Mathias Woo: Hi everybody. I’m Mathias Woo, the moderator for today. First of all, I’d like to say, if you need simultaneous interpretation, we’re providing it. Channel 1 is English. Mandarin is on channel 2. Channel 3 is Cantonese. If you need it, please get a headset.
So, you all have it? Before we start, let me show you a video.

Woo: The last part of the video you saw is about the 2-week visit to Nanjing we
organized this year for 18 young participants from Creative Playground. There was a two-week course arranged by the Jiangsu Kun Opera Theatre and some teachers of traditional Kunqu. We also invited, from Thailand and Japan, artists and choreographers, who conducted workshops for the students. Just now you’ve watched the video. Let me introduce it a bit. We have been working on this project for two years. This is the second year, the last stage. After this forum, and before the summer holiday next year, all the courses for these six elements will be uploaded to the website. Teachers and those interested in creative education are welcomed to use these materials as reference.
A word about the background of the courses, they are designed for senior secondary level, especially the school-based programme with Level 3 under the Qualifications Framework. Our design is based on that framework. Next page.
Very often when it comes to education, many of you here are in the education sector,
or have rich experience in education, we talk about 5 areas: curriculum, teacher qualification, teaching materials, equipment and facilities.
The purpose of this project is focused on the curriculum, on how to create a curriculum.
The reason is that when you have the curriculum set, you will know what teacher qualification you want, what teaching materials, equipment and facilities you need.
That’s why we start with the curriculum.
After having the curriculum, if you are interested, if there are secondary schools interested in creating a school-based curriculum- We have co-organised a school-based curriculum with Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity. If interested, please contact us.
After this forum, we can communicate with you through our database.
The purpose of organising this international forum is to invite friends from Europe and Asia to share with us their experience in creative education. Today our theme is the relation between education and tradition.
In traditional education model in Asia, the people-to-people mode is used, and it takes lots of time to nurture someone. Western education places importance on the curriculum on structured teaching. There are textbooks and teaching materials. Between these two models, Hong Kong education is very westernised, so how do we face up to Chinese tradition? How do we handle the relationship with tradition? Today we have invited three experts, who are very experienced, to share their experience with you. Before they come up to the stage, let’s invite the students of Creative Playground to introduce these experts in a creative way.

Woo: Thank you all. Now let’s invite our first speaker, Miss Peng Huiheng, to share her views on- Well the tradition is overwhelming.
The relation between tradition and education. Miss Peng, please.

Peng: Hi all.

Woo: Hi all. Thank you. Please take a seat.
Would you share with us your background? Our student has just introduced you in a rather abstract way. To introduce myself? Yes. How would you introduce yourself? And what are you working on? How do you feel it is related to traditional education?

Peng: First of all, I like the way the students introduce me just now. Traditional education is like a foundation. You lay down something like a ladder. Education is the setting up of a ladder, onto which you push our young people to go up. This is my understanding. I don’t know if it’s right. Thank you.
I have engaged in opera composition and education for 38 years. Now I’m working in Hebei Vocational Art College. May I briefly introduce the background of our college?

Woo: Yes, please.

