Puppet Theater seeks bigger market

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Over the past few years, the National Puppet Theater has emerged as a major force in Beijing's showbiz scene. The theater has been earning healthy profits through a series of high-quality shows.

During the May Day holiday, the National Puppet Theater staged another box-office success, "The Happy Sheep and Grey Wolf". Running twenty performances over three short days, the production raked in nearly 200 million yuan, an impressive figure for Beijing's showbiz sector.

Prior to its restructure in 2006, the theater had been a government-sponsored entity that struggled for survival. Since streamlining, however, it has seen tremendous growth both in revenue and in influence.

It has since launched a string of highly successful ventures, including an indoor theme park, the China Puppet Castle project, an English-language school, and even a pizza restaurant. Now, each patron's average trip to the theater has extended to four hours from the previous one hour, with plenty of children finding enjoyment there.

Founded more than fifty years ago, the National Puppet Theater is prospering as a state-owned enterprise.