Performances are staged at the 60th anniversary celebration of the Haimen Folk Opera Art Troupe on August 5, 2018. [Photo/news.cn]

Nantong's Haimen in Jiangsu province presented a performance to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Haimen folk opera art troupe at the Haimen convention and exhibition center on August 5.

Celebration attendees included officials from the Chinese Theatre Association and the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and members of troupes from Suzhou, Kunshan, and Nantong’s Tongzhou district.

Several artists were awarded during the celebration. Screenwriter Zhang Dongping and director Li Qingyun of the Haimen folk song art troupe won special contribution awards.

Eighty-year-old Zhang has been a member of the council of the Association of Chinese Modern Opera and many of his works created for the Haimen folk song art troupe were financed by the Jiangsu Provincial Art Foundation.

Song Weixiang, president of the Haimen folk song art troupe, was honored as a national intangible cultural inheritor for her 34-year persistence in cultivating young Haimen folk song actors and actresses.

As one part of the national intangible cultural heritage program, recordings of two folk songs were released on site, marking Haimen folk song’s entrance into the digital era.

To celebrate its anniversary, the Haimen folk song art troupe also put on several folk opera performances, a seminar on inheritance and development of Haimen folk songs and a lecture on development of Jiangsu culture.