Ming Hwa Yuan troupe opens Xi Chao Art Museum in Tainan

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) The Ming Hwa Yuan arts and cultural group is hoping that the Xi Chao Art Museum (戲巢藝術館), which held its opening ceremony Saturday, will emerge as a new cultural base in Tainan and bring traditional opera into modern-day life.

In a statement Saturday, the nearly 100-year-old group said the new museum was not aimed at revitalizing vacant space, but rather at rethinking the next 100 years, merging traditional opera into modern life, and creating a theater base that co-exists with the city.

The Tainan City government said the museum will also serve as an important space for cultivating talent and systematically promoting Taiwanese opera, allowing more young people to learn about the traditional art form.

Saturday's ceremony, attended by Tainan deputy mayors Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) and Chiang Lin-huang (姜淋煌), and Ming Hwa Yuan Director Chen Sheng-fu (陳勝福), was held to promote the museum and key dates in the future.

Though Saturday's event was called an opening ceremony, the museum will begin trial operations on May 30 and officially open on Aug. 1.

The building was once a weightlifting hall that the city acquired in 2014 and then used as a space for the elderly.

Its operating rights were later transferred to Ming Hwa Yuan, which then began renovations.

Ming Hwa Yuan, established in Tainan in 1929, is a leading troupe of Taiwanese opera, a locally developed style of drama in Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Culture website.

(By Chang Jung-Shiang and Lee Chieh-yu) enditem/ls