Gong Bo, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing International Studies University (BISU) Committee and vice-president of the university, attended the Fourth International Theater Exchange and Cooperation Forum in Beijing on Oct 23. 

The forum brought together representatives from more than 20 member institutions, who exchanged views on joint training of young talent, the use of artificial intelligence and the promotion of Chinese opera overseas.

Participating institutions included Tsinghua University, Central Conservatory of Music, National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts (NACTA), Shanghai Theater Academy, National Peking Opera Company, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, City University of Macao, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Ulster University of the United Kingdom, Binghamton University of the United States and the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University in Japan.

Chinese and international students who jointly created and performed "New Tales of the White Snake," a cross-cultural production rooted in Peking Opera, pose for a photo on the sidelines of the forum.

At the forum, Gong briefed participants on BISU-NACTA cooperation. He noted that the joint "language + art" program for international students has been launched, with its first cohort experiencing Chinese opera while learning the Chinese language, so that language teaching and cultural engagement reinforce each other. Leveraging BISU's multilingual strengths, he added, the two universities are extending their cooperation from the classroom to international communication.

Gong Bo introduces the BISU-NACTA cooperation program.

On promoting Chinese opera overseas, Gong stressed the need to respect the linguistic conventions and cultural logic of target audiences and to explore new-media formats such as multilingual short videos, so that Chinese stories can reach overseas audiences.

He said the two universities would draw on their respective strengths in talent cultivation to jointly organize overseas tours by student art troupes, and would use Chinese opera to help international students learn about China through immersive experiences such as wearing opera costumes and learning stage movements.