------Program code: DO-080805-00839 (what's this?)
Source: CCTV.com
08-05-2008 08:36
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This is a group of people who like traditional Chinese opera. They love opera, sing opera, are obsessed with opera. Their lives are colored by the highlights of performance on stage.
On April 2, 2007, the Beijing Dongcheng District Cultural Center held a special vocal concert displaying traditional Peking Opera in honor of the Olympics.
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None of the participants were professional Peking Opera troupe performers, but rather were opera fans that the audience calls “piaoyou” (amateur actors; literally ticket friends).
Yang Xiuli is a Peking Opera enthusiast who has studied it for some time now. Though she has participated in many official performances, every time before she goes on stage, she still feels nervous.
It’s finally Yang Xiuli’s turn to go on stage. As an amateur Peking Opera performer, she always feels that she has a long way to go to be at the level expected of professionals. Even the night before the performance, she was still rehearsing with her partner.
So she hadn’t anticipated such a successful performance and the supportive audience she received today.
Everyday in the Temple of Earth Park, there are early risers who come here to exercise. Those doing Taiji, social dancing, or playing Kongzhu make up the unique scenery of the park.
But in the northwest corner of the park, there is a totally different scene. This is where Peking Opera fans gather.
Ever since she became a fan of Peking Opera, Yang Xiuli comes here every Saturday. One reason is to practice basic skills, but more importantly she comes here to meet with her fellow traditional Peking Opera enthusiasts. The reason they can gather here hearkens back to one of the great charms of the art of Peking Opera.
Peking Opera，the theatrical arts of Constantin Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht are dubbed the world’s three great performance systems. Peking Opera has a history of over 200 years and is the greatest form of Chinese operas. Peking Opera is called the “circular” art, the circle being the highest condition which Chinese seek after, as in fullness, smoothness and gracefulness. In the “singing, reciting, acting, striking”, acclaimed as “no sound without song, no movement without dance”. Peking Opera not only has an abundance of plays and performers, but also an extensive audience and legion of fans across all of China, making it the most influential traditional Chinese performance art.
Yang Xiuli has liked Peking Opera since childhood, but she didn’t start studying it until only recently. She works in a foreign-owned enterprise that deals in medical equipment as the sales office manager.
Her company office is in the Twin Towers of Beijing’s Chaoyang District. Because business is busy, everyday she arrives earlier than all her coworkers to make the daily sales plan for her department.
Yang Xiuli’s work is not only very busy but also very important, as it relates to people’s life and well-being, so she has a big responsibility and consequently a lot of pressure.
She has a lot of jewelry she treasures, but she never wears any in her daily life. Only on stage do people get to see this beloved jewelry. Most of her closet space at home is taken up by the costumes she has collected. Singing opera has not only become one of the most important parts of Yang Xiuli’s life, but at the same time it is entrusted with her and her fellow fans’ feelings.
