A wonderful journey spanning Eastern and Western cultures

Since the moment that I was born into this world

I was defined as a Chinese

I am from Henan Province in China

which is the oldest province in China

When I was in sixth grade

My parents and I moved to the Bay Area of California

Now I have completed middle school

and high school here

The Bay Area is the

most culturally diverse region in the world

including a variety of ethnic groups

However, it really raised the question of who I am

where my origin is, and where I am going in my life to me

I hope I can both absorb American culture

and the tradition of Chinese culture

to contribute to this diverse American culture

I want to be a messenger of cultural exchange

and promote the integration of

Eastern and Western cultures

I was exposed to Yu Opera since childhood

and it brought me interests into it

Yu Opera is the most famous musical opera

in Henan Province

and one of the five traditional

opera forms in China

I hope people my community and school can understand it

In order to bring Yu opera

to this unique melting pot culture

I began to learn Yu Opera

planning and hosting lectures

making a Yu Opera website

and passing on this 400-year-old opera genre

to friends around me

The Californianization of Yu Opera

I think in order to like something

you must have more access to relevant information

Similarly, to promote Yu opera

I needed to let friends around me

to have more opportunities to see and understand it

And the best way to accomplish that is through

lectures and websites

I utilized the space at my school and community to

hold lectures

and was helped by my Yu opera mentor

from the Yu Opera club back in my Henan hometown

My mentor in my hometown did not know

the situation of Yu Opera in foreign countries

so I needed to add the American film

Mulan into the lectures and websites

which is a Yu Opera themed Disney movie made

in Hollywood

In this way my local friends can accept it faster and easier

In my own words

I call it the Californianization of Yu Opera

Sharing of knowledge and collision of cultures

Every single time that I give a lecture on Yu Opera

I would design the content differently

for different audiences

Because when facing different people from my community

the knowledge that I would convey would be different

what I want to express is not just

the origin and development history of Yu Opera

but also to let my audiences

understand and gain interests in Yu Opera

and encourage everyone to sing

and involve in Yu Opera culture

Therefore， I consider the integration

of Yu Opera with modern culture

such as the Hollywood animated film "Mulan"

that was filmed 20 years ago

which I put into my presentation

As a result

this affect greatly stimulated students from my school

since everyone has interests in animated films

My partners and I plan

to make videos and live broadcast on TIKTOK

as it is the trending social media

of emerging generation

In this way, the influences that I brought

would improve from my school and community

to a larger platform

My family brought me some traditional

Yu Opera props from my hometown

like facial makeup masks

Instead of keeping them at home

I hope that I could share them with everyone

so that they can experience

the culture of Yu Opera as well

Therefore during the lectures

I have designed scenario

to give out the masks as gifts

to the most involved audiences

I love my parents

I love Yu Opera

and I hope that everyone around me can

understand and appreciate it

Use Yu opera as matchmaker and love as bridge

Through lectures in my school and community

I established connections with friends

who are fond of Chinese culture

When I Learned about the natural disaster in Hanan

I decided to raise funds

I formed a small organization

to promote the charm of Yu Opera  to my friends

and encouraged them to join my fundraising campaign

I contacted Chinese charitable organizations

to determine where our fundraising efforts

would be directed

Finally

we donated all the collected funds

through Chinese charitable organizations

to the disaster stricken areas in Hanan

A new chapter in Yu Opera, a cross-border collision between technology and tradition

I have received good news

that direct flights between China and the US

are increasing

I am planning to hold two Yu Opera special performances

in the Bay Area

during the next summer vacation

inviting Director Xie from the Yu Opera Troupe

and local actors from the Bay Area to perform

and spread through Tiktok

The idea of livestreaming on TikTok

originated from a research project

I participated in as a Harvard-China program researcher

during my sophomore on junior year in high school

The core of that project was to use AI technology

to study a social management issue

involving computer science、Mechanics

Mathematics、 Psychology and Economics

Therefore I am

eager to combine traditional art

with modern technology to bring an unprecedented

audiovisual feast to the audience

Advanced 3D mapping technology

will present  Yu Opera performances

in front of the audience

making them feel like they are in a surrea world

The use of sound and light projection technology

makes every detail on the stage vividly lifelike

With the help of VR technology on mobile phones

people can watch Yu Opera anytime

learn about its history and experience its charm

I hope that through such an attempt

more people will come to understand

and love the profound art form of Yu Opera

Let us look forward to

this time-crossing Yu Opera feast together

and feel the infinite charm of traditional art

and modern technology！