Dayu Huashang incorporates exciting facets of Chinese folk operas.	Theatrical costume show Dayu Huashang(Feathered Dress and Gorgeous Skirt).	Renowned dancer Yang Liping is the lead actress in Dynamic Yunnan.

Last January a traditional Chinese theatrical costume show titled Dayu Huashang (Feathered Dress and Gorgeous Skirt) was staged in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong. Now it’s set to venture further a-field: the show’s producers have signed up to bring their recently forged cultural brand to the US, Canada, Germany, France and Singapore.

Cultural brands boost a locality’s image, and they’re profitable, too. Many of China’s provinces and autonomous regions have therefore decided to develop their own unique cultural brands, and promote them abroad. For instance, Yunnan Province has staged Dynamic Yunnan (a local amateur performance), and Sounds of Nature in Yunling (an interpretation of a large-scale original folk performance); Henan Province has put on Shaolin in the Wind (a romantic tragedy performed by the well-known Shaolin monks); and Guizhou Province has presented Wind of Colorful Guizhou (a large-scale ethnic song-and-dance performance). Each introduces to international audiences the characteristics of local folk customs and cultures.

Repackaging Cultural Products

Key to the economic success of cultural brands has been producers’ willingness to repackage them to suit the modern times. Among domestic audiences, interest in China’s traditional culture plummeted after the country’s economic boom began in the early 1980s. Movies and TV shows reached their zenith, and folk arts suffered as a result. Most audiences today favor high-octane, exciting entertainment that reflects their own fast-paced lives. Zhang Xin, doctor of aesthetics at the Peking University, says, “Traditional opera needed to adapt to the times, and rediscover its niche in the market. It was the only way traditional culture could compete with the modern.”

To that end, producers began to change the way they presented their cultural products, effectively giving them a makeover for modernity. For example, Dayu Huashang blends more exciting facets of traditional opera like fire-breathing players, or the spectacular “face-changing” characters, into its show. As Zhang Ning, the mastermind behind Dayu Huashang, explains, “Traditional Chinese operas routinely cause a sensation among audiences in foreign countries, but it’s not that easy to generate interest among young domestic audiences. The reason, I think, is that many Chinese operas are based on life in an agricultural society, and many young people today simply cannot relate. That’s why we try to express our product from an angle that excites them.”

These measures seem to be working on the domestic front. Now that traditional Chinese culture products have been revamped according to modern tastes, wealthier Chinese are expressing greater demand for them. Take for instance the ethnically diverse and culturally rich Yunnan Province. In 2001, the culture industry accounted for just 1 percent of the provinces GDP, but by 2006, that figure had increased to 8 percent.

Stepping onto the World Stage

Repackaging is also boosting interest in traditional Chinese culture among audiences in foreign nations, as the quality and quantity of cultural brands improve. For instance, the repackaged Dragon and Lion Dance performance has toured the world for the past six years. In that time, it has been seen by an audience of almost 4 million.

And some producers have gone one step further to lure foreign crowds: they have infused elements of Western theater into Chinese cultural performances, or even produced their own interpretations of famed Western plays. In 2005, the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe staged their own version of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet, to an enthralled Danish audience.

Culture Brands and Local Economy

Cultural brands new and old are also impacting the local economies of their origins, and they have become a major part of local tourism. Hardly a visitor to Yunnan Province leaves without first taking in a performance of Dynamic Yunnan. Thus cultural brands have also become a synonym for local culture. One tourist to Guilin recently commented, “Folk performances give tourists a deeper understanding of the local culture they are visiting. They should not be missed.”

Cultural brands and tourism can also promote each other. If a local area develops an excellent cultural brand that achieves domestic and international acclaim, tourists will flock to those areas to experience them. That was certainly the case for Guilin, when in 2004 the renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou brought “Impressions of Third Sister Liu” to an outdoor landscaped scene. It raked in some RMB 79 million in six months, and more importantly, convinced thousands of people to visit Guilin.