Kunqu Opera main view
Culture·Verified Trust

Kunqu Opera

Gusu, Suzhou

4.7(890 reviews)
Intangible HeritageTheatrePingtan

Hear China's oldest opera in the city that gave it birth - 600 years of melody in a garden hall.

Kunqu is the grandparent of all Chinese opera, born in Suzhou six centuries ago and now a UNESCO intangible heritage. In the old theater halls of the city - lantern-lit wood stages, tea on the armrest - the slow, singing art unfolds for two entrancing hours.

The Pingtan Museum hosts regular performances with English program notes. You may not understand a word, but you will feel the 600 years.

Best for: Six hundred years of the world's oldest surviving opera.

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