It is indeed unfortunate that during this day and age, the rich tradition and heritage of the Chinese theatre, with its spectacular costumes, unique singing and extravagant set pieces, are often forgotten or overlooked by the modern era. Tourists who visit Beijing these days are often drawn to the more popular attraction sites such as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Perhaps, it is about time to usher in a new era which will acknowledge and if best, come to truly appreciate the art and beauty offered only by Chinese theatres and their shows. For tourists heading to Beijing, there are two theatres that are highly recommended to visit.
Red Theatre Beijing
The Red Theatre is famous for its legendary and captivating Chinese Kung Fu performances. With its latest renovations done, the Red Theater is now equipped with the latest technology, requisite lightings and heart-thumping acoustical effects to penetrate the souls of audiences. Currently, the Red Theatre is focusing on their new specialization - the traditional Chinese Kung Fu show aka. The Legend of Kung Fu. Perhaps one can argue that the Red Theatre is determined to prove that Shakespeare shows are the past while Chinese Kung Fu shows are the present and future.
The nightly ‘Legend of Kung Fu’ show is actually presented by China's top performance art production company, which explains the solid performance cast scouted by the company itself. Only the young and best Kung Fu practitioners from all over China are given an opportunity to perform. Throughout the duration of an entire show, the actors will not speak at all but instead, communicate through Chinese Kung Fu, dance and acrobatics. The performance features a hybrid-like innovation by fusing the beauties of both Chinese traditional martial arts and modern dance together. Amidst the astounding choreography action, there is actually storytelling about a young boy who hopes to fulfill his dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master by walking down the path of a monk, and how he deals with the various obstacles hindering his path to enlightenment.
Anyway, the language barrier is not an issue as tourists without any knowledge of Mandarin will be assisted by an electronic screen displaying English subtitles. After the show, audiences can also enjoy photo-taking sessions with the performance cast. Overall, this is a must-see theatre production in Beijing for tourists and martial arts enthusiasts.
National Grand Theatre Beijing
The National Grand Theatre is known to be Beijing's largest theatre and it’s bordered by an artificial lake. Solely from the egg-like exterior structure, one can already feel amazed by the radiant glass encasing the theatre. As expected, the theatre is incredibly vast in terms of interior architectural design too, as it can accommodate up to five thousand guests or more.
Aside from the outstanding design, the main reason for recommending this particular theatre, is due to its exclusive Peking Opera performances held there.
It is common to wonder what makes The Peking Opera worthy of watching. Well, its mixture of colorful aesthetic makeup, creepy yet symbolic masks, dramatically emotional scenes, harmonious melodies, and a traditional manner of portraying historical tales, instantly teleports audiences back in time to an ancient precursive dynasty long forgotten by mankind. Such a feeling is hard to come by, especially in the world we live in today. Watching a Peking opera show will change people’s perspective of the world, even if it is a temporary effect. Also, the stage settings are tailored to the finest exact details so that it reflects Chinese architecture in the most accurate manner. Even the costumes look almost identical to those worn by Qing Dynasty citizens. Thus, if Shaolin Kung Fu is deemed as the muscle of China, Peking Opera should definitely represent the voice of China.
In the end, the most ideal method for tourists to understand and appreciate the value of Chinese theatres, is to ensure that more of them are aware of the great shows hosted. The above details should be able to entice a certain number of tourists but most importantly, one must be willing to keep an open mind and learn to appreciate the underrated, marvellous Chinese Theatre performances which have a tendency to etch onto any viewer's mind for a drastically long time.
