Last Wednesday, the Enchanting Land of Shu (蜀风蜀韵) was performed by Sichuan Normal University (China) in Glenn Memorial Church. They partnered with Confucius Institute at Emory and presented a collection of traditional and modern Chinese performances including dance, martial arts, and much more!
The show was organized in three different chapters. The first one was called Bashu (Sichuan) Customs (巴蜀风). After a brief introduction, they started off with a demonstration of the ancient Sanxingdui Culture and traditional Taiki (Chinese martial arts). This show was followed by a tea ceremony that was turned into a dance and then an opera performance. The large variety of arts is to share the Chinese culture in the broadest capacity possible to promote the learning of the language and the interaction between students of all backgrounds.
A favorite performance of the audience was Changing Faces (川剧《变脸》). It is an old unique practice that, in this particular performance, was done by a man dressed in black robes from head to toe. These robes were adorned with embroidery of large gold Chinese characters and gold trim. The robes were accompanied by a matching hat as well. The man first came on stage wearing a mask and dancing to the music. The crowd was quick to respond to the show when the man suddenly jumped, tossed his hands in front of his face for a quick second and removed them to show a different mask. He did many turns and head twitches and jumps to change the masks. But what was probably the most exciting was when he left the stage to walk up to individuals in the crowd and change his mask in front of them. The excitement and wonder around the room was a feeling to remember.
The second and third chapters were called Love of the Homeland (家乡请) and National Cultures (民族韵). A favorite within these two sections was a solo piece played on an erhu, a two-string bowed instrument. The music started off slow and quickly picked up speed with the imitations of a galloping horse. It expressed a horseman’s life and his spirit in the borderlands. After a few more dances, including a modern hip-hop take on traditional Chinese dance, they ended with another martial arts demonstration of Chinese Kungfu (武术《中国功夫》). The men jumped, flipped, used swords, and broke concrete, all while moving smoothly, like a dance, to the music.
The show was about an hour long. They travel and perform all over the world, sharing the Chinese culture and language with many different countries. If you’ve seen similar performances, share your impression with us on Instagram or Facebook!