'Echoes of Classics' performance season kicks off at Prince Kung's Palace Museum

To celebrate the 2026 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, the 19th "Echoes of Classics: Prince Kung's Palace Museum Intangible Cultural Heritage Performance Season" was held from June 9 to 14 at the Grand Theatre of the museum.

Hosted by the museum and organized by the China Kunqu & Guqin Society, the event brought together three UNESCO-recognized intangible cultural heritage traditions — Kunqu Opera, guqin (a seven-stringed Chinese zither) art, and nanyin (a folk music genre popular in Fujian province) music — to celebrate the enduring vitality of China's traditional music and theatrical arts.

This year's program featured three guqin performances and three Kunqu Opera performances.

Renowned guqin inheritors and musicians presented celebrated masterpieces, while professor Zhao Jiazhen and her students from the Central Conservatory of Music performed selected works from the Wu and Guangling schools of the guqin performing art, demonstrating the contemporary, systematic, and professional transmission of the guqin tradition.

A highlight of this season was the innovative dialogue between guqin and nanyin, two musical traditions often described as "living fossils" of Chinese music. Sharing common cultural roots and aesthetic values, the two art forms were presented on the same stage, offering audiences a unique aural feast that reflected ancient literati's elegant musical pursuit and millennia-old musical legacy.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Kunqu Opera's inscription on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Leading Kunqu troupes from Beijing and Shanghai performed classic excerpts from The Peony Pavilion and other renowned works. Young performers from Kunshan's Junior Kunqu Opera Troupe also took the stage alongside professional artists, vividly demonstrating the continuity of Kunqu Opera transmission across generations.

Since its launch in 2008, the "Echoes of Classics" event has grown into an influential cultural brand during China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. Drawing on the museum's historical architectural setting, the event continues to explore innovative ways to preserve, promote, and revitalize China's rich intangible cultural heritage.