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May 2000 Issue 78 |
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May 2000 Issue 78 |
CONTENTS
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City Explodes into Performance
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in Beijing* performances are listed on page . Chinese and Western groups will give
open-air stage performances including symphon For more information, contact the China Performing Arts Agency Add: 25A, Dongsishitiao Tel: 6403-2702 Chinese language website: http://www.cpaa.com.cn Monks Kick Off Tour T he Shaolin Warriors World Tour 2000 will kick off in Beijing featuring live kung fu performed onstage by genuine Shaolin Temple monks. After the Beijing debut this month, the show will move on to other Chinese cities, before embarking on a three-month US tour of Washington, New York and Boston in autumn. The monks will also perform for the “Paris-China Culture Quarter” in France in January 2000.The exciting stage performance by monks showcases not only Shaolin kung fu feats but also the Buddhist lifestyle of the legendary Central Henan Province temple, traditional home to Chinese martial arts and martial arts movies. The stage backdrop features temple scenery in four seasons. With accompaniment by traditional Chinese music, Buddhist music and modern pop, the show depicts the daily life of a monk, reciting scriptures, kung fu exercises of all kinds and special martial arts skills. Established
in the 1980s, Shaolin Martial Arts Troupe made its debut overseas performance in Japan in
December 1990. Over the years, troupe has toured South Korea, the United States, Macao,
Taiwan and major cities of the Chinese mainland. Shaolin Temple was built in 495. In 527, the Indian founder of Chinese Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma, came to Shaolin and meditated for nine years in a cave. Shaolin was thus the original Zen temple. Shaolin gained its legendary fame for martial arts in the Tang Dynasty (618-916), after 13 monks allegedly saved the Tang emperor in a rebel war. The expansion of Shaolin continued. At its peak, the halls in the temple reached 5,000, and there were 2,000 monks. In following dynasties, Shaolin also played an important role in assisting the court to fight invaders. Almost every Qing Dynasty emperor visited and stayed at Shaolin. In 1928, a fire resulting from the militant civil war burnt down most of the major halls. Red Guards did yet more damage during the Cultural Revolution but Shaolin began reconstruction in 1982. A movie Shaolin Temple shown across China quickly turned the temple into a top tourist destination and revived its fame as a martial arts temple. Venue: Theater of China Minorities Cultural Palace Admission: 360, 280, 200, 120, 60 yuan Time: 7:30pm, May 26-31 Ticket hotline: 6404-8781, 8401-6294 E-mail: cpaap@ihw.com.cn |
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Capital Talk
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y concerts, Chinese traditional
music concerts, folk songs and dances.