Chinese ancient military strategist opera costume to be unveiled

Two costumes used in the early days of Peking opera shows, including the "Eight Diagrams Robe", were shown at a small ceremony that marks the kickoff of filming a new documentary series entitled "Collectors" on Jan 17, 2019. [Photo:China Plus]

The shooting of a new documentary about Chinese collectors and their valuable historical treasures will soon kick off.

At a small ceremony that marks the launch of this project, a collector named Chen Shen (陈申) showcased two ancient opera costumes. One of them was called the "Eight Diagrams Robe" made during the late Qing dynasty (1636 to 1912).

Che Ailin (车爱琳) is the chief director of the documentary "Collectors" or Cang Jia ("藏家") )in Chinese.

"Around 1,000 troupes and theatres nationwide purchase operatic costumes on a daily basis. The modern trend of restoring traditional Chinese culture leads to an increasing demand for operatic costumes. However, around 80-percent of an ancient-styled costumes are manufactured by machine, with only a small 20-percent embroidered by hand. The handicraftswomen are all around 70 years old. Often times, they begin working at four in the morning."

Take the "Eight Diagrams Robe" for example: if it were totally made by hand, it would take more than 200 days in total.

Collector Chen Shen said it was made for the performers who played Chinese ancient military strategist Zhuge Liang. Since the pure hand-made costumes have become a lot rarer nowadays, such handicrafts have in turn also become increasingly valuable. But Chen is unwilling to disclose how much it's worth.

He's more than happy, however, to seek out the root of these historic items and share their stories in the new documentary.

The first episode of the documentary is aimed to comprise of six collectors, including Chen and ancient calligraphy collector He Guoqing from Taiwan.

The project management explained the documentary is aimed to help in inheriting and carrying forward the Chinese folk culture.

It will be aired on CCTV at the end of 2019.