Pensioners keep centuries-old opera alive

For the love of the art: An actor of the ‘Flower Lantern’ troupe putting on his make-up backstage before a show in Kunming. — AFP

KUNMING: White make-up covering their aged faces, Chinese performers – all aged over 50 – don richly-coloured robes and false beards to belt out tunes passed down for more than two centuries.

The “Flower Lantern” Yunnan Opera troupe performs each day on a run-down stage, their droning instruments and melismatic singing mingling with sounds from a vegetable market next door.