Day 5 – Wednesday

Today we went to another high school and once again had a great time. We joined the students in many of their activities including participating in English classes, taking part in their morning exercises and Tai Chi class, along with playing basketball and attending their choir rehearsals.

While the guys were in the rehearsal, the parents visited a Traditional Chinese Medicine Teaching Hospital, where we were able to observe acupuncture treatments bein administered and have our questions answered by the director of that department. After this, we visited the Pharmacy, which was facinating (see the pictures).

We met up with the guys and went to a non-Starbucks coffee shop and then to the Beijing Opera Arts College. Here, they train students between 8 and 18 years of age in the ancient art of Peking Opera. One of our tour guides was the most famous Peking Opera singer in China. After the tour, we met with some of their students and each group sang a song for the other. There was a Jinghu (Peking opera fiddle) artist and pianist who performed an incredible duet. Other performances ere planned, but we ran out of time.Dinner was fantastic, as usual and then we headed to the opera.

Peking opera is quite different from western opera and is an acquired taste. The costumes are incredibly complex and beautiful but without being able to understand the lyrics, it as difficult to appreciate the overall effect.

Here are today’s photos.