A scene from the Yueju Opera Lu You and Tang Wan. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

Lu You and Tang Wan, a classic Yueju Opera, was recently staged at the Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Theater in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, receiving a positive response from young audiences who usually hold a tepid attitude toward traditional Chinese operas.

Throughout the five-hour nighttime show, the theater's nearly 900 seats, as well as several rows of temporarily standing spots, were fully occupied. The show took four curtain calls after concluding.

After the show, many audience members stayed behind to cheer for their favorite artists, holding posters and signs at the stage door, which was open to public for the first time in the theater's history.

Lu You (1125-1210), a native of today's Zhejiang, was a patriotic litterateur and politician during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Lu's romance with his first wife Tang Wan (1130-1156) is a famous tragic love story. The Yueju Opera Lu You and Tang Wan was created in 1989 and has been highly acclaimed among opera enthusiasts for decades.

Yueju Opera, originating in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province in 1906, has been popular in the province for more than a century.

"The only people who don't love Yueju Opera are those who've never witnessed it," said a member of the audience after watching the show.