Hello and Welcome to our special edition of Culture Express on CGTN. I'm Julian Waghann, and I'm Erica Pitzi. We're coming to you LIVE from the Wuzhen Theater Festival in Eastern China's Zhejiang province. This is the 6th year of the festival located in the heart of Wuzhen and let's talk about this beautiful water town for a minute, with its peaceful canals. It's a gorgeous place practically immersed in water. Just take a look at our studio, we're situated on the water market right behind us. And you can see just meters away, a stage above the water where we will give you a glimpse of live performances from local Chinese traditional opera.

In fact, "Peeping into dreams" is the name of one of a series of Pekin and Qunqu operas that will be playing throughout the evening. We'll show you more of the opera later, but first the youth theater scene. The growing theater industry in China continues to change along with its young actors. A competition among youth performers is luring big audiences at the Wuzhen Theater Festival. The contest hopes to open more doors for artists looking for a strong start to their careers. CGTN's Zhao Yunfei takes a look.

Audiences line up more than an hour ahead of showtime. Backstage in the audition room, three student actors make ready to attend a competition among young artists at the Wuzhen Theater Festival. It'll be their first time performing on a big stage off-campus.

LIU XIN PERFORMING MAJOR STUDENT "Here at this festival, we have the chance to meet with the nation's top directors and actors. The atmosphere is very good."

Liu says he is grateful for the professional environment brought by the theater festival. His partner Huo Ye agrees. He believes the competition will strengthen not only their acting skills, but also their understanding of performing arts.

HUO YE PERFORMING MAJOR STUDENT "We as performers need confidence. This experience encourages us to act bravely on the stage."

This younger generation of actors has followed its own path to the stage. While older, more traditional plays told stories of Chinese culture and history, drama scripts in recent years have tackled social issues, such as corruption and power abuse.

WANG XIA PERFORMING MAJOR STUDENT "Many people refuse to comment on certain sensitive issues, but we are not afraid of doing that. We hope that our audience can learn something from our performances."

Outside, people not lucky enough to get in are watching the plays live. Despite a light rainfall, nothing dampens their passion for this rising art in China.

ZHAO YUNFEI WUZHEN "As the tastes of art-savvy crowds change, performances have become more authentic and creative. Thus, the theater festival adds an energetic layer to the ancient water town. Now young adults, from artists to audiences are dedicated to shaping China's future theater industry. Zhao Yunfei, CGTN, Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province."