Jingju

In our second-to-last week we had an optional excursion to the Beijing Opera that Gu Laoshi subsidized for anyone that wanted to go. At a cost of 10 kuai, I thought to myself, "why not!?"

The performance was in the National Centre for the Performing Arts in the center of Beijing. The building (pictured left) is nicknamed "the egg" and is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen, especially on the inside. Unfortunately, I had to check my camera and couldn't take any pictures inside. The structure, which was designed by French architect, has a dome made of titanium and glass and is surrounded by an artificial lake.

Beijing Opera is a traditional Chinese art form that combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance, and acrobatics. It has a history that dates back to the late 18th century, and is widely viewed as one of China's cultural treasure--this is what they tell you in the textbooks. But we were advised by our teachers that Beijing Opera is something of an acquired taste. Oh, how right they were.

The show is done completely in Chinese and it is so archaic that they must provide Chinese subtitles to native speakers, so those of us who did not speak Chinese were left completely in the dark. Of course, the travel guide books don't really tell you that. They also don't tell you that Beijing Opera is really nothing more than dramatic costumes, high-pitched screeching, and loud, percussive clanging. It was unbearable. We stuck it out for the first act, took an extended intermission, and spent the second act ad-libbing our own English translations to the dialogue. What can I say? We tried.