Home to the China National Peking Opera Company, the National Peking Opera Theater was founded in January 1955, with Mei Lanfang, one of Beijing (Peking) Opera's most famous performers, named as its first president. Mei was both a national hero for his refusal to perform under Japanese occupation and an ambassador for the art form to the rest of the world.  

Actually consisting of two individual theaters, the Mei Lanfang Grand Theatreand Chang He Yuan Theatre, the site regularly hosts Beijing Opera shows and events. Beijing Opera, generally known in Chinese as jingju or jingxi, is the best-known form of Chinese Opera, which combines elaborate costumes and masks with music, song and acrobatics.