Grand Theatre

Impressive open air 3-tiered Grand Theatre built by Cixi in the Garden of Virtue and Harmony. Cixi was passionate about Beijing Opera, and had her own ensemble of nearly 400 eunuchs to perform at her whim. The three stages were connected by trapdoors, so that characters could swoop down or rise up from the "depths" of the underworld. There was even an underground water reservoir for so-called "wet" scenes. Sounds a bit like the Colloseum, doesn't it?

#19 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College-Backpacking in Beijing - Palace & Party

July 8th 2006
A visit to Beijing is not complete without an excursion to the Summer Palace in the far NW of Beijing. It took over an hour to arrive there through horrendous traffic, so I definitely got to see a lot more of Beijing even if it was main roads, road construction and flyovers! A more pleasant way of getting there, is to hire a bike and follow the canal so as to miss most of the traffic. I was told ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing

For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more

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