The Tong Opera play Story of the In-laws recently won third place in the inaugural "Tianhan Cup" China-Xiangshui Small Opera Competition.

Derived from Tongzi Opera, Tong Opera is a local traditional drama in Tongzhou district, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province and a national-level intangible cultural heritage item with a history of over 1,000 years.

In recent years, Tongzhou has been promoting innovation in Tongzi Opera by utilizing its cultural brands, such as China's quyi town, aiming to infuse traditional opera with modern elements.

At the end of May, Chen Ying Selling Water, a large-scale adaptation of the traditional Tong Opera, premiered at the Nantong Gengsu Theater. This opera is more professional than traditional Tongzi Opera, said He Tingting, an official at the Tongzhou bureau of culture, radio, television, and tourism. "This is a notable change in the development of Tong Opera."  

To date, Tongzhou has created over 20 Tong Opera plays amid efforts to promote the innovative development of traditional Tong drama.           

In 2021, the Tongzhou culture center introduced digital technology and began shooting documentaries on Tongzhou folk songs and Tongzi Opera, which are now nearly completed," said Wang Yanfang, director of the center.

That same year, the center launched projects to produce comic books and animations related to traditional culture to further protect and promote Tongzhou's traditional culture.

Tongzhou is currently home to 25 municipal and district-level cultural relic protection units, 22 national, provincial, municipal, and district-level intangible cultural heritage projects and 21 municipal-level intangible cultural heritage inheritance bases. The number of inheritors for various intangible cultural heritage stands at 39.

The Tong Opera play Chen Ying Selling Water. [Photo/IC]