Who can become an ? I found a simple answer in Yaoxu - Anybody interested in art.

Yaoxu, a small town in eastern China's Jiangxi province, is the base of several folk troupes, which were formed by a group of farmers who share the same interest in acting or music.

On our first day in Yaoxu, my colleagues and I were treated to live performances by two such troupes, one specializing in stage dramas and one in traditional music.

We were first invited to a theater to watch an operatic drama supported by an ensemble of erhu players. With no fancy props or stage set, the show had only three characters - a middle-aged woman, a man of a similar age and an elderly gentleman. Although I didn't understand the dialect, I found the actors' vivid expressions entertaining. Zhang Wensheng, who played the middle-aged man, later told me that the story was about poultry breeders in a village. Such a story probably won't find audiences in big cities, but given that the audience here is made up of villagers just like the actors, I'm sure the drama easily hits home.

After the production, we moved outside for the repertoire of a chuida (blow and hit) ensemble. Members of this troupe played jubilant music by hitting drums and blowing a traditional instrument named suona. Performers wore costumes - men in blue and women in pink. Men played music, and women danced along. They seemed so well-rehearsed that it was surprising to realize, as Liu Liuying, one of the dancers, later told me, that the women were simply improvising their rhythms.

The performance lasted for almost ten minutes in the scorching sun. However, instead of hearing complaints, I saw only smiling faces.

I later learned the chuida troupe is sometimes invited to perform at weddings, but other than that, its members don't receive regular payment. The troupe has survived for more than a decade simply because its members find happiness here, and money can't buy that.

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