Founded in 1950, the Peking Opera Performance Major of the Academy of Chinese Opera is the traditional advantage of the Academy, the leader and demonstrator of higher education in Chinese opera, and a higher art college for cultivating opera talents
Founded on January 28, 1950, the Chinese Academy of Drama was originally under the Ministry of Culture, originally known as the Experimental School of Chinese Opera of the Bureau of Drama Improvement of the Ministry of Culture, and officially named the Chinese Opera School in January 1955. In November 1973, it was merged into the "Central Wuqi Art University" of the Ministry of Culture, and later renamed the "Central Wuqi Art University Opera School". In February 1977, the establishment of the Chinese Opera School was officially restored. In October 1978, with the approval of the State Council, it was upgraded to the Chinese Academy of Drama and enrolled the first batch of undergraduates, which opened a new chapter in Chinese opera art education. In 2000, it was transferred to Beijing, and the state implemented a system jointly established by the Ministry of Culture and the Beijing Municipal Government and mainly managed by Beijing.
The first president of the college was Mr. Tian Han, one of the founders of modern Chinese drama, and Wang Yaoqing, Yan Yong, Xiao Changhua, Shi Ruoxu, Wang Rongzeng, Yu Lin, Zhu Wenxiang, Zhou Yude, Du Changsheng and other presidents successively served as the school (college). The motto of the college is "Virtue and Art, Carry on the Past and Forge Ahead into the Future". At present, the college has 10 teaching units, including the Department of Peking Opera, the Department of Performance, the Department of Directing, the Department of Music, the Department of Chinese Opera and Literature, the Department of Stage Design, the Department of New Media Arts, the Department of International Cultural Exchange, the Department of Basic Education, and the Affiliated Middle School, with 2 first-level discipline master's programs of "Drama and Film and Television" and "Music and Dance", and 1 second-level discipline master's program of "Art Theory", with 15 undergraduate majors and 27 professional directions. Drama and opera is a key discipline in Beijing, and is included in the construction project of Beijing cultural and artistic talent training base. Peking Opera Performance is not only a traditional advantage of the college, but also a characteristic major at the national and Beijing levels.
The college takes discipline construction as the leader, pays attention to the adjustment of the structure of teachers, and continuously improves the quality of teachers. In recent years, the college has adhered to the principle of "introducing, cultivating and improving", and has successively introduced distinguished professors such as Fu Jin, Xie Boliang, Zhang Huoding and other discipline leaders and other high-level talents, and at the same time invited well-known experts, scholars and artists at home and abroad to teach in the college, forming a team of distinguished professors and famous artists as academic and creative leaders, combining the old and the new, combining the old and the new, combining the inside and outside the school, and combining the in-service and the visitor. By the end of 2016, among the 277 full-time teachers, the proportion of teachers with senior professional titles reached 48%, and the proportion of teachers with master's degree or above reached 69%.
Promoting teaching construction through artistic practice, creation and scientific research is the fine tradition of the college and the characteristic of talent cultivation of the college. At present, the college has 2 national characteristic major construction sites, 2 national excellent teaching achievement awards, 8 national quality engineering construction projects, 7 Beijing municipal excellent teaching achievement awards, 1 Beijing key discipline, 4 Beijing municipal characteristic majors, 4 Beijing excellent teaching teams, 6 Beijing municipal famous teachers, and more than 30 Beijing municipal quality engineering construction projects. Since 2006, the college has obtained more than 100 scientific research projects, including 55 scientific research projects at or above the provincial and ministerial level, six national projects, one national major project, and published more than 187 academic works and textbooks. Among them, the "Compendium of Chinese Art Education: Chinese Opera Volume" fills the gap of long-term unsystematic teaching materials for opera education. In 2013, the college was approved as the "Beijing Opera Culture Inheritance and Development Research Base", and in 2016, it was approved as the "Beijing Philosophy and Social Management Secondary Unit". The Academy has created and adapted a large number of outstanding works such as "The Legend of the White Snake", "The Flower Gun", "Yue Yun", "Du Shi Niang", "Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan", "Les Miserables", "Red Detachment of Women", "Three Stacks of Souls", "Long March Songs", "Mei Lan Ni Dress" and many other outstanding works, and has won the National Stage Art Excellence Project Nomination Award, the National Excellent Repertoire Award, the International Theatre Institute (ITI) Musical Theatre Award and other awards.
The college has formed a four-in-one talent training model of "teaching, practice, scientific research and creation". Over the past 60 years, the academy has cultivated more than 10,000 opera professionals for the country, and a large number of artists have emerged, such as Liu Xiurong, Xie Ruiqing, Yang Qiuling, Qian Haoliang, Zhang Chunxiao, Hou Zhengren, Li Guang, Sun Yue, Zhu Bingqian, Liu Changyu, Ye Shaolan, Li Changchun, Feng Zhixiao, Guan Yanong, Wang Mengyun, Li Chaogui, Li Weikang, Geng Qichang, Liu Qi, Shen Jianjin, Zhang Manling, Huang Xiaoci, Yu Kuizhi, Li Shengsu, Meng Guanglu, Yuan Huiqin, Wang Rongrong, Zhou Long, Zhang Huoding, Guo Yuejin, Du Zhenjie, Li Hongtu, Li Jun, etc. Since 1996, the academy has hosted six sessions of the "Graduate Class for Outstanding Young Performers of Peking Opera", making special contributions to the cultivation of Peking Opera performing arts talents in the 21st century. The Academy of Chinese Opera is known as the "cradle of Chinese opera talents".
The college has always undertaken the important mission of spreading Chinese opera culture overseas, and has established good cooperative relations with dozens of universities around the world. In November 2009, the institute and Binghamton University in the United States jointly established the world's first Confucius Institute for Chinese Opera, which has trained more than 1,000 international students from all over the world, participated in various international art festivals and performances for many times, and has had a wide impact at home and abroad.
As of December 2016, the college has 2,709 students, including 2,066 full-time undergraduates, 380 graduate students, 49 graduate students in the 6th China Peking Opera Outstanding Young Performers Graduate Class, and 214 continuing education students. The average employment rate of graduates in the last three years is 95.26%.
The college covers a total area of 54,300 square meters, with a total construction area of 96,000 square meters. It has large and small theaters, film and television production centers, recording studios, gymnasiums and other teaching practice places. By the end of 2016, the total construction area of the college library was 5,723 square meters, with 280,911 paper books and 190.64GB of electronic books.
Facing the future, the college will further emancipate the mind, reform and innovate, forge ahead, implement the "two-step" development strategy determined by the first party congress of the college, solidly promote the construction of the "National Center for the Cultivation of Senior Talents in Chinese Opera, the Research Center for Chinese Opera Theory, and the Information Exchange and Dissemination Center for Chinese Opera Culture", and strive to build a university of Chinese opera arts with distinctive national characteristics, first-class domestic standards and wide international influence.
