On the evening of September 28, the opening ceremony of the 2022 Kunshan Bacheng Chongyang Music Conference, "The Harmony of Qin Songs in Kunqu Town", was held at the Bacheng Cultural and Sports Activity Center. Through the way of "online live broadcast", the "cloud" will present a grand scene of "Jade Mountain Gathering", so that the audience can fully experience the ancient charm of Kunqu Opera in the cloud.

Since 2015, Bacheng has successfully held seven sessions of Chongyang Opera Festival, which has formed a good response in Kunqu circles and cultural fields at home and abroad. Bacheng Chongyang Quhui is not only an exchange activity of Kunqu culture, but also a test, examination and exchange of people's rescue, protection and inheritance of their national history and traditional culture. This year's Ququ Festival provides a more comprehensive exhibition window for the cultural charm of Kunqu, showing the whole society the achievements of Bacheng's efforts in the protection, inheritance and development of Kunqu art for many years, and presenting a characteristic Kunqu town with cultural creativity and Kunqu cultural industry as the core, urban public service, cultural leisure and other functions, livable environment and complete supporting facilities.

At the opening ceremony, Fang Xuehua, member of the Standing Committee of the Kunshan Municipal Committee and Minister of the Publicity Department, delivered a welcoming speech. He said that this year is the 21st year of Kunqu Opera's "entry into the World Heritage". Kunshan will continue to stimulate the vitality of the excellent traditional culture represented by Kunqu Opera, prosper and develop the cultural industry, constantly enhance the soft power of urban culture, cultivate deeper historical heritage and more elegant urban temperament, and meet the new needs and expectations of the people for a better spiritual and cultural life. At the same time, we will continue to care about the construction of Kunqu Town in Bacheng, support Bacheng to build a new business card of urban culture and tourism with high recognition by relying on its unique resource endowment, and devote ourselves to developing a new Kunqu featured industry with artistic style. We sincerely welcome you to come to Kunshan and Bacheng frequently to enjoy the colorful scenery of the beautiful Kunshan Mountain and feel the beautiful Kunqu Opera.

On the spot, Shi Jiangang, the secretary of the Party Committee of Bacheng, introduced the inheritance and development of Kunqu Opera in Bacheng. He said that, as a famous historical and cultural town in China and a hometown of Chinese folk culture and art, Shuiyun Ba City has bred a long and profound Jiangnan culture with a long history. Great Kunqu Opera has also moved from this millennium ancient town to the world stage. Here, Kunqu Opera has become a classic and integrated into the historical context of Bacheng; Here, Kunqu Opera is enduring and new, which is driving the development of Bacheng; Here, Kunqu Opera is handed down from generation to generation, which will surely stimulate the unlimited possibilities of Bacheng. Bacheng will continue to explore the "new road for the development of Kunqu Opera", let the "living fossil" of opera sing the modern voice of "beautiful scenery in good times", let the glory of Kunqu Opera art pass on from generation to generation, and strive to present to the world a "Kunqu Opera Town" full of primary cultural charm and vibrant industrial vitality.

Tian Qing, President of China Kunqu Opera Guqin Research Association, delivered a speech via video. He deeply expressed his wishes and expectations for the Kunqu town in Bacheng. As a featured Kunqu town, Bacheng has successfully held the Chongyang Opera Festival for seven consecutive years. The characteristics of Kunqu have become more and more strong, and gradually become a shrine in the hearts of music friends all over the country. He hopes that the Chongyang Opera Festival in Bacheng will become better and better, and through everyone's joint efforts, Kunqu art will be inherited, carried forward, sung around the world, and passed on from generation to generation.

At the opening ceremony, Zhou Qin, Vice President of China Kunqu Opera Guqin Research Association, Fang Xuehua, Member of the Standing Committee of Kunshan Municipal Committee and Head of the Publicity Department, Zhang Lan, Deputy Director of Suzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Management Office, Shi Jiangang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Bacheng Town, Wu Jidong, Deputy Director of Kunshan Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, and Zhu Yehua, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Mayor of Bacheng Town jointly launched the Chongyang Opera Festival.

This year's online Chongyang Music Festival also incorporates more traditional cultural elements. At the event site, Yu Jiulin, a national first-class actor and winner of the 23rd Drama "Plum Blossom Prize", brought the Kunqu opera guqin program "The Jade Hairpin · Piano Picking". Zhu Xi, a national inheritor of guqin art (Yushan School of Qin), performed the guqin solo "Running Water" on the spot, and both intangible cultural heritages competed on the same stage, singing harmoniously; Wujiang Hongfu Puppet Kunqu Opera Troupe has also brought puppets to show another unique performance form of Kunqu Opera with lingering and graceful Kunqu Opera accompanied by lifelike puppet performances... Ancient zither and Kunqu Opera, bamboo flute and Kunqu Opera, dance and Kunqu Opera, pop music and Kunqu Opera, and other more abundant forms have made the ancient Kunqu Opera continuously glow with new charm.

It is reported that the Chongyang Music Festival will last from September 28 to September 29, during which there will also be two online musical activities, namely, the Singing of Famous Artists and the Bamboo Flute Performance. Cai Zhengren, Ji Zhenhua, Wang Shiyu, Liang Guyin, Yue Meiti and other famous Kunqu performing artists will reproduce the extreme beauty of Daya Kunqu Opera at the source of Kunqu Opera. The activity will present an elegant audio-visual feast for the audience through live broadcast.

More than 600 years ago, Kunqu Opera originated at the Puppet Lake of Bacheng; Gu Aiying built a thatched cottage, opened an elegant gathering, and invited scholars from all over the world to become Kunshan tunes; Wei Liangfu changed Kunshan tune into Shuimo tune; Liang Chenyu created The Story of Huansha, and Kunqu Opera became Kunqu Opera. Kunqu Opera has always been closely connected with Bacheng for 600 years, and it has always been handed down by Bacheng people. Kunqu Elegant Rhyme has been deeply imprinted in the lives of Bacheng people with more than 600 years of precipitation, demonstrating the long history, broad and profound Chinese culture. In recent years, Bacheng has always insisted on taking Kunqu Opera as the core, making every effort to build a town with Kunqu Opera characteristics, improving the construction of Kunqu Opera carriers, increasing the publicity, promotion and inheritance of Kunqu Opera, implementing the requirements of high-quality development while promoting the protection and inheritance of Kunqu Opera, and creating a new economy of cultural innovation.

In the next step, Bacheng will adhere to the "culture" brand, take Kunqu Opera as the core, speed up the construction of hardware carriers, make history and culture more three-dimensional, further enhance the attraction of Kunqu Town, and integrate "inheritance", "protection" and "promotion". With the cultural heritage of Jiangnan as the carrier, we will strive to create a new paradise for the exchange and experience of national opera art, a new platform for cultural industry entrepreneurship and innovation, a new sample for the integration and development of cultural tourism. With Kunqu Opera as the medium, we will shape a new model and highlight for cultural and creative economy and rural revitalization, and continue to unswervingly inherit, explore and develop the "Kunqu Opera Road".