Chinese Peking Opera

Dedicated to: The Artists of Chinese Theater

Saturday, 11th, 2011, 1:30PM

The stage is dark. The light comes on. The curtains are pulled back with traditional Chinese music playing in the background. The band is live, consisting of a variety of Chinese instruments including the well-known erhu that looks like this:

The stage comes alive with a single actor dressed in a colorful, traditional Chinese garb representing the glory days of the Chinese Empire. With great flourish, he begins the play through song and dramatic hand gestures, taking the audience through a famous Chinese story of betrayal, love, and justice.

On this rainy day, our teachers had decided to take us to see a Chinese play at the famous Peking Opera House. There are actual several of these theaters located in various locations in China, but the theater in Shanghai is one of the more well-known locations. Today's play is called Bao Gong An and through the courtesy of Wiki, below is a link to a brief description of what the play is about under "Life and Career" and "Legend."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_Zheng

Listening and watching Chinese opera is an acquired taste, because to many people, Chinese Opera may seem harsh to the ear. Here are a few audio samples:

Granted that the play was difficult to understand due to it's mixed use of traditional and modern Chinese, I thoroughly enjoyed the play because it was the first time I've actually seen one live. The costumes were elaborate, and from past brief web researches on how the actors design their faces, I knew that the masks were not actually masks, but hand-painted designs that can take as long as 4 hours to finish. Furthermore, my grandfather actually knows how to sing some opera-style Chinese, which I've always found amusing.

Overall, it was a fantastic cultural experience, and I highly encourage everyone to go  and check-it out if they get the chance :)

Fabric Market

Dedicated to: The Wonders of Custom Fabric

It's been a strange week here in Shanghai, China. Rain has been bringing in intense heat and humidity. With most of Asia running on an open-sewer system...yeah...fun and interesting smells have been noticed to say the least.  Fortunately, some exciting events have occurred since the last time I posted. Unfortunately, I've also been a lazy-ass/flat out exhausted and not been as on top of my postings as I should be. Well, with that I'm just going to get into the awesomeness of the Fabric Market.

The Fabric Market is a three-storied building, and when observed from the outside, it actually doesn't look very large. The moment you step inside, it's like stepping into another unique realm in Shanghai. Each building's story is cluttered with hundreds of small shops offering foreigners and natives their fabric wares. For the most part, the market is packed with people that are constantly being pestered by vendors who want them to come into their shop.This place in Shanghai is called the Fabric Market because it is a renowned area for people to order custom-made business suits, slacks, coats, jeans, shirt-tops, traditional Chinese garb, and just about anything else you could think of that can be worn and made to exactly fit the individual.

You may wonder, what's the best part? YOU CAN HAGGLE. That's right, if you don't haggle for your prices you will definitely be ripped off, or worse, realize that what you ordered wasn't even that great of quality.

I've already been to the Fabric Market market 4 times. I've been going to the same vendors for those last minute gifts, with prices that continue to improve because of the repeated visits. Of all the times I've gone, I had friends that either came with me, or I escorted them to the best vendors. Thankfully, most have been satisfied in what they purchased, because of me haggling for them, while giving them a chance to learn the ropes. It has definitely been enjoyable for me in helping them hone their haggling skills. I can also say for sure that my own haggling skills have improved a great deal. It's only embarrassing when I actually try to haggle in an established department store u_u ... But, I still ask if there is a discount before I think about purchasing something :)

I probably won't return to the Fabric Market again, but I can't help but think about getting a pea coat custom-made...