Wed 15 May 2013

Bear with me

Posted by Bertrand under Technology
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Hello,

There has been a spectacular amount of spam aimed at this web site this week, along with a large number of broken links reported to work through. In the last server move I managed to forget to transfer a couple of large videos. Now I am having recurrent file transfer issues. All this with some health issues slowing me down (a bad back).

All should be resolved shortly.

Thanks!

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Tue 7 May 2013

I look down and feel shame

Posted by Bertrand under Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧
 [3] Comments

There are few people who take backups as seriously as I do. I believe in redundancy and taking a copy of my data off site.

Why?

Because I am so spectacularly inept at times, I awe myself. Yesterday I bought tickets to the Toronto Zoo for this summer to see the pandas lent by China last month, received the bar-coded tickets to be printed by email. And then accidentally reformatted the hard drive. I reformat a lot at work you see, and instead of /dev/sdc I should have typed /dev/sdd and formatted the other thingie.

Um…

I blame it on lack of rest and my monkey ancestry.

Anyhow, I am glad to say the author of one of the emails I have lost in a previous blunder has written back. Here is what he has to say:

Tommi Ojanperä from Finland writes:

“Hello fellow Chinese opera enthusiast!

(Hopefully you still remember who I am…)

I just came across a wonderful piece of recent news, and I thought I’d share it with you:
The 18 month restoration of the Grand Theater in the Summer Palace is now complete!
Well, to be precise, they’ve restored the entire Deheyuan section, but the Grand Theater (Daxilou) is of course the main attraction there. To celebrate this reopening, they’ve put together a Peking opera exhibit by bringing out 128 items from the vaults of the Forbidden City!
For more information, including a video clip from CCTV News, go here:
http://beijing.china.org.cn/2013-04/28/content_28678854.htm

By the way, I’ve recently posted some of my own photos taken in China (mainly Beijing) to this website:
http://picuna.com/tojan76/albums
In the album titled “Daxilou (Yiheyuan, Beijing)” you will find my photos of the Grand Theater in the Summer Palace. All the photos were taken in summer 2010, just a few months before Deheyuan was closed for restoration.

P.S. This coming summer I will be spending 22 days in Beijing. Oh joy! Needless to say, the Grand Theater is very high on my list of places to visit.

P.P.S. Please feel free to edit and share any/all of this info on the operabeijing.com website for the benefit of our fellow xiqu-fanatics!

Tommi Ojanperä
<tojan@elisanet.fi>”

Thanks Tommi, and could you please sent me your previous email I managed to lose?

(Must focus better, must… )

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Sun 5 May 2013

Peking Opera, now fully translated in English

Posted by Bertrand under External links, Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧
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Fern wrote: “Hello, I found this via Greg’s Facebook group, I think it’s worth a post.”

http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2012-10/24/content_26888597.htm

Cute!

Posted by Bertrand under External links, Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧, Photographs
[4] Comments

Last night we were invited for supper and my 9 year old son was not in exemplary behavior mode. Fern sent me this link today:

http://www.chncpa.org/ens/jmsc/ycjmxx/2011-04-22/65150.shtml

My reaction: how do those jingju directors manage this?!

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Tue 23 Apr 2013

The Broken Links WordPress Add-On…

Posted by Bertrand under Software Tools We Use, Web development
[3] Comments

… is both a blessing and a curse. It reported 86 broken links so far. I managed to fix a dozen posts today, you can search for “(Updated 2013-04-23 to fix broken links)” to see which.

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Sun 21 Apr 2013

A guide to seeing a Chinese Opera in Beijing

Posted by Bertrand under External links, Getting Started / "Orientation" 开始
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A nice introductory external link here

Another one with too many ads here

Both discovered by twitting. Er, twittering. Er, via Twitter.

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Sun 14 Apr 2013

Dan role classic highlights (Part 2 of 3)

Posted by Bertrand under Actresses
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(link corrected 2013-05-13)

I resume presenting this series of Beijing Opera showcases featuring famous female roles. The performers are generally younger and less well known, so there can be real surprises along the way. (Update 2013-04-21) The real surprise is how many mistakes I made in this post. Fortunately, Fern was there to correct me. Corrections forthcoming shortly!

Recorded on 2012-04-20 at the Chang’an Grand Theater in Beijing, China, the original title of these files are:

《CCTV空中剧院》 20120420 第五届青研班毕业汇报演出京剧旦角经典折子戏专场 1/2
《CCTV空中剧院》 20120420 第五届青研班毕业汇报演出京剧旦角经典折子戏专场 2/2

Fern provided the original download links and cast list on her web site here.

Part One of the video begins with 京剧《桃花村》 Peach Blossom Village – Chen Yuan (陈媛), Sun Lei (孙磊), Xu Peiwen (许佩文), Shao Hailong (邵海龙), Rui Zhenqi (芮振起); Ding Sheng (丁胜), Jia Zenghui (贾增辉).

Talented Sun Lei in a huadan role is the focus here playing a comedic servant, with a rather modern twist. She would be at ease in any kind of theatrical performance, I think, she’s fun to watch. It’s redundant to say a huadan is vivacious, because that’s the essence of the role, and in this case it is obvious. Emphasis is on movement and dialogue rather than singing.

京剧《红娘》 Hong Niang – Zhang Jiachun (张佳春), Song Xiaochuan (宋小川), Zi Rui (訾睿), Bi Xiaoyang (毕小洋); Wang Xi (王曦), Wang Jihui (王继辉)

Graduate of the Fifth class (2009-2012) of Outstanding Young Jingju Performers, Zhang Jiaochun sounds Mei school to me. Her partner Song Xiaochuan is, of course, another Zhang’s regular partner. Every time there is a close-up, there is a different embroidery to marvel at on her costume.

Part Two of the video begins with 京剧《红楼二尤》The Two You Sisters of the Red Chamber – Chen Jing (陈静), Du Zhe (杜喆), Tan Yuan (谈元), Zhang Bing (张兵), Zhang Zexin (张泽心), Zhang Xueyan (张雪岩), Jin Zhiqi (靳智棋); Wang Xi (王曦), Wang Jihui (王继辉)