Opéra de Pékin : l'école de Shanghaï
Pierre Bonneau
2001 - 26 min - Vidéo - France

Shanghai : the opera here is part of popular culture. It is not the opera as we know it in the West, but the Peking Opera, which blends music, singing and comedy, mime, dancing and acrobatics.
It was Monsieur Pierre, 81 years old, who guided me in this adventure.
Twenty young people from the suburbs of Lyon have just arrived in Shanghai for a visit of one month. Margot Carrère, director of Zanka, a street theatre company, has brought them here to help them discover the techniques of the Peking Opera, which are taught today in specialised schools. The Shanghai school opened in 1954 and currently has 365 pupils. The children are recruited from the age of 10, after a severe selection process. The teaching which will make them complete performers will last 7 years.
This morning the director of the school welcomes the French group.