love the contrast. the phone numbers on the wall offer fake diplomas.
more local seafood specialties
motorcycles are everywhere in Quanzhou. If the rider carries an extra helmet that means it's a motorcycle cab. Mom, I did ride one, but I was careful!
outside the "Guandi" temple
"zhengqi" ("righteousness" or "vital energy")
I've never seen so many people in a temple before, it was even more crowded than a Beijing subway at rush hour! Quanzhou people are apparently very devout.
As the starting point of the Seaways Silk Road and the largest port in Asia in the Tang and Song dynasties, Quanzhou has a great deal of Islam and other outside cultural influences.
Qingjing Mosque
hardly feels like China
The architecture in Quanzhou is so different from Xiamen. It is mainly traditional Minnan Chinese styles combined with Islamic influences. Here is one of the Middle Eastern-influenced buildings.
Traditional Chinese architectural influences everywhere too...
Entrance to the old Confucian Temple, which was made into a school during the cultural revolution era
statues of performers dancing the local "chest beating dance" of the peasants
Cai Xiangjiang, my heroic host. He has devoted his life to the study of Quanzhou dance and performance art.
Gaojia opera is one of many local opera forms alive and flourishing in Quanzhou.
Gaojia opera is known for its many humorous clown characters.
This is the god of "nanyin" 南音, a form of ancient music that is still popular in Quanzhou
Professor Cai showing us how to read the ancient "nanyin" music notation
instruments used in "nanyin" music
a teahouse near the Confucian temple
inside the teahouse, nightly "nanyin" live performances
The performer on the right is playing the pipa in the sideways style 横抱琵琶, this is the ancient way of performing it (the modern way is to hold it upright) and this style of playing is only preserved in nanyin.
Choreographers discussing the idea of a new work at a teahouse, which they will create for the Quanzhou opera company. I got to listen in on their meetings.
The choreographer in the red shirt is specially invited from Shanghai to work on this piece.
Women of the nearby Hui'an village (惠安女）are known for their unique clothing and enduring work ethic. They do all of the work while the men are out at sea.
Statue of Hui'an woman.
This statue is part of a series called the "24 forms of filial piety", showing the 24 ways to be respectful to one's parents. This one shows an old man dressing and acting like a child to amuse his parents in their old age. The Chinese friends I was with laughed when they saw this and said "wow, the ancients really did get bored sometimes!"
This is part of the "white cat, black cat" pair, commemorating Deng Xiaping's famous saying in the 1980s: "It doesn't matter if it is a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice!"
A Hui'an Women collecting barnacles.
One of the choreographers we went with, gathering inspiration for the new dance work, which will attempt to reflect traditional Quanzhou culture.
This Chinese warrior was famous for fighting off Japanese pirates, who used to raid these shores.
walls of the Chongwucheng ancient city ruins
a meal offered to the local gods of this temple
An unusual sight. Rather than being built for local gods, this temple is built in honor of a group of soldier heroes -- a very interesting overlap of traditional religion and contemporary politics. This is the only temple like this in China.
Inside the museum on Taiwan and Fujian relations. Look carefully for the official position on Taiwan.
Confucius temple rites in Taiwan.
An art troupe going to the countryside to perform for the peasants.
Kaiyuan Temple
In its heyday, boats went out from Quanzhou to all through Asia and to Africa and the Middle East
This is one of two towers once used for navigation, they could be seen by boats far out at sea.
flying asparas carved in the ceiling of Kaiyuan temple. They are holding the musical instruments played in nanyin music.
The dragon is an ancient totem in southern Fujian culture
Interview with a local dance teacher in her home
her cute husband is a musician
Inside the Quanzhou Song and Dance troupe
watching rehearsal
a snake/dragon totem dance
chest beating dance
hui'an women
This is the famed Performance Van!!! I've been wanting to see one forever, unfortunately they weren't able to open it for me. Like a transformer, this truck turns into a full stage; they drive it into the countryside with music blaring until enough people crowd around, then the walls fold out and they perform for the local residents.
inside the song and dance troupe leader's home
not a bad place to drink tea and ponder new artistic creations...
these kinds of roofs are all over Quanzhou
The Tea Set. This is an absolute must in every Southern Fujian home, office, and meeting space.
