The Wildernessby McKay Coppins (Little Brown, non-fiction, on sale now) The explosive story of the Republican Party’s painstaking efforts to find its way back to unity and national dominance. After the 2012 election, the GOP(大佬党) was in the wilderness. McKay Coppins has had unique access to Republican presidential candidates, power brokers, lawmakers, and Tea Party leaders.

Blood, Salt, Water by Denise Mina (Little Brown, fiction, on sale now) In the latest Alex Morrow story, a wealthy businesswoman disappears from her Glasgow home without a trace. Salt water lifts blood. Only salt water. Loch Lomond is a mile deep but the woman’s body surfaced anyway. “Set in Glasgow, still midnight falls within this umbrella of Tartan Noir with the flawed detective hero, Alex Morrow.”

Time and Time Again by Ben Elton (Thomas Dunne, fiction, on sale Jan. 29) In this time-traveling adventure which begins in 1914, ex-soldier Hugh Stanton goes attempts to prevent World War I. “A fun, smart, adventurous book, a work of science-fiction as big on ideas as action,” says The Sydney Morning Herald.

A Gift From Bob by James Bowen (Thomas Dunne, non-fiction, on sale now) London street musician James Bowen tells the story of how his cat Bob helped him overcome bad childhood memories of Christmas. Bowen and the real Bob are acting in the 2016 film version of Bowen’s best seller A Street Cat Named Bob, which stars Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey fame.

Beatrice and Benedick by Marina Fiorato (St. Martin’s Press, fiction, on sale now) A fresh take on the lovers from Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing imagines Beatrice and Benedick’s back story. “Full of passion, myth, and wit…a delight,” says Booklist.

Adaptation and innovation (创新) of traditional opera is an important trend in Chinese opera circle in recent years. In order to attract young audience of new generation and catch up with the time, traditional opera circle makes efforts to create new works. In recent years, traditional opera has come across the change of time and society. It gradually lost the main elderly audience and was not attractive for the young.

In order to find new opportunities, using modern sound, light and digital stage effects, China’s traditional Peking, also known as jingju, Opera is appealing to young people in a fashionable and innovative way, as the classic art faces an aging audience.

The centuries-old Tianleyuan Theater in Beijing has introduced fashionable performances of Peking Opera. The opera combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime (哑剧表演), dance and acrobatics (杂技).

Tianleyuan has a jingju art experience section and fashionable performances. It has attracted more than 2,000 audience members, mostly young people, according to theater staff.

“Good art should keep pace with the times, so does jingju,” said Zhang Zishang, a 22-year-old performer of The Drunken Beauty, one of the classic jingju plays performed in the theater. “I feel today’s performance is very special,” Zhang added. She was born into a family of jingju performers and has had 10 years of stage experience. “Innovation is good, but we must also carry on the basic elements of jingju,” another young performer Deng said.

According to Deng, innovation is perhaps the best way for jingju to deal with the problem of an aging audience. It has made successful attempts to combine jingju with local opera forms such as ballet when organizing performances abroad. “Innovation can help traditional arts go further. We are happy to see many young faces, and some of them even come twice to experience the ‘new’ art,” she added.

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Beijing People’s Art Theater, we select a group of its original works.

Thunderstorm

Playwright: Cao Yu

Thunderstorm was the first work of Cao Yu. Praised as one of China’s most enduring dramas of the 20th century, Thunderstorm tells of a tragedy (悲剧) between two families during the1920s. The intense conflicts are all presented in a day’s time within the drama.

Sunrise

Playwright: Cao Yu

Sunnse is set in Tianjin in the 1930s. It centers on the tragedy of Chen Bailu. It discloses the social conflicts and unfortunate life of those living at the bottom of society at that time. The drama also expresses the longing for brightness indicated by the name and order of its four acts — dawn, dusk, midnight and sunrise.

Rickshaw Boy

Playwright: Mei Qian

The drama Rickshaw Boy is adapted from the novel of Lao She, a Chinese literary giant. It tells the sad story of`Xiangzi, a rickshaw boy in Beijing in the 1920s who dreams of running his’ own firm. However, after a series of misfortunes, Xiangzi is no longer an honest and optimistic young country boy.

The Teahouse

Playwright: Lao She

Consisting of three acts, the play tells stories taking place in the Beijing Yutai Teahouse and the fate of Wang Lifa, the owner of the teahouse. It mirrors the great social changes in China from 1898 to the 1940s. The Teahouse is also the first Chinese drama production to be performed overseas.