Five young girl students at Shanghai Theatre Academy have become famous online by singing pop songs to the tunes (曲调) of Beijing Opera.

Li Wei, a young man, likes to watch the students' videos. He said, "Thanks to them, I have got a better understanding of my parents' deep love for Beijing Opera."

The students, mainly roommates from Room 416 at the academy, are known on the Internet as the "416 girls". They have put their singing on short-video platforms (平台) since 2019.

Over the past three years the students have gradually won a large number of fans. In one of their videos, which has been watched more than 50 million times and received 2.5 million "likes", they sing the pop song Tan Chuang to a Beijing Opera tune.

Young people such as the "416 girls" have increased audience (观众) numbers for Beijing Opera, which has a history of more than 200 years.

Guo Jing, 27, a primary school teacher, has about 2.5 million followers on the Douyin short-video platform. In her videos, she performs ancient songs while dancing to Beijing Opera movements, or discusses interesting stories about the art form. 

"I want to be one of the best art vloggers, and I see it as m y task to shorten the distance between art and life," Guo said.

Pan Yan, a leader of the China Performance Industry Association, said, "Beijing Opera has a special charm (魅力) that people can sense without having to understand it. Audience experience the art form's beauty by watching short videos, and they also spread news and knowledge about Beijing Opera after watching videos."