A Yueju Opera performer prepares for a show. [Photo/WeChat account: qdrmt0513]

Artists from the Yueju Opera Troupe in Qidong, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, recently performed some selected scenes from Yueju Opera at the Qidong Culture Center.

A Yueju Opera performer puts on a performance. [Photo/WeChat account: qdrmt0513]

This is the ninth year that the opera troupe has put on an exclusive performance of selected Yueju opera scenes, which were well-received by local residents.

The Qidong Yueju Opera Troupe was established in 1954 based on the Yueju Opera group from Zhejiang province, and in the 1970s the troupe brought in a group of outstanding Yueju Opera performers from Shanghai, Ningbo, Wuxi, and Nanjing to train young Yueju Opera lovers in Qidong, who later became the troupe's backbone.

Young Yueju Opera performers put on a performance. [Photo/WeChat account: qdrmt0513]

The development of the opera troupe culminated in the 1980s and 1990s when it gained a strong reputation in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

However, with the popularization of television and pop music, people's enthusiasm for opera gradually declined.

Audiences applaud for a Yueju Opera performance by the Qidong Yueju Opera Troupe. [Photo/WeChat account: qdrmt0513]

Since 2014, the opera troupe has started putting on performances free of charge in a bid to promote the art form.

Ni Jingjing, director of the Qidong Yueju Opera Troupe, said that the troupe also performs Yueju Opera in the countryside, at schools, and at local enterprises each year and streamlines their performances.