Ｃｅｌｅｂｒａｔｅｄ Ｐｒｏｆｅｓｓｏｒ Ｔａｌｋｓ ａｂｏｕｔ Ｋｕｎｑｕ

In October 2007， Professor Yu Dan with Beijing Normal University gave lectures on Kunqu Opera in a popular China Central Television program. It was a huge success， like her previous lectures on The Analects of Confucius. But when her lecture schedule was first announced， many people including my friends， journalists and some Kunqu Opera fans phoned me， asking whether Yu Dan was qualified for the task and whether she had adequate knowledge of the ancient opera.

They put the question to me for two reasons: I am a Kunqu veteran and I have known Yu Dan for more than twenty years. Despite the big difference in our age， Yu and I have been fast friends. My pride of her being my friend dates back to more than two decades ago. A fan of Kunqu Opera in her childhood years， she watched my plays many times. She watched Paintings Found and Interrogated for more than 20 times and could recite all the arias. She was so familiar with the play that she could even talk about it in great detail for a long time. Her lectures on The Analects of Confucius and Master Zhuang Zi in a CCTV program have turned her into a scholar of national fame. She was selected one of the Persons of the Year in 2006. Six millions of her lectures in book form have been printed and sold. Nowadays， I am her fan. Considering all these， I had every reason to believe that she was fully qualified for giving a lecture on the elegant opera genre.

In fact， the idea of her giving lectures on Kunqu Opera occurred to me when Yu Dan came to watch The Peony Pavilion at the site of a royal granary in Beijing in July， 2007. At the end of the show she talked passionately about the show and I asked if she could promote Kunqu Opera on CCTV. She said it could be arranged. She conducted researches and prepared for a series of lectures. The lectures were soon scheduled for the Golden Week in October， 2007.

We gathered before the program to hear her report her preparations. To the great amazement of everyone present， she was able to quote lines from the play with greatest ease. I have been on the stage for decades and I need to stand on the stage to recite all the lines. Off stage， I am not sure I can find all the lines with such ease. Many present concluded then and there that Yu Dan was a phenomenon.

To me， her intimation with Kunqu Opera is quite natural. Over all these years， she has watched nearly all the plays staged by the country's six major Kunqu Opera Troupes and she is able to name features of each play on her fingers. In August 2007， she flew to Hong Kong and watched all the plays staged by the six major troupes in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The seven lectures were recorded at the royal granary from 11 to 13 of September， 2007. The lectures focused on her perceptions of the Kunqu Opera plays and touched upon the finest qualities of the representative Kunqu Opera plays: the beauty of dream， the beauty of deep love， the beauty of tragedy， the beauty of despair， the beauty of humor， the beauty of inspiration， and the beauty of elegance. She defines Kunqu Opera in the following words: \"An opera of human emotions and an opera of singing and dancing.\"

I attended her lectures. Each episode lasted 45 minutes. The recording proceeded smoothly. Her lectures were published in book format in December. Yu Dan comments on her lectures: Her mission is not to explore the deepest symbols and codes hidden in the Kunqu Opera. She wants everyone to feel the glamour and glory of the ancient art. In her eyes， Kunqu is more than an opera; it is a way of life and many of its elements can be absorbed into the life of today. She says she does not mean to ask all the people to watch all the plays of Kunqu. She wants people to know the essence of Kunqu so that they can go home and dream of their dreams.