In Pictures: Chinese pensioners keep historic opera alive in Kunming, China

Chinese pensioners keep historic opera alive in Kunming, China. These performers with white make-up covering their aged faces, – all aged over 50 – don richly-coloured robes and false beards to belt out tunes passed down for more than two centuries.

The “Flower Lantern” Yunnan Opera troupe performs each day on a run-down stage to a few elderly spectators. “The situation is getting worse each year, our stage has moved seven times and each time it gets smaller,” said He Zhengcai, the group’s 72-year-old director. He has six decades of experience, and many of the seven other actors, who look in rusty mirrors to daub their faces with powder, are also veterans.

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