一個多月以前我把我的申請表寄過去我要去的大學。到現在還沒到那兒。哎呀，這個政郵系統太慢了吧！From the States to Taiwan a letter takes a week and a half. From Taiwan to northern China it takes more than a month. The first time I sent mail to Inner Mongolia, I thought my mail got lost. A month and a half later it arrived. This time, to a district on the outskirts of Beijing, it’s been over a month too and I can’t wait anymore. That’s because I want to start making my plans for the summer. Please arrive soon! I sent it registered mail but the post office says it takes two weeks to get a response. This is no joke.

OK, relax…

覆水難收 (fu4 shui3 nan2 shou1)

You can’t take back what you’ve already done. Literally, spilt water is hard to retrieve. This saying came from the 2,000 year old folk story “Zhu Maichen Divorces his Wife.” The play I saw on Sunday, Rotten Helve Mountain (爛柯山), is based on this story. I was lucky to read the synopsis of the play online just before leaving the house that day.

When I bought the tickets I didn’t know what play it was. I just wanted to see a Chinese opera. Next to our seats (I went with 王咪, my crazy Taiwanese friend who studied some opera when he was younger) sat some elderly ladies who could speak English. They went to the States at an early age and grew up in California. The first character to come out on stage was the clown (he was a thief in this scene but still had clown like gestures). This I wanted to see. But when he started talking I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. I knew this was going to happen but when you’re sitting there not knowing whether to just watch him or to read the subtitles (off to sides of the stage), it was a little unsettling at first. After a while I got used to it, reading the subtitles and just enjoying the show. I could read about half of the characters but I could get the jist of what was happening.

I like the story and the lesson it teaches. (Read the synopsis here and/or here which also has it in Chinese.) I like the clown character. He had this 5 minute improvisation skit that had everyone laughing. I read the subtitles for what he was supposed to say next, but then he didn’t say it and started improvising. Five minutes later he finally said that line.

From what I was told, the three main performers in the play are currently and have been China’s best in Kunqu for a while now. They’ve been peforming together since their teens. Between them they have a combined age of 200 years old. I couldn’t believe the two that played the husband and wife were that old. The way they moved and how they can still sing those songs. Amazing. The clown (he doesn’t always have a white painted face) doesn’t sing and speaks Mandarin, so you can understand him, or everyone else can but me.

I love the sounds of the Chinese flute (笛子) and especially the sheng (笙), a mouth blown organ. There was a cello in the band. It all sounded beautiful. I need to get back to the club (票房) and take in some more opera. It’s been a while.

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This is the Chinese opera club (響宴國劇社 Xiǎng Yàn Guó Jù Shè) that is just around the corner from my house. You can hear them playing when walking along the sidewalk of Zhonghua Rd. The first time I heard them playing, a week or so after I moved into my new room, I wanted to check the place out. I stood outside the door and wondered what exactly what this place was about. The door was locked. Nobody came in or out. I didn’t find much out. Just knew they were making some music.

It was maybe a month or two later when I was walking outside at night again and heard the sounds of Chinese opera. This time, as I waited outside the door, someone came along. They said I was welcome to come in, into the world of 平劇 (píng jù) or 京劇 (jīng jù). Here you can see a group that has been playing together for the past twenty years or so. It’s all men playing the instruments with both men and women singing. It’s pretty amazing to see them in their 50’s and 60’s singing. They hold these notes for like forever it seems.

There are four main types of roles and they have different kinds of characters. Like 生 (shēng), the male role, has 老生 (lǎo shēng), 小生 (xiǎo shēng) and 武生 (wǔ shēng). Here’s a few of the characters I learned about. Each role has a color on the wall for the songs they sing. 老生 is like Juliette’s father. See the yellow plates. 小生 is like the Romeo. See the orange plates. There is 青衣 (qīng yī), or Juliette with the green plates. Next, there is 花臉 (huā liǎn) with the red plates. He’s the painted face, a bold character played by a male. Then, there is 老旦 (lǎo dàn) or Juliette’s mother with the blule song plates. These are generalizations to put the characters into perspective.

On Sunday I’m going to watch a 昆曲 (kūn qǔ) play with a friend. This opera is a little different style from Peking Opera (京劇). I heard there’s more singing, the dialect and the lead instruments are different. The 80 year old man with the hat is 陳老師 (Teacher Chén), he wants me to learn how to play the gong (打鑼). He gave me a stick that you see on the table below to practice at home. He’s got a great upbeat character, just look at his smile.

I visit the club on Monday nights if I have time. They chat and drink after their practice is over. The first time I had 紹興酒 (shào xīng wine) was with them. I’ve been studying a lot of different things lately. I’d like to focus on just a few.

This is 释恒彦 (Shì Héng Yàn) or Justin, he was one of the monks from Shaolin that was here last month teaching at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. He went to Shaolin at the age of nine. He’s twenty years old now. Maybe I’ll make a vist to Henan this summer. I could look him up or one of the other monks I met. That would be cool…