Beijing - acrobats and opera
 

We're off to Beijing next month and would like to see an acrobat show and an opera. Any suggestions, recommendations, comments? Where does one buy tickets for the shows? Thanks!

Paige, most of the better hotels which customarily have western tourists can get tickets for you to the Beijing Opera and acrobat shows. Check with the concierge at your hotel, but if they can't help you, the local CITS office will probably be able to help. Beijing OPera is really interesting, and they have supertitles in English so you can follow along. Have fun and enjoy Beijing.

Paige hi! Agree with elfie. We got our tickets for both events through the hotel. No problem at all.<BR>Have fun!

Yes, the translation of the opera was hilarious in the Li Yuan theater I went to. Together with the colorful costumes and acrobatic feats, a night at the Peking opera was indeed a very pleasant evening for me.

For Chinese opera there are far better venues than the ersatz Liyuan, which has long been the tourist trap site for opera. <BR><BR>Full-length operas are performed in considerably greater style at the Zhengyici Theatre, immediately south of the Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant, tel 6303 3104. One of four ancient theatres in Beijing, this little jewel of a building is more than 340 years old, and was rescued from imminent destruction a few years ago after a long period as a teachers' dormitory.<BR><BR>Other possibilities: Opera productions in both Beijing and regional styles are also sometimes performed nightly at Huguang Guild Hall, Hufang Lu 3, Xuanwu District, tel 6351 8284/6352 2110 at 7.15pm. This is a beautifully restored Qing theatre which also houses a small museum of Chinese Opera, and should be your second choice after the Zhengyici. <BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html<BR>

Hi Paige, I did not have a good experience with the Beijing opera. We were with a tour and did not have good seats and we were very tired I think. I may have enjoyed it more under different circumstances. The costumes were beautiful. And the sub-titles were hilarious as another poster said. The words in the translation were spelled incorrectly for the most part. I think spelled by sound perhaps. They we quite comical. Do go and enjoy! An experience not to be missed I am sure. Perhaps I expected it to be more formal like the opera we have in the U.S.

lze: I think you cannot compare the Beijing opera to what we have here, in Europe or the US. And then, the opera one visits in Beijing as a tourist are much shorter than the ones for Chinese. I enjoyed it, but wasn't too sad when it was over after maybe 2 hours. As my first language is German, I did realize the hilarious translations as well, but at least they were easy to understand for me! LOL <BR>As to us, our seats were fine and we even had tea and cookies. But as you say, after a long day out sightseeing or being jetlagged, such an evening can be quite tiring and long.<BR>Paige, I'd go there, opera and acrobats, earliest on your third evening in Beijing, although some of the shows start quite early, if I remember well. There might as well be shows at different times.

How long are full length operas compared to the ones especially for tourists?

Peter, thanks for the useful information, I shall look them up when I am in Beijing next. <BR><BR>Paige, a word of warning, Chinese operas beit Peking, Shousin, Cantonese or Yeizi are quite different from the western opera in term of singing. The Chinese opera singing can sound like someone is trying to strangle a cat or a woman wailing in a squeaky and high pitch voice to the westerners. IMO a full length opera can be too much for a beginner. The opera performed specially for the tourists are the best (lively)bits of Peking operas. I had been to full length Peking operas a few times thought not in Beijing. Once I found myself nodding off when the female was singing about the beauty of spring flowers and longing for a lover for twenty minutes. Mind you, that was the romantic opera. Another time, I went to the action opera about a group of female warriors fighting off the foreign invaders. It was a feat of acrobatic stunts. So if you are going to a full length opera, choose the action one, otherwise bring a pillow with you.<BR><BR>I also went to Kabuki in Japan,a full length one, it supposed to last half a day, but I left the theatre after an hour and half, it was excuciatingly slow. And I was told that was the fast pace Kabuki! It was like Peking opera in slow motion . IMO, sometimes it is better to go to the "the best of" first before progress to the proper one. Otherwise, it may put you off for life.<BR><BR>Enjoy your trip to Beijing.

Thanks! I've seen bits of Chinese opera on TV so I have an idea what to expect. So tourist shows last a few hours and real shows last half a day?

Chinese enjoy Beijing opera in a quite different way than foreigners. There are certain cretira for Chinese to evaluate the quality of the performances of the actors/actresses, singing, acting, dialoging, all part of the evaluation. All operas are decpiting some kind of most well known and popular folklores or historical events that the Chinese can get deeply attached to so they don't feel boring as foreigners who don't speak Chinese usually do. <BR><BR>The popularities of Beijing opera among younger generation Chinese are rapidly in declining. Slow pace is one of the reasons. <BR><BR>If a group tour organizes an opera event for foreigners, it will certainly be a strongly action/costumes oriented show for a good reason - because that is the only way to get foreigners interested - they cannot possibly enjoy Beijing opera the same way that Chinese do, but for Chinese that are really the less important parts of the opera. <BR><BR>It will be an interesting experience, I would imagine, for you to see the opera; but be sure to select the action/costume ones.<BR><BR>

Apologies: there's an error in my earlier posting. I remember noticing the other day that the Zhengyici (which has had a very mixed history since its re-opening) is now properly marketing itself to visitors as an opera venue again, and is showing the same kind of mixed programme of excerpts as is commonly shown elsewhere. This should certainly confirm the venue as your first choice. Beijing Opera itself is considerably younger than the theatre, however.<BR><BR>Here are some more venues, just in case: B&ecirc;ij&iuml;ng Workers’ Club at Hufang Lu 7, tel 6352 9574/6353 5390 7.15pm, and at the People’s Theatre, Huguo Si Dajie, Xicheng District, tel 6618 4979 (both of these would be cheap and you would be the only foreigner), the D&agrave; Guan Yuan Theatre inside Grand View Garden, 7.45pm, adm &yen;50–120 tel 6351 9025/6303 7979, Ch&aacute;ng’&auml;n Grand Theatre (maximum comfort here and very easy to reach), Jianguo Men Nei Dajie 7, tel 6510 1309 7.30pm. None of these have performances every night, however.<BR><BR>Another excellent venue is the the ancient theatre inside the Gong Wang Fu (Prince Gong's Palace). Operas are staged here for tour groups, but spare seats are sold to individual travellers. As at the Zhengyici and Huguang you are in a period building, and site at square tables with tea and snacks brought to you.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html

I should add that Beijing is far from being the only place to see Chinese opera, as there are many regional styles, some rather older than Beijing opera, although the differences will escape the average foreign viewer. Seeing opera in smaller towns can be a far more lively and genuine experience, not to mention a fraction of the price in Beijing. What you lose in subtitles, you gain in atmosphere. There are travelling troupes in some parts of China who put on shows wherever they can--I caught one of those in Dunhuang a few years ago. Last week I twice came across a free performances in the street in Quanzhou (Zhejiang Province).<BR><BR>Finally, the current vogue for 'lao Beijing' restaurants in the capital offers another opportunity to see or hear opera, as singers and acrobatic performers often appear there. Try Tan Gen Yuan at the east gate of Ditan Gongyuan (Altar of Earth Park) just north of the Yonghegong (Temple of Heaven). Excellent Beijing food, too, although you'll wonder which is louder---the opera singer or the 'clanging dish noodles'.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html