The Children of the Beijing Opera

In granting us the rare privilege of entry, the Beijing Opera School offers access to the age-old art form of traditional Chinese opera. Based on a typical day for student and their teachers, the film follows them through dawn-to-dusk activities that include acrobatics, classes in singing, music and dance, makeup sessions, schoolwork, rehearsals, and performances. Total immersion in an establishment where discipline is, in many respects, that of a military academy.