Hang Li, one of the senior folks at MSRA, took Nick and I along with John, another researcher at MSRA, to Chinese Opera at the Lao She Tea House. Now, when someone says opera, you’re probably thinking traditional German or Italian operas, or perhaps even something akin to modern British and Amerian musicals. Or at least you’re singing, “Kill the wabbit!” You may be thinking Chinese Opera is those people dressed up in costumes and whiteface recounting historical stories… and you’d be wrong as well. That’s kibuke, and it’s Japanese. No, there’s only one way to describe Chinese Opera.
Chinese Vaudeville.
I’m not trying to slam it in any way… at the Lao She Tea House, you get a table and are treated to a number of acts. We saw a Mongolian bowl dance, where a young woman danced and shook herself while keeping three bowls and a candle perched atop her head. We also saw someone apparently very famous sing a song while holding this three-rose / candle thing clenched in her teeth. Another memorable act was these two 50-something guys who did animal impressions, and quite good ones. They asked the audience to name any animal, and they promptly did the animal. They were just a hoot. Finally, the best IMHO was this guy who spun this huge ceramic pot on his head… in one bit the pot would be facing towards the audience and he’d rotate under it, and another bit would have him toss the pot on his head such that the lip (and a wide lip it was) would be right on his head, so the pot was balanced perfectly at an angle! This was impressive. We also saw a guy do magic, using two Americans as part of the act 
and a woman do the Dance of the Mask where different masks would keep popping down — this was also impressive!
So, if you’re looking for a good evening — check out the Lao She Tea House, near Tian’an Men Square. It’s a lot of fun!