Huaiju actor Liang Weiping, a Wenhua Award winner, says that the only way to keep the art form alive is to attract the younger generation with new quality productions

One of the 10 Wenhua Award winners at the 12th China Art Festival, Liang Weiping believes that the future of his art depends on finding new audiences in the urban millennial generations.

Liang, 62, was one of 10 artists awarded the national accolade from the State in May, in recognition of their achievements in creating outstanding stage productions in the past three years.

A Huaiju actor since the age of 15, Liang is the artistic director of the Shanghai Huaiju Opera Troupe.

The art form was included on the national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

"Liang Weiping, who is recognized as an exponent of the national intangible cultural heritage, has carried on with the original tradition and experimented with innovations," reads the comment from the jury of the China Art Festival.

"He has established a new style of singing and performing for Huaiju Opera. And he has excelled in the portrayal of characters, especially in four best-received repertoires, where he has showcased lively performances of precise rhythm. While his singing voice is deep and mellow, it reflects the emotions and spiritual world of the characters."

The jury especially praised his performance in the latest production Mr Wu Xun, in which he presents the life of a beggar determined to build schools for the poor, based on a true story from the 18th century.

"Liang Weiping has mastered the techniques of different roles, from the young to the old, and a clown. He artistically presents the whole life and inner world of Wu Xun, giving a new image to an immortal character of Chinese opera art," says the Wenhua award jury.

The play, which premiered in 2017, was written by Luo Huaizhen, a veteran playwright who collaborates with Liang on a regular basis.

Luo's 1993 Huaiju play, The Golden Dragon and the Mayfly, in which Liang took the lead role, is widely recognized as a masterpiece in China's modern theater history.

Luo is now the vice-chairman of the China Theater Association. He used to say that Liang's performance "marked the ultimate artistic achievement for his generation of Chinese folk opera artists", though he is not so well known because Huaiju Opera has limited appeal around China.

As the most respected Huaiju artist in China, Liang believes it is his responsibility to revitalize Huaiju by introducing the traditional opera to young audiences, and keep creating quality productions.

Huaiju stands out in the folk opera scene of Shanghai as "simple and unadorned, and a little rustic", says Liang. "This characteristic means it is suitable for heavy realistic plays such as Mr Wu Xun."

After the play was premiered in Shanghai, Mr Wu Xun was performed in Beijing first at the Mei Lanfang Grand Theater, and then on campus of Peking University, introducing Huaiju and the creativity of traditional folk opera in China to young students.

Speaking about his award, Liang says: "I feel unworthy of the grand Wenhua prize, because there are so many outstanding productions from all over the country.

"But on the other hand, Huaiju Opera was in need of this prize, and so is Shanghai Huaiju Opera Troupe."

Huaiju Opera, although it originated in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, flourished in Shanghai in the 20th century. The Shanghai Huaiju Opera Troupe, which was founded in 1953, is the largest institution for the opera in China, with more than 300 productions and national awards to its credit.

Liang says: "There was the time when we would perform a play for a year and half, seven days a week, always to full houses.

"For a long period the man in charge of the box office in our troupe would cautiously avoid any chairperson of the workers unions from the factories, because he could not satisfy their demand for theater tickets."

Huaiju, one of several hundred regional folk operas in China, originated in the mid-Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), from the folk ballads of the region known as "Jiangbei" (a widely-used term referring to the northern bank of the Yangtze River, covering part of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces). It was later combined with other folk ballads and especially those from Anhui, which brought great artistic improvements in its performances and artistic expressions.

Then, at the turn of the 1900s, a large number of people from the Jiangbei region migrated to Shanghai because of famine and poverty caused by floods or drought. They joined the urban work force in Shanghai, doing hard labor in the harbor and factories and in service industries. The ballads and melodies of Huaiju Opera found a home in Shanghai.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, workers gained social recognition and respect. People from Jiangbei took up a large number of the jobs in Shanghai's leading industries: textile mills, iron and steel plants and shipyards. So, Huaiju rose to prominence in the Chinese folk opera scene as well.

Liang started his career in the golden age of Huaiju Opera, witnessing the great popularity of master artists such as Xiao Wenyan. He himself was "pushed forward" by senior artists, rising gradually to center stage.

Since the 1990s, however, things have changed drastically. And Shanghai has gradually changed from a manufacturing center to an international metropolis.

So, as factories were closed or relocated out of the city, workers were laid off and scattered to suburban residential communities.

During this period, not only Huaiju, but many other traditional Chinese opera forms, went through a slump.

Speaking about the changes, Liang says: "There are now too many new forms of entertainment, especially with the rise of the internet, and people became easily distracted."

But determined to keep the art form alive, Liang and colleagues went the extra mile to perform in suburban communities. "Jinshan, Chongming and Waigaoqiao, you name it, we have performed there," says Liang.

"To showcase the value of Huaiju as a unique opera form, we had to create fine productions.

"This is because only if we succeed in that, can we attract new audiences. And I believe that one day the young and well-educated people in urban China will recognize the charm of Huaiju."