Kun Opera is the umbrella term for a cycle of songs that are honored as "the father of a hundred operas". It may date back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) when two local residents in Eastern China's Kunshan — Wei Liangfu and Liang Chenyu — blended classical poetry with a number of traditional folk tunes. The combination resulted in the birth of Kun Opera as we know it today. This new operatic style quickly became popular across the country, largely due to the appeal of its clear and enchanting diction and its memorable tunes. On May 18, 2001, Kun Opera was inaugurated into the world's intangible cultural heritage list. In order to promote and commemorate its traditional culture, Zhouzhuang rebuilt the ancient drama stage and invited the Jiangsu Provincial Kun Opera troupe to perform Kun Opera regularly.

The third Chinese Kun Opera Festival opened in Kunshan in the Jiangsu province on July 5th with a performance by the Suzhou Kun Opera Academy. Kun opera is one of the stars of Chinese opera, listed on UNESCO's Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity register in 2001. Eight new shows by seven Kun Opera academies will compete for the festival's crown. Highlights include Yi Pian Tao Hua Hong (Those Red Peach) by the Shanghai Kun Opera Academy, Gong Sun Zi Du (named after a hero from the Zheng Dynasty) from Zhejiang and Xiang Shui Lang Zhong (Doctor from Hunan) from Hunan. Opera schools from Hong Kong and Taiwain will also take part in the festival for the first time. Hong Kong will perform Wusong and Pan Jinlian, while Taiwan will show Fengzheng Wu.

A Kun Opera film version of A Dream of the Red Mansions won three awards at the 12th Monaco International Film Festival in Monte Carlo on Dec 7. The film, directed by Gong Yingtian and shot by China's Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, won the festival's highest honor, the Best Film Angel Award, becoming the first Chinese film to receive this award. It also won the Best Costume Design and Best Original Music awards. The opera epic is based on the well known, mid-18th century Chinese classic by Cao Xueqin that follows a family through its changing fortunes. "The Kun Opera film, A Dream of the Red Mansions, uses modern film technique to perfectly fuse the over 600-year-old Chinese Kun Opera with the Chinese classic A Dream of the Red Mansions written 200 years ago," said the festival's jury president, Zeudi Araya Cristaldi. The film was also selected to mark the opening of the film festival on Dec 4. The festival, which ended Dec 7, had a line up of 16 premiere films and 10 screenplay nominees from around the globe, which were shortlisted for the Angel Film Awards.