Declination of Creativity in the Field of Chinese Opera

Lately I was very troubled with the decline of creative performance in the Chinese opera field in China. What I meant by "creative performance" is not doing experimental acts or pushing artistic boundaries; Chinese opera in general, at this stage, is still not quite fully ready for that I feel. This "creativity" is more on producing an original production, be it based on historical events, pure fiction, or even adapted from other sources. The reason why I'm feeling troubled, is that I started to see "clones" everywhere; clones of popular or well-acclaimed productions from one opera genre being copied exactly as it is and reproduced in another genre (with the exception of amending the dialogues and lyrics to suit the linguistic characteristics of the latter, as well as replacing the music of the former to those belonging to the latter).

Of course it is arguable that well-received shows would definitely tempt people to adapt them, and this has been the case since decades ago, but back them, most adaptation are restricted only to just the script. Nowadays, the degree of adaptation goes beyond that. An example I have on hand is "The Pearl Pagoda" originally produced by Jiangsu Province Xiju Opera Company. This production was not exactly an "original" one so to speak, as it was actually rewritten based on the classic Xiju version that had been made famous since the 60s or so. Nevertheless, it was still well-received, and some changes were made to made this production more in-line with the modern-day audience's perspective. Haicheng Chaoju Opera Troupe and Hainan Province Qiongju Opera Company subsequently adapted it into their own repertoire, and to my horror, they're almost identical, even in terms of costume design, set design, direction sense and artistic gestures of actors.

The original Xiju version by Jiangsu Province Xiju Opera Company

The adapted Teochew opera version by Haicheng Chaoju Opera Troupe

TV snapshots of the adapted Hainanese opera version by Hainan Province Qiongju Opera Company (they even used the same theme music form the original Xiju version!

I'm certainly not against adapting shows from other genres into one's own repertoire. However, it must serve a constructive purpose other than trying to cut down the cost needed to employ a playwright or save the time used to write/ direct a completely new show. A well-known Chinese opera playwright (sadly I couldn't remember his name) once said that if one don't inject any new elements into an adaptation, then it shouldn't have been adapted at all in the first place, and I strongly believe in that.