Entertainment
Peking opera:
Peking opera has entertained audiences for more than 200 years with its elaborate costumes,ear-splitting arias,dazzling martial arts and musical dialogue.Most Peking Operas are unintelligible to the untrained viewer,but they are usually based on folk tales,famous novels and fairy tales and are a pleasure to watch if you know the basic story.The theatre has subtitle message so even if you don’t know the story you can still follow along.Characters are calssified into three basic categories:the male roles.called “sheng”,female roles called “dan”,and clown called “chou”.The nature of each character is shown through the different colours of the facial makeup.For instance,red usually means evil or sly,and black and white face makeup denotes authority.
In the early days of the 20th century,millions went to the opera house more like a teahouse or a variety theatre-and largely through the acting genius of the late Mei langfang(1894-1961).Peking opera even influenced western artists such as Charles Spencer Chaplin(1889-1977)in England and playwright Bertold Bercht(1898-1956)in Germany.
Kunqu Opera
Kunqu Opera first appeared in the Kunshan area of what is now JiangsuProvince, and became popular across the country in the Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, long before the birth of Peking Opera and other local operas. Emperors, officials, intellectuals and the populace appreciated them as an integral part of their leisure. Kunqu opera gave birth to a dozen Chinese local operas, including Peking Opera. As Kunqu Opera catered more to the highbrow tastes of royal families and intellectuals, it gradually lost favour with the common masses. During the “cultural revolution” (1966-1976), it became nearly extinct.
After the turmoil of that time, Kunqu Opera was still loved by modern intellectuals, who, like their ancient counterparts, were intoxicated by its art, a perfect combination of literature, poetry, dance, music and local opera. Nowadays, young people prefer almost any other form of entertainment to Kunqu Opera. Films, videos, games, pop music, disco and karaoke, all are better than what they see as old-fashioned and dull. Kunqu Opera has a very small, but very devoted audience.
Theatres in Beijing
NameTelephone
Beijing Theatre 64911228
Beijing Exhibition hall Theatre 65903377
Beijing Workers’ Club 63529574
Beijing Workers’ Gymnasium 65024558
Beijing Century Theatre 64002927
Beijing Concert Hall 66057006/66055812
Theatre of BeijingYouthPalace 66152241
Beijing Qiseguang Children’s Theatre 84022285
Small Theatre of Beijing People’s ArtTheatre 65250123
Beijing International Club 65322188
BeijingNightCity 65272814/65272815
Poly Theatre 65131039
Chang’an Grand Theatre 65101308/65101309
Chang’an Small Theatre 65101155ext.116
Chang;an Club 65229988
Chaoyang Theatre 65072421/1818
Big Tower Magic Theatre 65812750/65814122
Grand View Garden Theatre 63519025
Universe Theatre of Dongcheng Children’s Palace 65023984
Concert Hall of the National Library 68419220/68485462
Gongwangfu Grand Theatre 66157671
Guo’an Theatre 62026328
Hanlin Peking Opera 63519025/63037979
Huguang Guild Hall 63518284
Haidian Theatre 62558026
The Art Salon of HolidayInnCrownePlaza 65125063
Royal International Club 68338888
Capital club 64672225
Jinfan (Golden Sail) Concert Hall 65250615
Laoshe Teahouse 63036830
Theatre of the YouthPalace 66152211
Minzu Concert Hall 64919081
Liyuan Theatre 63016688ext.8867
People’s Theatre 66181634
Capital Gymnasium 68313926
Capital Theatre 65250996
Century Theatre 64660032/64664805
Universal Theatre 64169893
Wansheng Theatre 63037449
Zhengyic Theatre 63033104
Concert Hall in the Zhongshan Park 66057006
Small Theatre of the Central Experimental Drama Theatre 64031109
Black Chamber of CentralAcademy of Drama 64035626
Concert Hall of Central National Troupe 64919081
Zhonghe Theatre 64037083
The Forbidden City Concert Hall 65598285
Some Golf Clubs and Golf Courses in Beijing
NameTel.
Beijing Golf Club 89470005/89470108
Chaoyang Guangjitang Golf Club 6001149/65018584
Country Golf Club 69401111/69402020
Beijing International Golf Club 60762288/60761111
Grand Canal Club 89583058/89582288
XIaoling Mini Golf Course 63588814/63552929
In China, there are now 100 golf courses in operation. Their business is not satisfactory.
Note: The world “golf” is a combination of abbreviation of green, oxygen, light, foot,. What a coincidence! |
