Founded in 1956, China National Theatre for Children (CNTC) is a national art troupe directly subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China. CNTC is entrusted with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and innovating national children’s theatre. It plays a representative, exemplary, and guiding role as a national art troupe, and has cultivated generations of artists and leading professionals in the field of children’s theatre. CNTC has received numerous artistic awards at home and abroad. Its performances have toured across China and over 30 countries on five continents. Performances of CNTC have won wide acclaim.

CNTC has always upheld the Party’s principles and policies on literature and art, adhered to the people-centered approach to artistic creation, and followed the laws of artistic development. With creation as its core mission and performance as its central focus, CNTC has developed creations covering traditional Chinese culture, realistic contemporary themes and adapted foreign classics. Through creative transformation and innovative development, it has continued to advance literature and art for children and young people. Since its founding, CNTC has produced and staged nearly 200 exquisite works. In addition to nationally renowned works such as Malan Flower, In the Name of Revolution, The Magic Boat, and The Newsboy, its repertoire also includes a wide range of acclaimed productions inspired by outstanding traditional cultural classics, such as Journey to the West, Three Monks, The Mermaid in East China Sea, The Snipe, the Clam and the Fish, and China Idiom Stories; works reflecting revolutionary spirit and realistic themes, such as Red Tassels, The Undeliverable Intelligence, Hearing Dreams, and The Adventure of Firefly Sister and Brother; and adaptations of foreign classics, including Pippi Long Stocking, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and Little Princess. In recent years, CNTC has continued to introduce new and innovative works, creating and staging high-quality productions such as River Spirits in A Museum, A Cat’s Legend in the Forbidden City, The Nightingale, and Mu Lan. Among them, A Cat’s Legend in the Forbidden City won the 18th Wenhua Award for Outstanding Productions.

Guided by its mission of “All for Children”, CNTC has always upheld its public-interest nature, pursued practical innovation, and coordinated its work in creation, performance, education and training, as well as international communication and cooperation, steadily enhancing its influence. CNTC pioneered both the China Children’s Theatre Festival and the Rotating Performance System for Outstanding Plays, offering an extensive repertoire of high-quality shows for children and young teenagers. CNTC has actively carried out various forms of public-welfare performances and theatre education, bringing quality theatrical productions and educational resources directly to primary schools, secondary schools and communities in both urban and rural areas. The theatre launched the “New Era Seed Plan” and produced stage dramas including “Xin’an Travel Group” featuring student performers, enabling theatre arts to grow at grassroots communities, on campuses and among children. It also initiated the “Blooming and Sailing” incubation program for stage art works by Children and Young People, and launched the educational theatre production “The Last Leaf”, supporting a new generation of creators in children’s theatre. CNTC also undertook the “Childlike Hearts Toward the Future — Contemporary Children’s Song Creation and Promotion Program”, promoting outstanding children’s songs in schools and classrooms and contributing to the all-round development of children in the new era. Through integrated culture-and-tourism initiatives and targeted assistance programs, CNTC collaborated with Arxan City to create and stage the song-and-dance drama The Arxan Deer of Harun Arxan, shouldering broader social responsibilities. By hosting the ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering, leading the implementation of tasks under the BRICS Alliance of Children’s Theatre, and continuously carrying out international performance exchanges and cooperation, CNTC has become an important force in telling China’s stories well in the new era.

CNTC currently has 15 internal departments: the Theatre Office, Party Committee Office, Human Resources Management Department, Financial Management Department, Administrative Support Department, State-owned Assets and Infrastructure Management Department, Retiree Management Department, Creation Department, Production Department, Performance Department, Actor Management Department, Stage Design Management Department, Cooperation and Development Department, Film and Television Archives Department, and Art Training Department (Malanhua Performing Arts Education Center). It also has one affiliated institution: China Children Art Theatre. “China Children Art Theatre” was personally inscribed by Comrade Soong Ching-ling. It is a landmark century-old building with rich cultural heritage. The “Holiday Classic Theatre”, established in 2005, is located on the fourth floor of China Children Art Theatre. Together, the large and small theatres have presented countless audiences with a wide array of brilliant children’s theatre productions, making them an artistic palace of contemporary Chinese children’s theatre.

The current leadership team of CNTC consists of: Zhang Yansheng, Secretary of the CPC Committee; Ge Dali, President; Pasang Drolma‌, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committe; Wang Yan, Vice President; and Mao Ernan, Vice President.