A Peking Opera-themed exhibition opened at the China Cultural Center in Tokyo on April 2 to offer a look into the history and development of the time-honored performing art in China.

"Peking Opera is performed all over China, but many young people nowadays don't know about the art. People in Tianjin, however, still maintain a strong passion for the opera," said Liu Yun, second secretary of the Chinese embassy in Japan, who attended the opening. He added he hopes the exhibition will help Japanese audiences better understand the charm of Peking Opera.

The event was co-organized by the China Cultural Center in Tokyo and the Tianjin Culture and Tourism Bureau.

The event also featured a special course, where participants learned how to paint masks used in Peking Opera. This included how to express different characters using different colors.

On April 4, the organizer invited China's state-level erhu player Zhang Xiuling to give a lecture on the age-old instrument, including its history, types and methods of playing and characteristics of sound. The erhu, or two-stringed fiddle, is an ancient instrument widely used in Chinese folk music and operas.