This is a group of people who like traditional Chinese opera. They love opera, sing opera, are obsessed with opera. Their lives are colored by the highlights of performance on stage.
On April 2, 2007, the Beijing Dongcheng District Cultural Center held a special vocal concert displaying traditional Peking Opera in honor of the Olympics.
None of the participants were professional Peking Opera troupe performers, but rather were opera fans that the audience calls piaoyou (amateur actors; literally ticket friends). Yang Xiuli is a Peking Opera enthusiast who has studied it for some time now. Though she has participated in many official performances, every time before she goes on stage, she still feels nervous.
It's finally Yang Xiuli's turn to go on stage. As an amateur Peking Opera performer, she always feels that she has a long way to go to be at the level expected of professionals. Even the night before the performance, she was still rehearsing with her partner.

So she hadn't anticipated such a successful performance and the supportive audience she received today.

Everyday in the Temple of Earth Park, there are early risers who come here to exercise. Those doing Taiji, folk dancing, or playing Kongzhu make up the unique scenery of the park.

But in the northwest corner of the park, there is a totally different scene. This is where Peking Opera fans gather.
Ever since she became a fan of Peking Opera, Yang Xiuli comes here every Saturday. One reason is to practice basic skills, but more importantly she comes here to meet with her fellow traditional Peking Opera enthusiasts. The reason they can gather here hearkens back to one of the great charms of the art of Peking Opera.
Peking Opera，the theatrical arts of Constantine Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht are dubbed the world's three great performance systems. Peking Opera has a history of over 200 years and is the greatest form of Chinese operas. Peking Opera is called the circular art, the circle being the highest condition which Chinese seek after, as in fullness, smoothness and gracefulness. In the singing, reciting, acting, striking, acclaimed as no sound without song, no movement without dance. Peking Opera not only has an abundance of plays and performers, but also an extensive audience and legion of fans across all of China, making it the most influential traditional Chinese performance art.

Yang Xiuli has liked Peking Opera since childhood, but she didn't start studying it until only recently. She works in a foreign-owned enterprise that deals in medical equipment as the sales office manager.

Her company office is in the Twin Towers of Beijing's Chaoyang District. Because business is busy, everyday she arrives earlier than all her coworkers to make the daily sales plan for her department.

Yang Xiuli's work is not only very busy but also very important, as it relates to people's life and well-being, so she has a big responsibility and consequently a lot of pressure.

She has a lot of jewelry she treasures, but she never wears any in her daily life. Only on stage do people get to see this beloved jewelry. Most of her closet space at home is taken up by the costumes she has collected. Singing opera has not only become one of the most important parts of Yang Xiuli's life, but at the same time it is entrusted with her and her fellow fans' feelings.

Peking Opera is a widespread folk art with fans also spread all over the country. Xi'an, ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, is no exception. The west end of Heping Gate in the city's south is the place where most Peking Opera fans go to practice. Every morning, they come here to play their instruments and sing their songs to their hearts' content.

Aside from Peking Opera, there is an even older kind of opera in Xi'an called Qin Qiang or Shaanxi Opera. It began in the Qin Dynasty, flourished during the Tang Dynasty and has evolved over a thousand years, still loved by the people of Xi'an today. Here, it is easy to find people who can real off a few lines of Shaanxi Opera. This historic local opera remains an indispensable part of spiritual life here.

It has a style different from Peking Opera and people often refer to singing Shaanxi Opera as howling because the music is desolate and resounding, full of passion, overflowing with wild fervor, and is ideal for catharsis of the inner emotions.

The Shaanxi Bureau of Culture has an office for the revival of Shaanxi Opera. Qiao Jianxin is one of the publicity administrators of this office. These days he is busy delivering the decisions of the higher-ups to the various Shaanxi Opera organizations around the country.

The preliminary of the opera fans contest is going on outside the Heping Gate and the excitement of the fans builds as the contest continues. The match started at 2'o'clock but people have come an hour early just to get a good spot.

