My Trip to a Chinese Tea House and More

On Saturday night HBA took another group trip, this time to a famous Chinese tea house where we were treated to snacks and an awesome variety show. The acts ranged from traditional tea ceremonies to a really intense kungfu demonstration. I think this post will work better with mostly pictures:

In the above photo, two ladies are biting down on wooden candle holders (on which are lighted candles) and singing at the same time. Although they had to keep their teeth clamped shut, they still sang very clearly. Their song went something like this:

Up in the mountains lived two families, the Wangs and the Li's.
The Wangs had a handsome son,
and the Li's had a very beautiful daughter.
They were matched in January
and married in February.
They had a baby boy by March.
The boy began to walk in April
and was running by May.
In June he first called his father's name,
and he started school in July.
By August he was writing essays,
and he graduated from school that September.
By October he was a famous scholar,
and he finally retired in November.
The boy closed his eyes and died in December.
What a wretched life he lived!
He never even tasted dumpling soup.
Do you know what this song is called?
It's called "Burning the Candle at Both Ends."

(I thought it was a really nice song but also kind of sad.)


These ladies were just dancing to an R&B song. I don't think it was very traditional.


This is one of the tea ceremonies! Apparently, every kind of tea requires a different ceremony.


This guy changed his masks very quickly and very frequently. No one had any idea how he did it. Music was blasting on the speakers, and he just walked around the stage and every now and then would - BAM - move his hand slightly and he'd have a different face. It was pretty cool.


There can be no doubt that Chinese acrobats are amazing. The two girls in this picture had a very incredible routine, which included one girl standing on her hands and bending her legs to the front so far that she actually sat on her head. Amazing.

There was also a guy who made really cool shadow puppets. Uploading the video I took would take forever so I'll just link to this Youtube video of a very similar performance. You might have already seen it.


Speaking of Chinese Acrobatics, a few weeks ago HBA took us to another show. I never got around to writing about it. Again I'll let the pictures do the talking:




(The first three pictures were taken by a girl named Celia, who is also a second-year HBA student. I included them here because I really like them. I'm also stealing the following pictures from her. They are of the Beijing Opera. I didn't have my camera that day.)


That's a wrap.