China's Got Talent

Our first night in Chengdu, we got a real treat. It was an optional outing to a legendary local tea house that also has a variety show kinda performance while you sip your tea. They also give 20 minute massages, for about $8 a pop. A bunch of us took advantage of that. So, to start this post, here are pics of me and of Lori Collins getting massages.

 

 

Ahhhh, that felt good!

 

We were somewhat skeptical of the show. The night before, we had seen the amateurish Crazy Yak show in Tibet. Well, this was 1000-times better. There was a wide variety of acts such as a guy who played a tiny flute that sounded exactly like bird calls, a puppeteer whose puppet was able to use her hands in some pretty impressive ways, and Chinese Opera with fabulous costumes.

 

 

At one point, Lisa Sheppard commented that is was like watching a live show of “China’s Got Talent!”

 

There were three acts that really stood out from the rest. The first was a comedy with a husband and wife – she’s supposed to be a “Spicy Chengdu woman” making demands on her hen-pecked man. She gets mad at him and demands that he walk around with a lit lantern on his head. She then forces him to do all kinds of acrobatics without dropping the fire. My description doesn’t really do it justice. We did not understand a word they were saying, but there was still plenty of humor going on and the guy with the fire on his head did some impressive stuff.

 

 

There was also a must-be-seen-to-be-believed finger-shadow-puppet guy. I mean, this guy could make his hands do anything. No picture could ever accurately describe it, but the below picture comes close. The guy is sitting in the middle of the shadow screen with his hands over his head. Then, in one fluid motion, he puts his hands on his head and his entire body forms an owl, complete with moving eyes that peered from side-to-side. Like I said, you had to see it to believe it—

 

 

Finally, they had this act where people dance around on stage and, out of nowhere, their costumes and face-masks change shape and color and expression. Again, it is hard to explain it to you if you have not seen it. Be sure to ask us more about it when we get home. Supposedly, the method they use to instantly change their face masks (and even make the masks disappear completely) is a family secret that no one knows. Several of us saw them pulling strings at their waist and the masks are made out of silk, so I think it would be possible to pull the mask up into the hat on their head, but it is still really impressive. The following picture does little to explain or show it. Sorry.