As a vital vehicle for the transmission of traditional culture, Chinese opera education is deeply connected to the cultivation of cultural understanding and literacy. This study, grounded in Design-Based Educational Methodology (DME), integrates the twenty-first-century core competency 5C model to construct a new teaching paradigm of “Cultural Cognition–Digital Empowerment–Competency Development.” Leveraging AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) technology, the project has developed Liyuan Zhiyun, an innovative opera education platform featuring AI-generated characters, intelligent music arrangement, and other cutting-edge functions. This platform transcends the geographical limitations of traditional opera and inspires youth engagement through a metaverse-based interactive community. With capabilities in AI-assisted creation, virtual performance, and online learning, the platform serves both opera artists and enthusiasts by fostering a co-creative and shared digital ecosystem. It not only advances the digital preservation and innovation of Chinese opera, but also aims to cultivate young people’s cultural confidence, creative thinking, and problem-solving abilities—offering a new path for the digital transformation of traditional cultural education.