"Sound of Spring"

Such was the theme of the wintertime concert that I and the other teachers were treated to a little while ago. See, every now and then we get to go to these events aimed at making China feel more hospitable, and so, on relatively short notice (as happens here sometimes), we were invited to a Friday-night performance at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music. After being rounded up and put on a bus, we residents of the CCNU international building arrived at the auditorium to find that, in fact, all the foreign experts in Wuhan, perhaps even in Hubei province, had been brought together for this, an evening of Chinese culture.

We took our seats high up in the balcony, taking note of the many faces and languages. Some were familiar; many were not. The distinct lack of homogeneity was pretty refreshing. (To put it in perspective, almost 95% of the country's population is classified as "Han Chinese," the largest ethnic group in the world.)

The evening began innocently enough with a children’s choir, then moved semi-swiftly on to dance numbers and soloists. The most impressive act of the showcase had to be the pair of female acrobats, both of whom could bench-press me, and I’d say my favorite was the quartet of traditional Chinese instrumentalists.


But the most memorable (and the longest) had to be the Beijing (or Peking) Opera. Imagine a series of tightly choreographed fight sequences set to the sound of kids playing with crash symbols. I can only describe its effect on the ears as a kind of auditory water-boarding. I can’t complain, though; it was pretty cool to watch. The whole performance, in fact, was really interesting. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.