Derivation of National Orchestral Music

The best-known piece of Suona is One Hundred Birds Serenade the Phoenix, which is especially popular in Shandong, Anhui, Henan and Hebei provinces. Aftera spirited introduction, the orchestra settles down to a fixed accompaniment mode. With this background, the Suona section…

The Art of Listening, Old-style Theaters

Old Beijing with the Forbidden City at its center. The Outer City in the south is where old-style theaters were concentrated. In the past, people visiting Beijing would invariably go to a theater to see a Peking Opera performance. When…