BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The China National Peking Opera Company has launched a mentoring program that will see Peking opera masters impart skills to young artists when performing classic plays.

Renowned Peking opera performers such as Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu will personally tutor promising young performers to act out a number of classic plays, including "The General and the Prime Minister (Jiang Xiang He)".

The program aims to cultivate a group of young talent to make up for a shortage of top performers in this kind of traditional art, said Song Chen, president of the company.

Earlier this year, a similar mentoring program but on a smaller scale was organized, where 22 Peking opera masters and experts instructed a total of 42 young performers in 20 plays, according to Song.

"The program has proved to be an effective method in cultivating talented performers of Peking opera as many young actors have seen improvements in their performances and become more professional," said Song.