Chinese Opera

Yesterday evening I got to go to the Chinese opera for one of my classes. The opera is called "Dream in the Red Chamber" or it's also referred to as "The Story of the Stone." It's based on a book which is, as my teacher puts it, is the Chinese equivalent of all of the great western novels that you read in high school combined into one. We read the extremely abridged version, but the actual book is in five volumes and a few thousand pages. The book itself is part love story and part religious transcendence, but the opera only did the love story part of it.

Getting to the play alone was a bit of a nightmare, fighting the swarms of people in the metro heading home from work, but it was not nearly as bad as the opera itself. Nightmarish is the first word that comes to mind, it wouldn't have been so bad except what I thought was a two hour show, was more than three hours (no intermission either). Three hours of Chinese music and singing, which isn't particularly pleasing to the western ear.

I eventually couldn't stand it any longer, the seats were so close together that my legs were starting to cramp up and when I looked over and saw what looked like my professor being asleep I decided it was time to leave. Overall it was not a pleasant experience. Fortunately the school bought the tickets (which were fairly expensive), and I guess if there's one good thing, it was a really cool looking theater.

So, moral of the story, if your ever in China and someone suggests you go to the opera, DON'T.

-AL