Shanghai Opera House

[2] Although the term "Opera House" is often applied to the building, both in English and Chinese texts, officially the building is not an opera house and the term "Shanghai Opera House" properly applies only to the performing company, not the building, as is also true for its senior sister company, the China National Opera House (CNOH) in Beijing.

The reason for the distinction is found in that the Chinese character Yuan (院) applies primarily to a school or institute or dramatic troupe rather than the building in which a school, institute or dramatic company resides.

The offices, practice rooms and small rehearsal theatre are located at No.10 100-lòng Changshu Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai.

[3] The repertoire of the opera company includes various western works: Aida, L'Elisir d'Amore, Orfeo ed Euridice, Eugene Onegin (opera), Otello, Pelléas et Mélisande (opera), The Nose (opera), Die Fledermaus, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Samson et Dalila, La Traviata, I Pagliacci, L'amour des Trois Oranges.

Its repertoire of Chinese-language western-style operas (dangdai geju) includes: White-Haired Girl, Zan Yuen ("broad grasslands"), Fangcaoxin ("Fangfang, heart of grass"), Red Guards on Honghu Lake, Sister Jiang, Leiyu (based on Cao Yu's play Thunderstorm), Shangshi ("Mourning" 1981 folk opera based on a story by Lu Xun[4]) and The Savage Land.