9/30/98: We are in Beijing during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, so we ate some mooncakes today… Usually a muffin with a hard boiled egg yolk baked into the middle, but they come in a wide variety these days: chocolate covered, glazed, etc… The other day we went to see the Chinese Opera, a delightful gallimaufry of parts of various plays and ethno-cultural folk songs and skits from all over China… Today we took in another show, an acrobatic/contortionist troupe called Chinese Soul… They make their bodies do things you just can’t imagine are possible. And the strength maneuvers that they perform are simply awesome…
9/28/98 addendum: At the last moment we did decide to try and make it across town to see the Chinese Opera at Quianmen Hotel… 1 1/2 hours of Chinese dramatic arts curated for tourists… A few of the best scenes from a few of the best operas and string them all together in a few short vignettes for one show… The stories were mostly comical (Mozart would have loved this stuff!), the costumes were fantastical in color and pomp, and the music included lots of tinny gongs, rubber-band like twangs, and wailing oboe-like horns… Lots of fun…
NOTE: The photo above is from the acrobat show called “Chinese Soul.”
