Chinese folk singer Song Zuying attends the Chinese People's Political Consulative Conference panel in Beijing on March 3, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Fifth-generation filmmakers mourn death of 'Godfather'

Chinese artists perform Peking Opera in Toronto

Song Zuying, one of the country's best-known folk singers, took responsibility at a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference panel on Sunday, for starting a trend of performing at a famous Viennese concert hall.

"It is partly owing to me that so many of the country's art troupes have set the Golden Hall as a venue they have to perform in," she said while speaking at the CPPCC cultural group.

Song, a soprano widely known as the "Queen of Chinese folksong", was among the first Chinese performers to appear at the Vienna Musikverein Golden Hall, giving a recital there in November 2003. Since then, the concert hall has seen rapid growth in its Chinese bookings.

A Xinhua News Agency report said more than 130 Chinese performances appeared there in the first eight months of 2013. Not all matched Song's standard.

"To be honest, going to the Golden Hall was also my dream," she said. "But the most important thing is that we give high-quality performances."

"Some of the hundred or so troupes that go to perform there don't come up to standard," she said. "Those kind of performances are a waste of our resources."

Song suggested an evaluation system should be set up to rate the troupes' quality and only let the best should go overseas to perform.

"It's very important that we set a standard for culture that should be exported", said Feng Jicai, an acclaimed author and fellow CPPCC member.

"Only those at the top level and representative of what the country produces are fit to perform overseas," Feng said.

"There also should be a committee of artists from relevant fields to evaluate their quality, instead of letting governmental officials do it," he said.