01 Sep
Chinese festival
Written by Miikka in My life, Tampere.
Article Tags: chinese culture, chinese market, chinese opera, kunqu opera
There is ongoing festival in Finland in many cities, including Tampere. Today I visited the Keskustori (main square in Tampere) to see what is going regarding the Chinese market and also what kind of other happenings there are. These all are related to the Nordic Chinese Culture Festival.
What I learned today? I learned the basics for Weiqi board game. The rules are pretty easy to learn but I can already know that it takes quite a long time to master the game. Anyway, lots of fun. 
In the evening there was a Chinese opera in Tampere Hall. Kunqu opera is one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera and almost vanished but in 2001 it was added to UNESCO World Heritage List and is now very strong revival. The Romance of the Western Bower tells a story about a young couple’s struggle to gain society’s approval to get married. The experience was very new to me while I have seen some Western operas before and there are similarities but still some differences. As you would expect, the dresses are fabulous and music plays very crucial role. I liked this opera very much, it of course requires some concentration to follow the story especially if you do not speak Chinese fluently as you have to follow the English texts to understand the details of the events but I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has an opportunity to experience this ever.
This is overall view from Keskustori, Chinese market:
And these photos are from the opera:
Windy said,
Yes, Chinese culture is fantastic. I think you are enchanted by Chinese feature, right? Actually, you can get a further understanding of Chinese folk by communicating with the native people. Meet Chinese friends around you or join some forums.
7:38 - September 2, 2007Eric said,
i am a chinese student.I had a chinese opera lesson last year in my university,from which i know something about the opera culture,which is so amusing.But nowadays the young peple don’t like such culture any more.
10:52 - September 2, 2007Miikka replied,
Young people tend to create their own culture. But I think the opera will not be forgotten, it is just not so popular for certain age of people. Yesterday, there were people from various age groups enjoying the opera. People with different cultural backgrounds and everyone were able to enjoy the opera. In my opinion, opera is very universal and will make feel closer to each other.
Someone has said that music is a universal language - maybe opera is one form of that language.
11:19 - September 2, 2007Eric said,
It seems that you are more like a chinese in some way. Welcome come to China. If possible,come to see the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
11:40 - September 2, 2007