7th month opera

7th month opera

August 2008 is the Chinese 7th month, the Festival of the Hungry Ghost, when the gates of hell are supposed to be open for the spirits to roam the earth.

During this month, Chinese opera as well as modern ‘song and dance” variety shows are staged to entertain both the living and the dead. But while the variety shows, called getai (meaning song stage) might attract hundreds or thousands of viewers, traditional operas are often sleepy affairs with only a handful of old folks watching.

There was an opera near my house tonight, 12 August, and I went down with my camera. It was a sleepy, lack lustre show indeed. The actresses weren’t pretty, the actors weren’t handsome or macho.

I was feeling bored when suddenly there came one dramatic scene where this person’s head was supposed to be chopped off!

I took three successive shots. This was the most dramatic.

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