Editor's note: Wearing traditional costumes, waving water sleeves, and spinning folding fans ... Recently, “Appreciation of Jiangxi Opera”, an optional college course at Nanchang University (NCU), went viral on the internet. Chen Li, the instructor of this course, is a professor at Nanchang University. Additionally, she is also a national first-class actress and the director at the Culture and Art Center of Jiangxi Opera in Nanchang University. In her class, she guides students to personally experience the charm of Jiangxi Opera and the richness of traditional Chinese culture.
In recent years, Nanchang Universityhas placed significant emphasis on cultivating students' humanistic literacy and scientific spirit, fostering students’critical thinking abilities, etc. Through digital empowerment and hierarchal classification , NCU has successfully constructed over 500 optional college courses with distinctive features.This endeavor has yielded remarkable achievements, with 36 optional college courses being recognized as “National First-Class Courses”. Notably, “Traditional Customs and Chinese Arts” was selected, by the Ministry of Education, into the first batch of college-level courses to be showcased on its online international platform, thereby extending its influence. In the upcoming phase, Nanchang University is committed to integrating digital technology into the entire process of college education, further promoting the quality of optional college courses and enhancing the high-quality development of talent cultivation.
Appreciation of Jiangxi Opera, an exemplary outcome of NCU's construction of optional college courses with its’ unique characteristics, garnered significant media attention. The media center of NCU initially reported on the course, sharing pictures, descriptions, and videos on NCU’s official platform. Subsequently, these materials were distributed to various media outlets. By now, the course has received widespread coverage, with the initial report being re-posted by prominent media channels such as the official Weibo account of People's Daily, People's Daily Online, Xinhua News Agency, Xinhua Daily Telegraph, China Youth Daily, and JXTV City Channel. Video clips from the course have already amassed millions of likes on platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and WeChat Channels. Additional interviews and reports are currently in progress. Below is an excerpt from the reports:
In a recent video, a teacher mesmerized her students by donning traditional costumes, waving water sleeves, and spinning folding fans as she performed Jiangxi Opera.
During the class, the teacher, adorned in traditional costumes, demonstrated the classic movements of Jiangxi Opera to her students. As the students observed, their reactions ranged from awe to excitement, exclaiming, “So beautiful and so cool!” The enchanting display has garnered attention from numerous netizens, who expressed their envy and desire to be part of such an extraordinary class.
This is what is taking place in the class named “Appreciation of Jiangxi Opera” at Art school of Nanchang University. The instructor of the course, Chen Li, is not only a professor of NCU, but also an inheritor of Jiangxi opera, one of the national intangible cultural heritages.
“In the past, my focus was primarily on the contents of textbooks. However, this semester, I decided to adopt a new teaching approach that combines online classes with in-person appreciation classes. To my surprise, the very first class was a great success, attracting a significant number of students,” shared Chen Li. After just two in-person classes, the classroom which can accommodate up to 200 people, was already filled to capacity.
The students in the class were so enthralled that they shared their learning experience on the social media. Many students eagerly inquired about the class timetable or invited others to attend the class together.Remarkably, even students from other universities expressed interest and asked if they could also participate in the class.
During the class, the students also had the chance to don theatrical costumes and experience the beauty of Jiangxi Opera firsthand. Putting on the makeup of Jiangxi Opera proved to be a truly novel and exciting experience for students. They applied layers of oil-based colors to their faces and adorned their heads with special props. All of these were completely new to them.
“I used to feel that traditional cultural forms like Jiangxi Opera were distant from us, but unexpectedly, in the classroom, I truly experienced the essence of Jiangxi Opera. This made me discover the profound beauty of Chinese culture,” said He Yangjing, a student at NCU.
Regarding the unexpected fame, Chen Li considers it as a motivation. “The main purpose of the course ‘Appreciation of Jiangxi Opera’ is to help students understand traditional culture, and the history of Jiangxi Opera, a representative opera in Jiangxi, as well as its vocal style and performance characteristics,” said Chen Li. Furthermore, she plans to continue improving her teaching methods to constantly meet the audiovisual aesthetics of young people.
“Previously, I mainly performed Jiangxi Opera on stage for the audience,” said Chen Li. After returning to the campus, she looks forward to more opportunities to integrate university courses with intangible cultural heritage, helping the intangible cultural heritage to rejuvenate. She also hopes that more young people will be able to discover the beauty of intangible cultural heritage.
Links for media reports:
the official Weibo account of People's Daily:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/53mmaHU5Mr-dogy9llGoDQ
People's Daily Online:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/eSGcvkgjai4BtGdPg4DD1w
China Youth Daily:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/N8Zf96Sv2Nxooy_dLvjGlQ
JXTV City Channel:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HlHmITuQOFXaRi8D1xEUdw
Editor: Tu Jinfeng
Executive editor: Xu Hang
