Amateur Art TroupeThrives at the Grassroots

AS snow fell in Beijing’s early winter, hundreds of people gathered in a theater on the second floor of the Xicheng District Cultural Center to watch a performance by Xiaobaihua, an amateur Shaoxing Opera troupe. The name, which it shares with a renowned professional Shaoxing Opera troupe in Zhejiang, means literally "small hundred flowers." The Beijing troupe was founded in September 1998. None of its 40-odd members is professional; all joined it for