Chen Li

Name: Chen Li

Position/Title: Director of the Gan Opera Culture and Art Center, Nanchang University; Professor

Email: chenli001@ncu.edu.cn

Research Direction: Drama and Opera Studies

Main Course: Appreciation of Gan Opera Art

Research Achievements: Representative Inheritor of National Intangible Cultural Heritage (Gan Opera).

Grade II Professor and Master’s Supervisor at Nanchang University; National Class-A Actor. Deputy to the 9th and 10th National People’s Congress; Member of the 7th, 8th, and 9th All-China Youth Federation; Representative of the 3rd “Virtuous and Artistic” Literary and Art Workers of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles; Council Member of the China Theatre Association; Vice Chairperson of the 6th and 7th Jiangxi Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles; Vice Chairperson of the 8th, 9th, and 10th Jiangxi Provincial Youth Federation; Vice Chairperson of the Jiangxi Provincial Theatre Association; Recipient of the 1st “Top Ten Outstanding Youth of Jiangxi Province”; Jiangxi Cultural Master; Recipient of the Special Allowance of the State Council.

Awards include the Plum Blossom Award (China’s highest theatre award), the Wenhua Performance Award, the Outstanding Performance Award at the 1st China Theatre Festival, the China Theatre Award · Outstanding Performance Award, and the Best Actress Award at the Paris Chinese Traditional Opera Festival.

Selected for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Famous Artists Passing on Drama — Apprentice Training by Contemporary Famous Opera Artists. Commended by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as one of the Top 100 Outstanding Opera Teachers (Full-time and Part-time). Participated in large-scale galas hosted by the China Media Group (CMG) such as the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Qixi Festival Gala, and Spring Festival Opera Gala for over 20 consecutive years.

The first person to introduce Gan Opera to Europe.

The first person to bring Gan Opera to the CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

In 2018, invited to perform live on CCTV-1’s Spring Festival Gala, marking the debut of Gan Opera on the Spring Festival Gala stage in its 35-year history and presenting Gan Opera art to a national audience.

Pioneered the continuous approval of national-level art research projects in comprehensive universities in Jiangxi.

Led the team to secure National Arts Fund projects for multiple consecutive years:

· In 2015, led the application for the Gan Opera The Story of Red Pearl, achieving a breakthrough for comprehensive universities in Jiangxi in this project category.

· In June 2016, secured approval for the project Training of Young Gan Opera Performance Talents, actively cultivating a reserve of Gan Opera talents.

· In July 2017, secured approval for the National Arts Fund 2017 Communication and Promotion Project for the Gan Opera The Story of Red Pearl, which toured nationwide for over 100 performances.

· In 2018, secured approval for the National Arts Fund Large-scale Stage Art Creation Project for the Gan Opera Hu Xueyan: The Legendary Merchant. The project was approved for four consecutive years with good completion, a rare achievement among comprehensive universities and professional troupes nationwide.

· In 2019, secured approval for the inaugural Jiangxi Culture and Arts Fund Large-scale Stage Art Creation Project for the Gan Opera Princess Wencheng.

· In 2021, starred in and led the original Gan Opera Four Dreams in Linchuan, which was selected for the 2021 China Opera Image and Video Recording Project by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Presided over and participated in more than 20 other national, provincial, and ministerial-level projects; organized the publication of 3 books on Gan Opera and 1 Gan Opera music album.

· In 2023, secured approval for the Jiangxi Culture and Arts Fund Talent Training Project 2023 Training of Yiyang Tune Talents.

· In 2024, secured approval for the Jiangxi Culture and Arts Fund Project to publish Oral History of Famous Gan Opera Artists.

Lecturer for the course Appreciation of Gan Opera Art, which has been interviewed and reported by numerous mainstream media outlets nationwide.

According to statistics from the Publicity Department of Nanchang University, central mainstream media such as People’s Daily, CCTV News Weekly, Guangming Daily, Chinanews.com, and Xinhua News Agency have published over 200 articles and video reports on Professor Chen Li’s teaching. The total views on the Douyin platform alone exceed 500 million.

In 2024, Chen Li’s Little Classroom: The Beauty of Chinese Opera, co-produced with CCTV, was rated as an Excellent Online Micro-Course by the Ministry of Education, becoming a successful model for Chinese Opera entering Campus.

These courses not only brought the traditional art of Gan Opera out of the ivory tower and into the public eye but also provided a replicable and scalable successful paradigm for the living inheritance and contemporary dissemination of excellent traditional Chinese culture through the dual drive of Art Communication + Education Innovation.