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The many facesof Sichuan opera

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Elaine Yauin Beijing

Dressed in a red costume with gold embroidery, 24-year-old Yang Tao dazzled the audience with her magical face-changing performance at Cyberport last week.

Yang is one of the members from the renowned Sichuan Chuanju Opera Troupe.

The troupe is staging a series of performances to spice up festive celebrations during the Lunar New Year.

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Dating back more than 2,000 years ago, Sichuan opera is a rich and dynamic art which features vivid narration, refined acting, unique singing and acrobatics.

Among the traditional art form's wide-ranging repertoire, its mysterious face-changing performances often capture the most attention.

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With dexterous performers changing their masks in quick succession, the mesmerising art form has long been seen as one of China's national treasures. Defying the long-standing custom which allows only men to learn face-changing skills, Yang earned the valuable chance to study the art in 1998.

'CCTV asked our troupe to provide candidates to perform face-changing at their Lunar New Year celebration in 1998.

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