and distinctive urban cultural名片 (name card). "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" has made "operas from all directions" a常态 (norm); the Connoisseur Convention has built a long-term bridge for national opera exchange; folk opera gatherings meet year after year, passing the torch and consolidating the power of folk enthusiasts; local youth opera productions are continuously created and refined, constantly injecting fresh vitality into the city's opera scene.
Using opera as a bridge to gather cultural heritage and charm as the soul to build a famous city. Hefei is riding the wind of Chinese opera, seizing the opportunity of "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" to continuously deepen the pattern of opera integration, enrich the city's opera cultural底蕴 (foundation), and allow the millennial charm of opera to long linger over Luzhou. With the tide of "Hundred Operas Enter Anhui" rising in Jianghuai, and excellent operas continuing year after year in Hefei, a series of opera feasts, instances of public participation, and generations of inheritance are transforming Hefei into a cultural city with profound heritage, youthful dynamism, public appreciation for opera, and performances throughout the seasons. Using the enduring elegance of the opera world, it astonishes time and gains fame far and wide.
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