A program launched in China to teach traditional Peking opera in schools has drawn criticism. Some have said on the Internet that untrained teachers and forced instruction might put off students from the 200-year-old art.

(There is a parallel to this from the writer’s experience. When young he was forced to learn verses from the Bible in Welsh. The result was a permanent aversion to religion.)

The Beijing News said Classic Peking Opera items will be added to the music curriculum in 200 schools across ten provinces in China to promote traditional culture among its younger generation.

Wang Jun, a culture official in Beijing’s education bureau, said, ‘The aim of this program is to help the children to develop an interest in the nation’s unique cultural treasures.’
On the Internet people questioned how music teachers, themselves untrained in Peking Opera, would educate students in the complex gestures and trilling vocals that characterize the art.

Only 27% of some 21,000 respondents to an opinion poll carried by popular web portal Sina.com, believed the course would help promote traditional Chinese culture.

China’s education ministry has been criticized for other attempts to give students’ a broader scope of learning.

A plan to introduce compulsory dance classes aimed at improving primary and high school children’s social skills and fitness, drew fire from some parents concerned the waltz and other ballroom steps might foster puppy love between their children and dance partners.
Source: Reuters