Last Friday, for our weekly event, we watched Peking Opera at the Qingdao Grand Theatre. As a young man from the United States, it was my first time to watch live Peking Opera, and it was special.

    Peking Opera, also known as Beijing Opera, is called “京剧 (Jingju)” in Chinese. It is a traditional Chinese opera and has a history of over 200 years. It is an art form that combines music, vocal performance, dance and acrobatics(杂技). The works of Peking Opera are mainly based on Chinese history and traditional stories and customs.

The performance we watched that night was called Meeting the Queen and Hitting the Dragon Robe (长袍) The story is from a Chinese classic literature. Bao Zheng was one of the most well-known ancient Chinese government officials in Chinese history. One day, he met an old lady on his way back home. The old lady claimed herself as the mother of the emperor and had been set up by others. After checking that the old lady was the emperor's mother, Bao Zheng helped her to get back to the capital and she blamed the emperor for all the misery she had suffered. She ordered Bao Zheng to punish the emperor and Bao Zheng hit the dragon robe instead of hitting the emperor in order to save himself from being punished.

When the opera started, we were amazed by the unique sound made by the musical instruments. They were in perfect cooperation with the singing of the performers. Also, the costumes the performers wore were extremely beautiful and attractive as they have several colours and patterns on each one of them. The performers also "told" the story by their movement. For example, a walk around the stage would mean they took a long trip somewhere. Even though it was kind of hard for us to get used to the music and to follow the story, we were glad that we decided to join the event! We look forward to such an event again. It really helps us know more about Chinese culture.

    The game of telephone is a classic ice breaker and party game. It's easy to set up and a lot of fun to play. You and your friends will try to pick a word or phrase, “pass it on” by whispering(耳语) it to someone next to you, and have fun seeing how much it changed during the game. All you will need to play is a couple of friends, a word or phrase, and a whisper.

Get everyone in place.

    Although the game of telephone is simple to play, you will need to arrange(安排) the players in a way that supports the game. Have everyone stand in either a line or a circle. Players should be spaced far enough apart that they won't overhear the word when it isn't their turn. Proper position is important when playing telephone.

Start the game.

    Choose a person to start the game. Make the person think of a word or give a certain word to him or her. And he or she should whisper it to the person next to them. The pronunciation of the word should sound like many others' as the idea is to see how much it changes by the game's end. Once the word has been told to the next person, they will whisper it to the person next to them.

Continue whispering the word.

    Players continue listening to the word and repeating what they think they heard to the person next to them. This is done until the last person in the line or circle is told the word. Every person should have heard the word or phrase by the end of the game.

See how much the word changed.

    Once the last person hears the word or phrase, they will say what they think they heard out-loud. This is compared to the original word that the game started with. This is the moment when all the players get to learn just how much the word or phrase changed through their “telephone line”.

    Modern Chinese use the solar calendar（阳历）as English people do . But at the same time, they use their own lunar calendar. Each lunar year is given the name of one of these animals : the rat , the ox , the tiger , the hare , the dragon , the snake , the horse , the goat , the monkey , the chicken , the dog and the pig . This list lasts for 12 years and then starts again.

     Each Chinese month starts on the day of the new moon. And the full moon comes on the 15th day of the month. The New Year always starts between January 21 and February 20. On the last day of the lunar year, there is a big family dinner. All members of the family except married daughters try to be present at this meal, even of they have to travel many miles to reach the home of their parents. Old quarrels are forgotten, and everybody is happy. After the dinner, the children keep awake to welcome the New Year.

    The New Year celebrations last for 15 days, from the new moon to the full moon. On the first day, children and unmarried people go to visit their elder

    The bamboo flute is widely used in solo(独奏)and ensemble(合奏) performances. The flute is called dizi in Chinese. The first known flute appeared in China about 7,000 years ago. It was made from the wing bone(翼骨)of a crane(鹤).

    The bamboo flute is one of the most important musical instruments in traditional Chinese music. Many flute melodies are touching and smooth, such as Partridges Fly, one of the best-known flute pieces in China.

    Partridges Fly was created in 1926 by Yan Gufan, a folk musician in central Hunan Province. The melody was soon played both in solo and ensemble performances. It paints a picture of plenty of partridges flying across the sky, making people have a deep sense of hoping for freedom and good life. Many flute artists played Partridges Fly. Wei Zhongle was the first artist to play it in flute solo in the United States in 1938. His performance was recorded and preserved (保存).

    There are three versions (改编本) of Partridge's Fly revised by Lu Chunling, Zhao Songting and Cai Jingmin. And Lu's version is the most popular. He made small changes to each recording.