Abstract: Traditional Chinese theatre with modern themes stems not only from the aesthetic change of the new era but also from the development of Chinese theatre arts, given that modern themes may be more popularly accepted. This paper proposes three suggestions to improve the creation and performance of traditional Chinese theatre with modern themes: to broaden the concept of the mainstream work to cover any scripts that reflect contemporary patriotism and traditional value of Chinese nation with modern aesthetic pursuits; to modernize the theatre expression with poetic lines and lyrics, visualized stage performance through body and expressions, and contemporary style of music and singing, and to conduct nationwide experiments in such dimensions from script writing, to music composition, performance training to stage design. The paper also suggests the promotion of successful examples as a way to modernize and develop the traditional theatre in the current context.

Key words: modernized traditional Chinese theatre, history, current status, problems, developmental trajectory