This opera performance was taking part during a temple re-dedication last weekend. Due to some computer problems, you might expect fewer pictures. While this doesn’t affect my posting, it affects my post-processing – hopefully this doesn’t last long!
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This is from a Chinese opera performance in Jhubei which took place last summer. Lately, the weather hasn’t been good for these sorts of events so I’m reposting some older shots.
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Since I usually post on Monday morning Taiwan time for my first of the week, I’ll go ahead and make a quick one. We’ve had a busy/very fun weekend as it’s the Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place the first weekend of June. It involves dragon boat races on large rowboats. While we are leaving soon to go see them, we also saw a lot between visiting Taipei yesterday and a Chinese Opera Saturday. Here’s a preview of the weekend below. I’ll also have another post detailing a new photography “toy” that I’ve acquired… more on that later.
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For Friday, here are more shots from last weekend’s Chinese opera. Happy weekend to all!
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These are from a Chinese Opera that took place in Jhubei last Saturday. The production quality was pretty impressive – I could tell that it was a larger touring company, rather than the local style that you’ll often see at temples. I was able to get some nice shots with the 70-300 after metering and locking the exposure in on Manual. I then went in and brightened the images and touched up some contrast and color levels.
The story tells of a family – two daughters are being set for marriage and the parents decide to switch suitors. It involved fight scenes, family issues, love, and the other “normal” themes for Chinese drama. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the name of the story.
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Short post today as I just got back from a school field trip. The field trip was my reason for not posting at my normal time – I’m sure the world will forgive me :)
This shot was taken last weekend at the Hsinchu market. These Chinese opera shows are very popular and quite common – I was happy to sneak to the side for a different perspective this time.
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While wondering around Hsinchu’s older section near the City God Temple, it isn’t hard to come across these Chinese operas on most weekend nights. Though I have no clue what’s going on (or what gender anyone is!) it’s still a fascinating show to catch while eating some of the city’s famous pork meatball dumplings.
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Yuling and I arrived to the Yimin Temple celebration of the Ghost Festival on Friday anticipating some pork. Well, at least what will become pork.
At the temple, a pig (yes, a whole pig) is offered to the ghosts and gods in order to bless the town and appease the ancestors. While this food source is NOT wasted (Chinese food rarely is!), its head is put on display for a time. We missed this event as we were too early, but managed to capture some temple music meant to entertain the spirits that walk the earth during ghost month.
The first thing I noticed was a stage to the side with a Chinese Opera performance. This is pretty common during ghost month as it is believed to “entertain” the ancestors.
The performance, I later learned, represents a distinct brand of Chinese opera here in Taiwan. Taiwanese opera has its own style – and is much different than the varieties you’ll see in Hong Kong, Shanghai, or (especially) Beijing – where it is known as “Peking” opera… by the former Westernization of the capital’s name.
The above jar of sticks are 求籤, or (Cantonese) Kau Cim. I’m not sure what the Mandarin translation is, but I remember seeing them at Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin temple.
The above photos show some temple musicians playing a call for the gods to join the ceremony at the temple. I was joined as a photographer by a large cadre of locals with DSLR cameras – I’m guessing they were covering the temple’s preparations for the event.
The instrument in the first photo is a Suona, as covered in one of my earlier posts. You can listen to the unmistakable sound it makes it at the Youtube video I posted there.
