The 2025 Chinese Opera Hundred Plays (Kunshan) Grand Ceremony kicked off on the evening of the 8th in Kunshan, Jiangsu. The theme of this year's Bai Xi Festival is "Gathering China's Bai Xi and Showcasing the New Beauty of Traditional Chinese Opera". It will hold a series of activities, including a national opera actor performance (martial arts opera), an invitation exhibition of excellent plays, sharing of excellent cases of opera creation, protection and inheritance activities for endangered opera genres, and promotion and exchange of traditional Chinese opera. Kunshan is the hometown of Kunqu, known as the "Master of Hundred Plays". Since 2018, the Hundred Plays Festival has been successfully held here for six sessions, and for the first time, 348 theatrical genres and two forms of puppetry and shadow puppetry across the country have achieved a "big reunion". This year, 31 types of dramas and 53 theater troupes from across the country will gather in Kunshan to perform 107 dramas (festivals), competing among hundreds of dramas in one city. At the opening ceremony, representatives of individuals selected for the 2025 National Leading Talent Training Program for Traditional Chinese Opera Performance and representatives of units selected for the 2020-2024 Outstanding Cases of Traditional Chinese Opera Creation by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism were awarded commemorative certificates. The Kunqu opera "Passing on the Torch" kicked off the opening ceremony performance, with several generations of Kunqu opera performers on stage, showcasing the continuous and intergenerational pulse of Kunqu opera in its birthplace Kunshan. On stage, Jie Suqian from Shipai Central Primary School in Bacheng Town, Kunshan City, had a serious expression and skilled movements. Since first grade, Jie Suqian has been associated with Kunqu opera. She shed tears during her initial practice of playing the lower fork, and also practiced repeatedly to wear down three sets of costumes in order to master her long sleeves. Hard work pays off. In the 2024 "Chinese Children's Opera Little Plum Blossom Gathering" Kunshan Selection Competition, Jie Suqian won the first prize of the individual award. The "Little Plum Blossom" Kunqu Art Troupe of Shipai Central Primary School, where she works, was also recently awarded the title of "New Era Good Youth" in China. Standing on the stage of the Hundred Opera Festival, I feel that I can work harder to pass on Kunqu opera, "said Jie Suqian. The wonderful performances one after another attracted waves of applause from the fans in the audience. 85 year old Cai Zhixiong has traveled thousands of miles from Chengdu to Kunshan to watch a play for the fourth year. In one city, you can watch excellent opera works from all over the country, which is like celebrating Chinese New Year for opera fans. This year, Cai Zhixiong also invited his friends to come together, "preparing to watch the entire Hundred Drama Festival from September 7th to 20th, and share the exciting content with more fans and friends after returning." There are also "plays" outside the theater. According to Jin Lei, a member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of Kunshan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism, this year's Bai Xi Festival has become more diverse, with scenic spots, cultural and museum venues, and universities all serving as stages for Bai Xi. Kunshan will use "Hundred Operas+Hundred Industries" as the engine to promote the deep integration of traditional Chinese opera with the market, cultural tourism, and consumption, breaking through boundaries and building a new ecology and new business model that empowers economic and social development with traditional Chinese opera. At the same time, optimize the "Watching Hundred Operas, Traveling in Jiangsu" opera tour route, innovate opera consumption scenes, carry out activities such as Hundred Operas Show, Hundred Operas Coffee, and Hundred Operas Cultural and Creative, so that Hundred Operas can bloom in a thousand industries. (New Society)