From December 8 to 16, 2000, at the invitation of Taiwan Traditional Arts and Crafts Center, this writer attended the “Symposium
of Local
Operas across the Taiwan Straight”with another eight members from Shanxi Taigu Yangko (a popular rural folk dance) Performing Delegation. The event comprised two programs: one was local opera performance and the other
academic discussions. As for the acting, there were altogether 9 opera troupes with 5 coming from the mainland and 4 within Taiwan. The audience enthusiastically received all of the 9 troupes' demonstrations. For academic symposium, the secretariat invited 11 mainlanders apart from more than 30 local speakers. All told, there were up to 100 attendees. China is home to up to 360 kinds of dramatic operas with local operas accounting for almost two－thirds of the total. These operettas are important members of the big family of drama, and the beautiful flowers in the garden of Chinese traditional operas. For a long time, people, however, do not attach much importance to these parochial operas. The aim of this activity was to showcase these operas in order to arouse the public awareness and their interests. It was the first time for theatrical circles on both sides of Taiwan Straight to sit together at such a large－scale and epochal cultural event, which would certainly be conducive to the mutual understanding between opera people across the Straight, and give a great impetus to the development of Chinese performing art.