China has finished a 17-year project to videotape 355 Peking opera classics by the end of August.
This was announced at the project's final meeting attended by Li Ruihuan, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who proposed and masterminded the project.
The videotaping is made by integrating the singing of 47 prominent Peking Opera artists, mostly recorded from the 1940s to the 1960s, with performances by their younger-generation followers. The project saw the completion of 582 videotapes, lasting over 500 hours.
Some audio material has been technically processed to improve sound, according to the sources.
Artists, drama theorists, and Peking Opera fans attending the meeting shared the view that the videotaping has virtually seamlessly blended with the old records and new images.
Besides Peking opera, some of China's local operas have also videotaped in the same way, said the sources.
(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2002)