Peng : We are the only university that offers programmes in opera studies in Hebei. This is how the university is structured. We know that to teach people Chinese opera, you have to teach them from a very young age, so the structure includes the middle vocational, higher vocational and university levels.
The core of opera education, let me put it more technically, composes the fours skills and the five methods, which are singing, enunciation, acting and combating, and then the techniques involving the hands, eyes, body, specifications and footwork. Our school is no exception.
I have been involved with the management and teaching in the opera section of the college for almost 10 years. I strictly stick to the code of opera education. For example, we talked about passing knowledge from people-to-people. For us, it’s about teaching to inspire true understanding within, and exquisite craftsmanship, and also being scrupulous and methodical. This is a relatively strict form of opera education.
Of course, we have a curriculum, and it’s very stringent. Students on every level follow a curriculum. There is a different curriculum for the different roles in Chinese opera.
For every year of study, there is also a different curriculum as well.
If I'm to share about my educational experience, I would say we are living in a fast-changing society, and the students have an acutely active mind. How can we keep the heart of the students on the stage, so that we can pass the culture of Chinese opera from generation to generation? This is the issue that I think about every day. It’s about faith. If one day, a teacher says, you should be dedicated to it. Some of you may know Master Pei Yangling. I just talked to Prof. Chan on the way here. He’s very dedicated to it. He’s almost 70, and still practising the skills every day. That’s why he has become a Chinese opera artist of national treasure standing You should have resolute faith, so as to nurture in you the assiduous, conscientious and strict spirit of Chinese opera. It sounds conceptual.
They are just words, so what can we do in reality? Let me elaborate one more concept. What is our faith? It’s simply devout surrender. You have to surrender your heart to the stage. Actually, it’s also a concept. Through what means can you realise your concepts? In my 10 year at the school, I’ve opened up a path combining teaching, learning and performing. What I’m doing is regarded as an educational reform by my school, and it’s also deemed very successful. Here’s what I do, for the students of every cohort-
First of all, I have to tell you this. Chinese opera is the art of roles to some extent. When I say “roles”, do you know what it means? It’s taking the leading role. For example, Mei Lanfang is the epitome of Peking opera and Chinese opera, and he is the symbol of an era. Chinese opera is the art of roles to some extent. I’m exploring how can modern education and modern opera education nurture roles to make it better? To allow it to develop? Here’s what I’m doing. In my 10 years at the school, I constantly take the little roles selected by me to create different genres of plays. Even when they are in their first or second year of study, they can go on stage. We call it the podium. Students perform on the stage, and are turned into little roles.

Woo: You talk about little roles. How many students do you have in each academic year?

Peng: We enroll quite a lot of students. For every year of the programme, we have 70 students in a class.

Woo: 70 students?

Peng: Yes. I teach five classes, which includes middle vocational, tertiary, higher vocational and university levels, and there are Peking opera, Hebei bangzi. Pingju, Sichuanese opera and Jiangxi opera. In northern China, our school enjoys a good reputation.

Woo: What is the time frame of study?

Peng: Six years.

Woo: Six years. At what age are they admitted into your college?

Peng: For the middle vocational students, they are graduates of primary school, and we select those with a certain basic foundation. As for the higher vocational and university students, they have to pass the national college entrance examination. They are mostly promising actors from some local groups. We think they may be the pioneers for the future of Chinese opera.

Woo: As there are conflicts between tradition and modernity in today’s China, do you face such conflicts in your educational work? When you look at this market, people simply prefer TV plays and pop culture.

Peng: Yes. I’m going to talk about the combination of the three elements - creation, learning and performing. This is what I think, and I tell my students, when they are on stage, and so are we. For example, there are four scenes in the play “Lady Meng Jiang”, and four to five students created with me. They get the same flowers and acclaims from the audience as I do.
Over time, they exert their effort and drop their sweats on the stage, and their hearts compel them to surrender to the stage, as they get recognition on the stage. I also give them different challenges. For example, I’d ask them to create contemporary roles, including modern peasants. They act out different interesting roles on the stage, and they are recognized by the audience of different walks of life. This will convince them that their values lie on the stage. I think this is very important.
Talking about creation or education, I think combining the traditional approach of education with that of modern or experimental one is a very difficult task. As for Chinese opera, without a profound foundation, you cannot really grasp this craft. As I say, I’m a craftsman. A craftsman must be dedicated to the details. My motto is that I do not teach the actors who can act, but the actors who can be stars. But to be star, you have to be dedicated to details.

Woo: You talk about basics. What are the basics?

