Sichuan Opera an instant hit with Saipan’s kids

For the first time in her life, China’s most famous Gu Zheng artist, Ji Wei, celebrated her birthday during a performance event.

Wei, who learned her craft at the age of 4, turned 29 while performing before an enthusiastic crowd at the “Mask, Music and Magic” show held Saturday at the Marianas High School Gym.

“It was so special because it’s my first time to celebrate my birthday during a show like this and it is also away from China,” said Wei.

She was one of the actors belonging to the world famous Sichuan Opera that treated kids and their parents alike to a colorful and witty show showcasing talents from mainland China.

Wei’s specialty is the Gu Zheng, a plucked string instrument that is part of the zither family that dates back to at least the “spring and autumn” period in China (770-476 BC). It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments and is the forerunner of the Japanese koto, Korean kayagum, Mongolian yatag, and Vietnamese dan tranh.

Wei received the Grand Prize in the Instrumental Competition for the Northern China division when she was still a kid. She studied at the China Music Conservatory in Beijing.

She has played in solo concerts as well as orchestras overseas several times and was featured in Lang Lang’s piano CD “Children of Yellow River.” Wei has played with major philharmonic groups in China and has performed in France, Italy, Germany, United States, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan.

She has also been featured in major TV shows in China and overseas. Wei has published many books on how to play the Gu Zheng and has lectured to Gu Zheng masters.

In Saturday’s performance, Wei played songs titled Deep Dark Nights, Xijiang Love Song, Reflection of a Dream and the Look of Love.

But the show’s biggest hit—at least among the children in the audience—was the man with the changing faces.

“I like that part of it,” said 10-year-old Jennifer Tan, referring to Xu Chao’s seemingly magical process of changing his face at the flick of a finger.

Chao, who graduated from Sichuan Provincial Art Academy, is currently an actor with the Chong Qing Sichuan Opera Troupe. His face-changing acts have taken him to Korea, the Philippines, Australia Europe and Hong Kong. He performed at the recent Beijing Olympics Opening ceremony.

Face changing, or “bian lian” in Chinese, started 300 years ago. Only a few performers master this skill, which has been secretly passed down from generation to generation. Face changers are able to change their opera masks magically in quick succession simply with the nod of their heads or flick of their arms —they can do up to 10 changes within seconds.

Sichuan-style face changing acts express different human emotions including anger, sadness and happiness, while the spitting of fire from Sichuan face changing is different from the acrobatic fire spitting. It is usually done to chase away evil spirits.

“It was really a very nice show. We liked it so much,” said parent Ericka Frink, who came with her three kids.

Other performers were the acrobatics of the man with the “rolling lamp, Wu Xi, and his comedienne partner, Qi Wang.

Playing the character Pijin, Wu captured the audience with his witty style of balancing a flaming bowl on his head. Rolling lamp acrobatic stunts is a classic clown play of the Sichuan Opera. The clown performs complex physical comedy while balancing a flaming bowl on his head and contorting his body in amazing ways without knocking the flaming bowl off his head.

Other featured actors were Xi Wu and Chao Xu, who performed a skit called the hunter and his love.

Mickey Coleman said he liked the part where another magician and his lady partner threw candies to the audience, referring to Mingxiao Qin and Jinfen Yao, who concluded the night with their magic tricks.

Qin and Yao are a famous husband-and-wife magician team from Beijing who have been performing together since the 1960s. They performed on CCTV major events, magic shows in China and foreign countries. They are members of the International Magic Society.

They have been awarded “The Best Magician” by the American International Magician Society.

The show was sponsored by the Pacific Trading, Pepsi, PTI, Saipan Shipping and Saipan Grand Hotel. It was organized by the 2008 SOC China National Arts Group Performance Program.