On a warm and humid spring day in Southern China's Guangzhou, a routine performance of the Yueju Opera is staged at the Tongle Restaurant - the only surviving tea house devoted to the traditional performing art form in the capital city of Guangdong province.
When the play reached its climax, some audience members approached the stage and placed tips on the music stand before returning to their seats to continue watching.
Tea houses are the hotbed of time-horned Yueju Opera, or Cantonese Opera, which is rooted in the Cantonese-speaking provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, combining Mandarin operatic traditions and the Cantonese dialect. It's renowned for its bold, emotional, and exaggerated expressions, accompanied by Chinese martial arts. Over the centuries, it has developed a rich repertoire of stories ranging from historical epics to descriptions of daily life. In 2009, it was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
But in modern times, the traditional opera is facing a dilemma in trying to revive its popularity.
According to local media reports, there were over 60 tea houses in Guangzhou during its peak time in the 1980-90s. But nowadays, the Tongle Restaurant is the only one of its kind.
"When senior performers retire, Yueju Opera tea houses may vanish. So I came today to learn about the show (before it's too late)," an unnamed 24-year-old visitor told Guangzhou Daily after a show.
The gradual vanishing of such tea houses is a result of market choice, according to the Guangzhou-based newspaper, New Express.
"In the past, these tea houses could bring profits to business owners due to its attractiveness to the general public. But now the main audiences are senior citizens, " a local business man surnamed Chen told the New Express.
As the opera is losing its charm for young people, many tea houses have opted to cancelling the shows, Chen said.
As in many other forms of traditional opera, the future of Yueju Opera faces problems that include a loss of public appeal, budget pressures and talent shortages.
