The opera troupe was performing "Qin Qiang", or Qin Opera, in Pucheng County, Shaanxi Province. The head of the troupe was 75-year-old Wang Peiji.
Wang Peiji began learning to sing opera when he was 12 years old. He had been singing Qin Opera for more than 60 years. After his retirement, he founded his own opera troupe, called the Zhengfeng Opera Society. He took in students and taught them singing. At one time, he had more than 20 students under his instruction. But now there were only two students left. Most of his students had been children from the surrounding countryside.
The following story concerns Wang Peiji and two of his students. The girl on the left in the picture was among the first group of students in the Zhengfeng Opera Society. Her name is Wang Tianli.
In 1997, Wang Tianli was 21 years old, and a member of the Zhengfeng Opera Society.
Wang Peiji was 65 years old. He had already taught more than 100 students in his small yard. Tianli was among his first group of students, and she was the only one who had remained in the Opera Society for as long as 7 years.

By 2006, things had changed at the Zhengfeng Opera Society.
The Zhengfeng Opera Society had been in existence for 17 years. Even though it was well known locally, it was attracting fewer and fewer members. As a result, the Zhengfeng Opera Society was facing severe difficulties.
Yang Lina, at seven years old, was the youngest student in the Opera Society.
 The boy in the right of the picture was, ten years before, Teacher Wang's youngest student. His name is Tiancai.
Ten years before, in the winter of 1997, Tiancai was only 13 years old. He was the only boy in the Zhengfeng Opera Society.
At the time, Wang Tianli was planning to leave, having been there for seven years.
The Opera Society was preparing for a performance, and was trying to recall all its old performers, who had left. Since they were all living, scattered in the neighbouring villages, and there was no telephone available, Teacher Wang asked Tiancai to take his bike and inform everybody.

Tiancai got back after dark. He'd been riding his bike for over 50 kilometers.
Even though Tiancai wasn't very clear about what it meant to be a successor, he recognized that Teacher Wang was being nice to him. After their talk, he began to accept more responsibilities.
The Opera Society accepted three new boys. 20. Tiancai became more hard-working.