Peng: The basic skills, the performing skills, the body movement, the acrobatic movement, and also the theory, the roles, the creation, the character creation, the appreciation of plays, the drama history, the art history and so on. It also includes Chinese language, mathematics, foreign language, history, geography and political knowledge, as the students have to pass the national examination, just like every student does.

Woo: You have traditional courses in history and culture, and also the courses to teach students skills and techniques?

Peng: Yes, so we have a very busy schedule.

Woo: I don’t know what the academy for performing arts does.

Peng: Our students start their morning practice very early at 6 in the morning. You have to persist in doing this. I re-introduced this practice into the college since I took up my management duties of the Chinese opera section, because for Chinese opera, you have to practice every day in the morning. We have courses from 6 in the morning until 9 in the evening. It’s a very intensive training.

Woo: Referring to how dedicated to details you are as a craftsman, will the training become rigid and inflexible?

Peng: Yes. I realize it, but somehow unconsciously. We use different methods to cultivate students’ dedicated craftsmanship, but how can we inspire their creativity at the same time? I’ve discovered that the creativity of young people is beyond my imagination, and that they are living the most creative years of their lives. For example, I taught the play “Medea” in class. I thought that because I have been on stage in so many countries and for so many years, and I have taught thousands of students, so I must be right. For example, anger and laughter in Chinese opera must be acted out in my style. What is laughter in Chinese opera? It’s very beautiful.
In fact, people in my generation have seen changes in laughter. The style of laughter is determined by the characters. Take for example, the laughter with revenge.
I intensively reflect on it and talk about it. I even toss and turn in the bed to think about what it is like? Or wake up in laughter from a dream. When in hatred, we would clench our teeth. If you find what I’m saying is interesting, just laugh if you want.
How are they connected logically? Say for example, after a character laughs with revenge, he takes revenge by killing his son and daughter. He must be very sad and would laugh in desperation, and would actually laugh as he cries. right?
In the end, when he makes the final decision, he would be driven crazy. It’s a tragically miserable feeling, and a laughter driven by madness and extreme desperation.
You have to learn from me, as I have performed in so many drama festivals and in so many countries, and have taught so many students. Later, I want to say thank you to Mr. Yung for letting me visit the courses in Nanjing for one day. There, I discovered that It’s very important to give the kids space.
Then I went back to my school and taught this play again.
About laughter, I no longer elaborated on the logical relation, nor did I tell them how to laugh. I asked them to write about their emotions on a piece of paper. What do you think you need to do when you experience extreme emotions?
They filled the paper with words. OK, you just present the emotion according to what you’ve written down. And then you try to find how they are related logically. This will be an accurate description of the character’s psychological state. I know what I’m doing is far from enough.

I’m myself a craftsman, and I have that rigidity and inflexibility in me. So I hope that through today’s forum, I can learn more, and bring the new ideas of creative education back to my college. This is how I can promote the education of Chinese opera, art or cultural eco-system. I have one more minute. I can really talk. I’d talk about confusion and the problems I face. From a macro perspective, in my 10 years of work in the drama section, our college has earned a good reputation and has made great impact. Our performances won various prizes around the nation. They think it’s prosperity, but I always say it’s faked prosperity.
Why is it just a formality? Because what matters, is whether you have nurtured the creativity of the students. It’s them that matters. Speaking pessimistically, in China, employment and survival are very stressful. So how can you live a decent and elegant life in the society? What do I wish for them? My wish is that they can influence this cultural eco-system through their own impact. I’m not talking about the system, but only the cultural eco-system. Broadly speaking, Chinese opera is…Time’s up? Can I say a few words to wrap up?

Woo: OK.

Peng: The society, China in particular, is changing fast.
People are moving forward in big strides. But Chinese opera makes us look back. Chinese opera makes us study history.
When you study the culture of opera and the plays, you have to study the Chinese history, and reflect on it. You have introspection, and after that, what can you do to make improvements? I think this is how opera or art education can contribute to our contemporary society.
Over time. Thank you.

Woo: Thank you all.