Accompanied by graceful music for voice, little Liu Mengmei and Du Liniang dressed in fineries won applauses with their verdant postures. They were foreign students of Essex Cultural Exchange Delegation of UK who staged a special performance in Lanyuan Theater.  

This is part of the cultural exchange activity named “Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare” jointly organized by Essex Education Department and Jiangsu Province. The activity started this year. 40 students from 8 schools of Jiangsu will pay mutual visits with 40 students from 8 schools in Essex regularly to learn Shakespearean dramas and KunQu Opera of Jiangsu. “The activity will last to 2016, the 400th death anniversary of both masters when a cross-space/time dialogue will be performed,” introduced by Ke Jun, head of Jiangsu KunQu Opera Theater.  

The only 14-day “KunQu Opera Trip” impressed the British students deeply. They thought KunQu Opera and Nanjing are amazing. “It’s a pity that we only learnt simple performance due to tight schedule. Next time, we will learn music for voices,” said little girl Annie. (Nanjing Daily)