Recently, photos of Misses Bikini wearing high-heel shoes but Beijing opera headwear, called “Miss Beijing opera bikini”, in an international bikini contest widely spreading on the Internet have triggered heated debate.
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Organizing committee: Carry forward traditional Chinese culture
Executive chairman with the organizing committee of the Miss Bikini international pageant Li Yulong said in an interview that these photos on the Internet were from the news conference held in April 2012 and the performers were previous winners. Li explained that the organizer of the pageant proposed the idea and it did not deliberately mimic Beijing Opera, but used the particular form to express traditional Chinese drama. "We hoped to carry forward Chinese culture by bikini contest but never intended to insult Beijing Opera," Li said.
Experts: Please respect traditional Chinese culture
Vice president of Sichuan Opera Theatre of Chengdu and famous actress of Sichuan Opera Chen Qiaoru said in an interview, "As a traditional artist, I think the combination goes too far and looks very vulgar, even though the traditional arts need to be reformed and innovated."
To Chen, the reform of traditional Chinese culture should be thoughtful. "We must first respect the traditional arts. Otherwise no one will respect them. Traditional arts can be innovated by many ways including changing the lines and colors, rather than by someone wearing bikini and painted face," Chen said.
Famous dramatist Wei Minglun also said frankly, "It had nothing to do with Beijing Opera because the girls did not sing. It had nothing to do with the reform of Beijing Opera, except attracting attention of the public."
"The combination can only be short-lived because people have become inured to the weird things. The organizer will achieve the purpose once people begin to talk about it," he said. In the eyes of Wei, Chinese drama is diversified but the combination is not equivalent to the reform of Beijing Opera.
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