City life a stage as shows revive urban sites

Concerts, music festivals and other commercial performances have become integral to the lives of people in Beijing, as the city strives to establish itself as a performing arts hub. Beyond traditional venues, innovative spaces combining entertainment, dining and social functions are thriving, enriching lives and boosting consumption.

During the five-day May Day holiday in early May and the three-day Dragon Boat Festival in late May and early June, Beijing hosted 1,664 and 1,119 commercial performances, respectively, drawing in over 1.12 million people and generating more than 300 million yuan ($41.8 million) in box office revenue.

At the opening ceremony of the 2025 Beijing International Cultural and Tourism Consumption Expo held in Beijing on June 20, the city's bureau of culture and tourism recommended 49 resident performances to travel agencies and hotels.

These included Peking Opera presented by Jingju Theater Company of Beijing at the city's Liyuan Theatre and performances featuring traditional Chinese storytelling art forms like kuaiban and jingyun dagu at the Laoshe Teahouse.

The play The Count of Monte Nonsense, performed by Chinese comedy troupe Mahua Fun Age at various venues including the Beijing Geology Auditorium, has enjoyed nearly 15 years of success, with box office revenue surpassing 100 million yuan. Similarly, Golden Mask Dynasty, a fixture at the OCT Theatre in Beijing's Happy Valley theme park, has been performed more than 7,000 times, attracting nearly 10 million viewers in total.

The MusicFans Arts Space has hosted more than 5,000 music performances in new, unconventional venues across commercial areas like Sanlitun, Wukesong and Changying in Beijing. Such venues are capable of accommodating diverse performance styles, offering new experiences for audiences.

Recently, the Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism released the Beijing Measures to Promote High-Quality Development of Performing Arts, which encourage the creative use of commercial complexes, theaters, parks, cultural heritage sites and other venues for small-scale, high-quality interactive performances.

Pioneering projects with frequent stagings, strong audience appeal and unique features can receive up to 1 million yuan in support.

Many institutions in Beijing have experimented with new performance venues. For instance, the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center has repurposed its third-floor public area into a stage for immersive performances, breaking traditional theater boundaries with shows like the children's theater production Cats in the Palace Museum.

This transformed space consists of a preshow area, a main performance area and a shopping area. During the show, audience members can move freely between these spaces to explore and immerse themselves in the story, thus breaking the "invisible wall" between actors and viewers.

"The new venue was previously an exhibition space," said Jiang Qiong, director of the performance management center at the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

"Transforming the non-standard public space into a performance venue required overcoming challenges like low ceilings, limited movement routes and stage design restrictions. By integrating these physical constraints into the performance, we have enhanced interaction and integration between the public space and the audience," Jiang added.

The 77 Theatre, once a printing factory, now hosts various shows, including Detective Zhao Gan'e, with its industrial setting adding to the suspenseful atmosphere.

Wang Chen, a director with Mahua Fun Age, told People's Daily: "We are not just moving shows to new venues; we integrate the space into the narrative. A window or a staircase can become part of the show."

The Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism said it will continue leveraging relevant policies to promote city-district cooperation and foster improvements in performance content, types of venues and operational models to develop more new performance spaces.