Global Kunqu Opera Digital Museum opens at Cambridge University

Two artists from China's Jiangsu province perform Kunqu Opera in Cambridge University in the UK. [Photo/people.cn]

Being an important worldwide platform to protect and carry forward Kunqu Opera, the Global Kunqu Opera Digital Museum opened at Cambridge University in the UK on August 25. According to the university, the museum will see cultural exchange between China and Britain, which will strengthen bonds.

The world’s first Chinese and English bilingual museum aims to study Kunqu Opera through cooperation between King’s College of Cambridge University and Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture. The museum has been included in Cambridge Rivers Project (CRP). After being implemented for more than 30 years, CRP has a complete set of analysis and study methods, which enable more people to know better about Kunqu Opera and promote exchange in operas.

The museum aims to collect, sort out and display cultural relics and video data related to Kunqu Opera preserved in various countries. Cambridge has set up a work team of 30 people and has translated related materials of more than 300,000 words. To date, the museum has more than 370 objects, over 100 performing and teaching video clips and 70-plus research books, with a total of 6 trillion bytes, or 6 terabytes of information.

Musical instruments, clothing, props and other collections preserved in Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology have been integrated with collections provided by Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture. More collections from British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in Europe and America will also be gathered.