You Jinman, A famous teacher of Southern Fujian dance and opera.
We were special guests at the art school run by Mr. You's granddaughter and her husband.
These girls are performing a piece set to the 1970s song about the revolutionary hero Lei Feng
"There is no bridge in the world longer than this one"
sea worms made into a kind of savory jello, a local delicacy here
Liyuan Opera, another famous local opera form of this region. Unlike the humorous Gaojia opera, Liyuan opera is known for its refinement and serious content
more flying asparas playing music
the streets are filled with vendors selling delicious food
Tian Du Yuan Shuai, the god of local opera.
old opera scripts
opera positions
guess what's inside this basket... puppets!
"carving a person out of wood"
the marionettes of Quanzhou are famous for their detail and expressiveness
marionette heads
Every small village in Southern Fujian has its own opera stage (called a "dirt stage") for performances.
a famous puppet-maker
this is part of a chart showing the hand positions for puppet acting
the four major kinds of clown roles in Gaojia opera
a public theater performance in the Republican period
opera props
famous folk performers
Fujian is famous for its porcelain, once and still a major export
this device invented by a Quanzhou scholar became the basis for stand-up clocks
statue of the god of earth
a Nestorian architectural piece
文与武＝two kinds of official clothing: the center is worn by military officials and the two on the sides by cultural officials
read the caption!
Quanzhou architecture exhibit...
Dad, this is for you! Tools used by Chinese builders
a marionette performance at the Yuanxiao Festival
the puppet version of one of the Model Dramas from the cultural revolution period. This is so-called "modern drama", as compared to "ancient clothing drama"
the marionettes attracted a huge crowd
parades of folk performance all through the streets for Yuanxiao Festival celebrations
cotton candy!
and the most famous part of Yuanxiao Festival -- the lanterns!!!
Lanterns are submitted from companies and villages all over the area for an annual lantern competition
this lantern features photos of factory workers
this lantern commemorates the Sichuan earthquake of 2008
this kind of lantern decorated with tiny holes was invented by an artist in Quanzhou
truly a festival of lights
和＝"he" = harmony
This is the head of the Cultural Bureau of Quanzhou, an important job.
one of my favorite Chinese sweets: candied strawberries on a stick
outdoor stages everywhere...
even tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants have their small shrines to the local gods
can't beat fish balls and spicy sticky-rice mounds as a midnight treat
Head of the Quanzhou Gaojia opera troupe
Another dance teacher in Quanzhou, I stayed at her house for two days because she was a friend of a friend. After talking we realized we had actually met once last year at the Modern Dance Festival in Guangzhou... what a small world!
We went to the small town of Xiangtian to watch a parade in honor of the birthday of a local god
These dome-topped buildings are giant kilns for baking clay roof tiles
the parade is coming!
more chest-beating dancers
can't miss out on the "journey to the west" characters
The best part is the very last part of the parade: the gods themselves carried on small chairs. The gods direct their own path and the carriers of the chairs sway back and forth sometimes losing control of their motion trying to contain the vital force of the god
the director of the parade and other festivities, describing a performance of the past in which people possessed by spirits of the gods would pierce their cheek with an iron stick
coal for home stoves
the very modern middle school
people waiting for the parade
each house puts out a small table of offerings for the god as it passes by their home
note the hanging baskets
these baskets are the old form of refrigerators. They keep food cool and away from critters
the parade leader performing chest beating dance. This is what he is famous for.
Professor Cai joins in too.
the fireworks are ear-piercing!
a performance held outside of a new mall, to attract customers and create a festive mood
I couldn't get enough of the Liyuan opera and went back for a second performance. It has the elegance and emotion of Kunqu with the austere historical feeling of a temple rite
Interview with Mr. Lin, former performer and director of Liyuan opera
train tickets to Beijing were sold out, so I made a short stop in Shanghai, and was able to catch sunrise on the Bund.
Shanghai signs of spring
"Richard Schechner Center for Performance Studies" at the Shanghai Theater Academy... perhaps a future place to teach?
