Having gone through hard times

Throughout the ages Tibetan Opera has played a central role in the life of the Tibetan people. It features prominently in a number of Tibetan festivals and temple fairs, some of which are specifically designed for it, such as the Shoton Festival, also known as Yoghurt Festival. By the 19th century most districts in Tibet had their own opera troupes. It spread from Shannan, Xigaze and Lhasa to other parts of Tibet, and further into southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, northwest China's Qinghai and Gansu  provinces, as well as into neighboring India, Bhutan and Nepal.

However, Tibetan Opera, boasting the longest history among the few other folk operas of Chinese ethnic minorities, was once on the verge of fading away in the 20th century like any other traditional folk art.

In Qomolang Village, "hometown of Tibetan Opera", 65-year-old Cangjue still has vivid memory of the hardship they went through the last century. She was once the only female master artist of the former Qomolang Village Tibetan Opera Troupe, popular throughout the Tibetan region. "As a toddler, I followed my parents around, performing for meager returns. My stomach was often filled with nothing. Later I joined the village troupe. We used to perform in Lhasa and neighboring areas in summer. When winter came, we had to trek to Nepal and India. The trips were hard."

During the 600-year of development, Tibetan people created about 20 traditional repertoires, but unfortunately some of the play scripts have been lost, and only the names, and sometimes the plots, are remembered today.

According to the elders in Qomolang Village, the former village troupe was able to play the famous Eight Great Classical Tibetan Operas; however, the troupe that produced many master performers of Tibetan Opera disbanded years ago when hard times hit, like many other village troupes.

Because of the passing away of elder artists and a drain in the reserves of traditional works as well as excellent performers, when the Tibetan Opera Troupe was established in 1960, most original audio and video materials of Tibetan Opera were lost, including some of the Eight Classics. In the 1990s, some troupes had to cut down their performances due to unaffordable cost of costumes and props, and some tried to attracting audiences by absorbing "pop dances and songs", which, as a result, accelerated the phasing-out of Tibetan Opera.

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