tea and the opera

for the past few days we've been touring the city of chengdu, home of the sichuan opera. the opera has a tradition dating back more than 250 years and is one of the cultural aspects of the sichuan province we hoped to experience. the "art" of drinking tea is another custom represented in the sichuan province, with numerous teahouses and teashops dotting the city.

on our second day in the city we visited the people's park and had tea at one of its lovely teahouses. while there, we met an interesting gentleman named mr. tray lee, who is a cultural interpreter and freelance guide in the city of chengdu. with a great passion and understanding of the sichuan opera, he offered his services to accompany us and interpret a traditional sichuan opera. we happily accepted and made arrangements to attend an opera the following day.

the next day we attended the opera with mr. lee, which was an experience that surpassed our expectations. we enjoyed both the interpretation and actually understanding the story line - rather than just seeing the beautiful actors and hearing the singing. mr. lee even made arrangements for us to be backstage prior to the performance to see the actors putting on their make up - which i thoroughly enjoyed. the opera was a traditional story and took place in a theatre for the local people. we were 2 of only 4 westerners in attendance. the other 2 westerners were german journalists that were taping and taking photos for a german network. to make things even better, there was tea service throughout the performance. tea and opera made for a culture-filled afternoon in chengdu. - alina