Although it is an amateur competition between fans, they have invited professional judges and, this time, even have volunteers shooting a documentary.

At that time, the director was on stage performing and certainly had no time to deal with Lu Wenye's problem.

Although Lu Wenye wasn't able to register, she heard that there was another Shaanxi opera competition going on at the north city Anyuan Gate, so she decided to first send her children home and then go there to try her luck.

The contest by the north city Anyuan Gate is raging on as well, and Lu Wenye hopes with all her heart to be able to register here. But by the time she got to this contest, it was already well into its second round. Determined not to leave empty-handed, Lu Wenye found the sponsor in the hopes of arranging something for herself.

But because the time slots for the contestants were all full, Lu Wenye was ultimately unable to get a chance to sing here either.

Due to the tremendous success of the performance at the Cultural Center, Yang Xiuli has recently received numerous invitations to perform. Yet, she feels that her singing skills are still lacking something. To be able to show the most graceful posture on stage, she doesn't even take Sundays off; she goes early in the morning to the Beijing Drama School to meet her teacher Li Wenmin for extra instruction.

After learning from her teacher during the day, Yang Xiuli goes home in the evening where she seizes the moment by watching Peking Opera segments playing on TV and again waving her long sleeves. She practices each move over and over until she masters it. 

On Saturday, Yang Xiuli and fellow opera fans go as usual to the Temple of Earth Park to practice their postures.

One fan named Dan Shuyan particularly appreciates Yang Xiuli's performance. Today she has made a special trip over just ask for Yang Xiuli's advice.

Dan Shuyan and her husband came to Beijing from Liaoning Province They run a clothing store and business is red hot. Ever since Dan Shuyan fell in love with Peking Opera, her husband who already knew how to play the Chinese erhu has gradually developed an interested in it as well. Together, they interpret the traditional cultural arts in their own way.

Everyday after work, the couple goes to the park near the clothing market to practice Peking Opera. Her husband plays the erhu while she sings, the two together perfectly and tacitly coordinated.

In this practice room of no more than 30 square meters, tonight there is an opera fan from far-flung Taiwan who was attracted to the group by its reputation and has come to exchange ideas.

Most opera fans in Beijing have a fixed location for activities. Yang Xiuli and her fellow fans usually go to the Dongcheng (East City) District Imperial College Peking Opera Club to practice. Everyone calls the place the national legacy hall.

Stemming from their love for the performance art of Peking Opera, these fans are no longer satisfied with simply listening to and singing opera at home, but have of their own accord organized themselves and exchange techniques together, to such an extent that even famous performers from professional troupes are willing to come and give them advice.

Among Yang Xiuli's friends are also some young opera fans. Although they are not at the level where they can go on stage with the club members, their keen interest keeps them coming to Yang Xiuli's home to seek advice on the esoteric art of Peking Opera. 

Early this morning, Lu Wenye was originally going to send her granddaughter off to kindergarten, but ended up bringing the child straight to the opera fans contest. As she sees that rain is imminent, her daughter gets anxious.

The Shaanxi Opera contest outside the Heping Gate is coming to an end, and all the contestants have brought out their special skills. The contestants who have entered the final round have rented special performance costumes and gotten someone to do their makeup and styling for a better result. This has given the audience the good fortune of a rare sight.
Although Lu Wenye was not able to sing in the end, she did win public praise and was recognized by everyone as a true opera fan. With the reporter's encouragement, Lu Wenye finally shared her voice in front of everyone.
The resounding voice of Lu Wenye can often be heard at the edge of Heping Gate in Xi'an since that time.
Every so often, the Beijing Dongcheng District Cultural Center amateur actors club has another lively get together. Yang Xiuli, through the help of teachers and friends and rigorous practice, has significantly improved her performance level and has become one of the fan club's pillars of the stage. Today she appears very professional.

There are countless opera fans in China like Yang Xiul. They are partial to their own ethnic arts which they hold fast to. Through their singing, opera fans not only enrich their lives and uplift their spirits, but also practice what they preach in inheriting and spreading the Chinese art of opera.