Shaoxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, has launched a series of programs that leverages traditional local Shaoxing Opera to boost tourism, providing a cultural feast to visitors from across the country.
Shaoxing Opera, emerged in the early 1900s in the city and adjacent areas and became popular in the metropolis of Shanghai. It has a rich repertoire mainly of romances, and is known for its gentle music and graceful movements.
As this year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Shaoxing Opera, the city of Shaoxing as its birthplace has rolled out a series of celebration events, including the sixth China Shaoxing Opera Festival which opened on Friday night.
During the festival period, tourists can enjoy the opera performances and learn classic singing techniques while touring scenic spots.
At the Shenyuan Garden, the melodious tunes of Shaoxing Opera filled the air as performers in costumes gracefully acted the classic play "Chai Tou Feng" (The Phoenix Hairpin) in the real site, as the classic garden is actually where the story of the play took place.
After the performance, the actors interacted with the audience, offering hands-on guidance on singing styles and stage movements. The immersive experience allowed tourists to appreciate both the beauty of the classic garden and the unique charm of the opera.
"I just learned a movement of the huadan (young female role) in Shaoxing Opera, which is the kind of gesture the character in the play makes when enjoying the scene while strolling in the garden. In Shaoxing, people can enjoy Shaoxing Opera performances in many scenic areas and restaurants. It feels like opera is everywhere," said a tourist.
During the festival, Shaoxing has set up over 20 "corners of Shaoxing Opera" across the city for people to enjoy the art, which are scattered in parks, shopping malls, communities and tourist attractions. Then there are also initiatives like promoting Shaoxing Opera on campuses and in communities.
On the opening day of the festival alone, key scenic spots across Shaoxing saw a 13.5-percent year-on-year increase in visitor number, with more than 50 percent of them coming from other cities.
"We hope to bring Shaoxing Opera into people's daily life and into the city's streets and alleys through more diverse approaches, making the art a beautiful cultural landmark of our city. We also hope to launch more new culture-tourism products," said Xia Yongjiang, director of the Shaoxing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism.
Shaoxing launches local opera-themed events to boost tourism
Scientists in Peru and Chile are racing to reverse the sharp decline of Humboldt Penguins, a warm-climate species uniquely adapted to the Pacific coast, as climate change and avian influenza threaten its survival.
Peru and Chile are home to the Humboldt penguin, named after the cold water current which flows from Antarctica up the Pacific coast of both countries. It is one of the very few penguin species in the world that lives in a warm climate. Scientists call them a sentinel species -- thermometers of the overall health of the ecosystem.
The penguins nest in Punta San Juan, a small national reserve in southern Peru. They are one species among many marine predators that rest and reproduce here in huge numbers. Biologist Susana Cardenas leads a team that is monitoring and researching these animals and birds. What the researchers have seen in recent years is a dramatic population decline in all species, but particularly penguins, and they are trying to find out why.
"In the last few years, we've seen a decline in the Humboldt penguin population. So, we can go back to 2022 in Punta San Juan, there were about 2,500 Penguins -- that was the size of our colony. And then, well, we had avian influenza that has hit wildlife really hard in Peru and in different places of the world," said Cardenas.
But the impacts didn't stop there for the penguins, which are classed as having vulnerable conservation status, Cardenas explained.
"After that, unfortunately, an El Nino in March of 2023 started and the marine conditions changed and the food availability was not the same. And the penguins, they were getting ready for their breeding season and that's when the marine conditions changed and they did not come back to breed," she said.
In Punta San Juan, penguin numbers dropped from 2,500 to 400 just as Peru's population plummeted from 15,600 to 5,000 all across the birds' range in Peru and Chile, according to Cardenas. That's why continuous data collection is key to maintain the decades of research.
Interns like Sandra Alcantara keep a daily count of the number of nesting penguins and chicks.
"I come here at 6 a.m. to conduct a penguin census. I count all the penguins in a specific age group: adults, juveniles, fledglings, and chicks. Right now, we're in the breeding season, so most of them are adults. So far, I've only seen two juveniles. As the weeks go by, I'll be able to see chicks and then, later on, fledglings," said Alcantara.
The penguins naturally make burrows in the guano, sea bird droppings which build up over decades. Field coordinator Kevin Farfan checks to see if there are any birds in the burrows.
"We are now observing in real time a gradual increase in the number of adult individuals resulting from successful reproduction -- a rise that is slow but steady -- and that gives us great cause for celebration," he said.
These animal populations, while apparently abundant in Punta San Juan, are also highly sensitive to change. Without the tireless dedication of these scientists and volunteers, Peru and the world could lose one of its iconic birds.
Researchers work to reverse population decline of Humboldt penguins
