As a veteran performer of Zhuang Opera, Ha Dan has made it her lifelong mission to keep the more than 200-year-old ethnic art form alive.

Zhuang Opera, which originated in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, features a call-and-response style, in which the chief performer sings the main storyline while the supporting players, often in colorful costumes, chant back. A national intangible cultural heritage, it draws its musical inspirations from ordinary people's lives.

However, for quite a long time, the traditional opera has been out of favor with young people, who are more interested in movies and digital entertainment.

"Since the 1990s, when many Zhuang Opera theaters were converted to cinemas, we have barely had a chance to perform," Ha said. "We didn't even know whether the opera would survive."

She added it would be a great pity if traditional opera disappeared while the country was on the fast track to prosperity. The number of Zhuang Opera performers has been drastically declining in recent decades. In 1995 alone, 30 of the 40 performers in Ha's troupe quit.

Although Ha has kept performing in operas, she has had to moonlight at a nightclub to support herself financially. She said she has made 150 times more money singing pop songs than she has from performing Zhuang Opera.

Lyu Guangdong, head of an opera troupe in Bobai county, Guangxi, has faced the same predicament. He rented his theater to a model training agency, which he said was the only way to pay the 30 performers in his opera troupe.

"I wanted to keep performing," said Lyu, who inherited the role of the troupe leader from his grandfather. "When the music starts, I often think of my grandfather. When we perform, it is as if he were present."

In recent years, Zhuang Opera has made a surprise comeback, with its popularity on the rise across the country.

Experts believe that a resurgence of the opera, like that of traditional clothing and songs, is part of a larger trend to take pride in tradition, as wealthier and modernized Chinese seek to reconnect with their cultural roots.

"It's cool to watch the same opera that our ancestors used to enjoy hundreds of years ago," said Wang Xuemeng, 22, a senior from Shandong University of Finance and Economics. "The opera embodies a deep sense of our national sentiment."

In recent years, the central government has made great efforts to preserve and develop traditional art forms.

Since 2006, the State Council has listed 1,372 art forms as national intangible heritage and provided support to many traditional artists.

In a guideline issued by the central government in 2017, a target was set to promote traditional Chinese opera in all schools by the end of this year.

"I'm glad to see that many youths in China have now rekindled their love of traditional culture after Western culture swept the world in the last century," said Zhou Qiang, deputy director of a traditional opera study center in Guilin, a city in Guangxi.

This year, Ha has performed in more than 100 shows. "I treasure the opportunity of being on stage," she said.