For centuries Chinese opera has sparked artistic creativity far beyond the stage. Paintings, prints, books, ceramics, and textiles depict characters and stories. Composers, playwrights, and filmmakers have drawn on imagery from the opera to produce new works.

Envisioning China: A Festival of Arts and Culture, a campus-wide exhibition running through June 15, will showcase the wide influence of opera. Among the events, A Night at the Peking Opera, April 12 at the Logan Center, will feature rising star Ling Ke and members of the Tianjin Peking Opera Company.

Two Smart Museum exhibitions—Performing Images: Opera in Chinese Visual Culture and Inspired by the Opera: Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video—will illustrate the impact of opera on other media.

Elsewhere during the festival, Court Theatre will stage a production of M. Butterfly and musical performances will include the Shanghai Quartet and Chinese lute virtuoso Zhou Long.