Professor Pai Hsien-yung, Wei Lun Professor of Humanities of the Faculty of Arts, pioneered the course "The Beauty of Kunqu Opera" in 2011. Over the past 2 years, the course was very well-received and is selected as one of the signature online courses to be offered by the CUHK. With further consolidation to the curriculum, the course has been put on offer starting from 2013-14 as a University General Education course under the area of Chinese Cultural Heritage.

On 8 January 2014, Professor Pai delivered his premier lecture of the course on 'New Aesthetics of Kunqu: Tradition in the Modern Era' for the course UGEA1061/ARTS1001 The Beauty of Kunqu Opera. Capitalizing his production experience in using the aesthetic approach in producing "The Young Lover's Edition of the Peony Pavilion, he illustrated the 'New Aesthetics of Kunqu'. The lecture attracted over 200 CUHK staff, students and members of the public. The other lecture on 19 March focused on the 'Artistic Perspectives of Kunqu Poems" by making reference to the text of the Peony Pavilion. The stage performance of Kunqu Opera on 21 & 23 March provided students with a 3-dimensional experience of the literary form of Kunqu Opera.