Americans performers play Ren Tanghui, right, and Liu Lihua, left, in the Peking Opera performance of Fighting in the Dark in Wuhan during the China Peking Opera Art Festival.[Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese audiences at the sixth China Peking Opera Art Festival in Beijing on Nov 8 were treated to a remarkable performance of the Qi Shufang Peking Opera Company from the US.

Qi Shufang, in her 60s, is celebrated for her performance in the modern Peking Opera’s Taking the Tiger Mountain by Strategy in the 1960s. She moved to New York with her husband in 1988 and founded the first professional Peking Opera group overseas, which is committed to spreading this traditional artistic form.

The shows are a combination of eastern and western cultural elements in which classical Peking opera tunes are accompanied by lyrics in English.