"Three days? I was gone for a thousand years," Xiao Wei whispered.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing on a wooden stage. Around him, painted backdrops of misty mountains. Before him, an audience in Song Dynasty robes, sipping tea. A drummer struck the ban (the clapper), and a performer in a fierce red mask stomped forward — this was nuo opera , the exorcism dance from 3,000 years ago. history of the traditional chinese theatres download
He saw the canjun xi (adjutant play) of the Tang court, two men bickering as clowns. He stood backstage in a Qing Dynasty jingju (Peking opera) house, watching an actor paint his face into a blue-faced demon. He felt the weight of embroidered robes, the sting of rice powder makeup, the roar of a teahouse crowd in 1920s Shanghai. "Three days