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BEIJING - A PILOT project to reintroduce traditional Peking opera into Chinese schools has met resistance with teachers citing a lack of expertise and interest in the dying art, state media said on Tuesday.
China's ministry of education announced this week that 20 elementary and middle schools in each of 10 provinces would begin teaching opera in an effort to reignite traditional Chinese culture.
But opposition among teachers was immediate, with many voicing concerns about a lack of expertise and funding, China Central Television said.
'The first problem is whether or not we have any music teachers who have some expertise in this,' Liu Hui, a teacher at an elementary school in eastern Nanjing city, was quoted as saying.
'Secondly we need to know if we have the money to pay for such classes.'
Peking opera was popular during China's imperial era but fell from grace following the 1949 civil war victory of the communists who frowned on traditional music. More recently it has given way to pop music.
The music form is known for elaborate masks and costumes, clanging drums and singing that largely consists of high falsetto trills.
In southern Guangdong province, teachers said students were not interested in traditional opera and wondered why the updated curricula was limited to the Beijing form and not other local traditions.
'Right now most students are listening to popular music and they have no fundamental knowledge of traditional Peking Opera,' said Guangdong's official government news site.
It said it would be easier and more relevant for students to learn music forms linked to local south Chinese traditions.
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