Promotional material of See 'Yu' on Stage Photo: Courtesy of iQIYI

  

Promotional material of See 'Yu' on Stage Photo: Courtesy of iQIYI

Hosted by the "modern Mulan of Peking Opera" Wang Peiyu, China's first "Peking Opera talk show" See 'Yu' on Stage (Yu Ni Taishang Jian) is set to debut on Chinese streaming giant iQIYI on Friday. 

Considered by many to be the quintessence of Chinese culture, Peking Opera combines music, dance and singing together into a single art form. While Peking Opera tends to be more popular among older Chinese than today's younger generations in China, Wang, a veteran of the laosheng (old male) role, has managed to bring young audiences closer to the time-honored art form over the years.

"Young people have plenty of choices today: movies, concerts, video games, reading, travel, theaters. Nevertheless, people know that Peking Opera is the representative of Chinese Opera. It's beautiful and alive. Though it may appear distant from people's lives today, that's okay. We can cultivate an audience while we wait for it to develop. Gradually, it will draw attention and grow on more and more young people," Wang said in an interview with the Global Times in May 2019.

It seems that the talk show has already locked down an audience among young viewers. The hashtag for the show had already gained more than 2.23 million views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Thursday afternoon.

Netizens were surprised and delighted by the creative fusion of Peking Opera and talk show and expressed high anticipation for its debut.

"Peking Opera actually can be rather fun, as long as you are willing to get close to it and feel it," wrote one Sina Weibo user.

"Thanks to Boss Yu, Peking Opera will no longer be a highbrow type of song that few people can sing along to," another posted.

Wang has revealed that she has been planning the show since 2018. In addition to introducing the history, stories and different schools of Peking Opera, Wang will also perform on the show, which will update every Friday and Sunday at noon on iQIYI.

Global Times