On October 11^th, the “Chinese Opera Gala (Kunshan) 2020” was held in Kunshan city, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the People’s Government in Jiangsu Province. Li Qun, vice minister and member of the leading party group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, attended the gala and announced the opening. Ma Xin, vice governor of the Jiangsu Province, attended and delivered a speech.

    Li Qun said that Chinese opera was a significant part of outstanding traditional Chinese culture. The CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as it’s core attached great importance to and established a series of important documents to the inheritance and development of outstanding traditional Chinese culture. Starting from 2018, Chinese Opera Gala (Kunshan) had been held for three years consecutively, in which 348 types of drama and 2 kinds of dramatic forms, puppet show and Chinese shadow puppetry, were combined, so the gala was indeed a large celebration in Chinese opera circle. The year 2020 was vital for it was near the end of the authority’s goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and to finish the “13^th Five Year” plan. The gala showed 116 types of Chinese drama (232 types were already presented in the previous two years combined) and classical operas of puppet show and Chinese shadow puppetry. The gala also contributed to create a favorable atmosphere for the success of the poverty alleviation and for the building of a moderately prosperous society. He hoped that art practitioners could gather more closely around the CPC Contral Committee with Xi Jinping as it's core; see Xi Jinping's thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era as guidance; stick to the direction that art should offer service to people and to socialism as well as to the principle of "let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend" and persevere in creative transformation and creative development. As a result, there would be more outstanding works with profound thoughts, fine techniques and perfect workmanship to contribute to the success of building a moderately prosperous society and socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, to the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation and to people's wish to have a better life.

    Ma Xin said that the culture in Jiangsu Province was a precious treasure of Chinese civilization, because of it’s rich accumulation and long history. The local government would carry out it’s cultural responsibilities in a new era to be an “inheritor” and an “promoter” of the outstanding traditional culture so as to make the Chinese Opera Gala (Kunshan) a best example in the inheritance and the promotion of national opera as well as to shoulder the responsibility of and contribute to the development of Chinese opera and traditional Chinese culture.

    According to statistics, from 2018, 232 types of opera and 274 shows had been seen in 134 performances; participators had been from 30 provinces (distracts and cities) and 80 thousand audience had seen it live and more than 38 million people had seen it online. The gala lasted for more than a month, during which, audience could enjoy 116 types of Chinese opera, including 19 full-scale dramas, 20 opera highlights and 1 Chinese opera evening. Apart form events of the previous two years, there were also new ones, including a painting exhibition named “hundreds of Chinese operas and hundreds of paintings”, Chinese opera cultural month in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Chinese opera in campus, integration of culture and tourism named “watch Chinese opera and travel in Jiangsu Province” and 6 routes to enjoy Chinese opera and scenic beauty. In addition, the show would also be brought to Zhouzhuang scenic area, Jinhua Village in Zhangpu Town and other places, so as to combine culture and tourism initiated by Chinese opera popularization. Relating topics were also found in Weibo, TikTok, Bilibili and other new media platforms. According to incomplete statistics, at 22 O’clock on October 11^th, more than 500 million people had read articles of this topic and more than 11.312 million audience had watched the the performance of the opening ceremony broadcast online.