Aug. 12 –Our Chinese teacher said it was a Chinese cultural performance. There will be singing, dancing and comedy, she said. I call it a variety show, emphasis on variety.
In a hall that seated a few hundred, the show opened with young women dancing and holding the ends of bright pink silk that dropped from the ceiling. Fog floated across the stage.
Then, a thin, androgynous man in a tight white suit sang a pop song with back-up dancers (possibly the same women from the opening) wearing cat masks and tight leather outfits.
Then, the host joked around with the thin, androgynous man. I can only tell you they were joking because the audience was laughing. I did not understand the jokes.
And then -- after the jokes, after the leather-clad cat-women dancers – the host narrated the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Against projected images of soldiers in battle, a black and white photo of a heap of massacred bodies during the Rape of Nanjing, the host spoke of the bravery of Chinese soldiers against the Japanese, against the Guomindang in the Civil War and of the great leadership of Chairman Mao. At least, that’s what I gathered from the images and the phrases I picked out. After this grand story-telling, the actor playing Mao walked out into the audience and picked out a few audience members. Again, I did not understand what Mao was saying but gather he was joking because the audience was laughing.
The show returned to more singing and dancing, including a woman who chugged a beer before launching into a slow love song.
Our kung fu teacher, who was with us in the audience, said he was a friend of the host’s and went onstage with a few of the English teachers to demonstrate a kung fu routine. (I got out of going onstage by pretending I was going up and then slipping back into my seat.)
NOTE: I have been battling a proxy snafu that prevented me from accessing my blog, plus intermittent Internet access; thus the flurry of posts now.
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