"When I see thousands of people cheering the members excitedly, even with tears in their eyes, when the performance ends and the actors take multiple curtain calls, the audience still keeps applauding, when someone from the audience gives them water, flowers, fruit or even helps with the cleaning up after the shows, I always feel that performing for the people is worth it," he says.
Dong is considering setting up a fund to finance the troupe in a sustainable way. "With the interest generated from the fund, the troupe can be sustained in the long run," he says.
He adds that government support for folk arts has also promoted the development of Maoqiang Opera. Under a government project that encourages folk arts at the grassroots level, the troupe gets subsidies of about 1,500 yuan for each performance.
In recent years, county authorities such as those in Wulian and Gaomi have included the cost of collecting and preserving traditional folk art items scattered across small theaters or held by elderly performers in their budgets, and have been providing training to new Maoqiang Opera performers.
"I believe that with good policy support, Maoqiang Opera, a treasure of our culture, will continue to thrive," Dong says.
