A poster of the lecture series "Zhang Huoding and Peking Opera Art".

Two well-known professors of Chinese culture and literature will give lectures in New York on the theme of Peking Opera artist Zhang Huoding and Peking Opera Art at Lincoln Center in New York early September.

With keynote speakers Professor David Der-wei Wang from Harvard University and Professor David Rolston from the University of Michigan, the lectures are another major cultural activity after the lecture series by Chu Rui, an emerging Chinese fashion designer, inviting noted scholars from prestigious institutions in America.

The lectures are one of the highlights during Zhang Huoding's performance tour in America in September. Zhang is going to stage two classics of the school of Cheng, one of the four famous schools for dan (female) roles in Peking Opera created by Cheng Yanqiu- "Legend of the White Snake" and "The Unicorn Purse"- for the first time at Lincoln Center on Sep 2 and 3. A pupil of Cheng Yanqiu, Zhang inherits the skills of the Cheng School and keeps the traditional art alive by remaining true to the spirit of the original.

On the theme of Peking Opera, two lectures will be held during Zhang's performance in America. Professor David Der-wei Wang and Professor David Rolston are invited to appreciate and analyze her performances, and introduce the culture of Chinese Peking Opera at the same time. The two professors will also demonstrate the traditional way to give acclamation before each performance.

The two lectures will be hosted by Ba Tu, headmaster of the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, and noted scholar Professor Fu Jin.

David Rolston, professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures of the University of Michigan, has long engaged in the research of traditional Chinese fictions and dramas. Select publications include How to Read the Chinese Novel, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary: Reading and Writing between the Lines, Oral Performing Literature in Traditional Chinese Fiction: Nonrealistic Usages in the Jin Ping Mei cihua and their influence.

Through comparisonand contrast, Professor David Rolston will deconstruct the similarities and differences between Zhang's performances in America and those of Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang in 1930, and discuss the influences of Chinese culture over American mainstream cultures.