Learning About the Bai People at the Yang Liping Opera House, Dali, China

We celebrated S's birthday with J this year! We went to a nice restaurant in the ancient city, ate an early hot pot dinner, a typical Bai people’s meal. After the early dinner, we walked around the ancient city also looking for the church which we would attend the next day, Sunday. We found it and hurried to the concert hall for the concert later.

Always interested in other people’s cultures and music, we wanted to learn more about the Bai people through their songs and dance. J. was able to get us the tickets to watch a musical performance at the Yang Laiping Opera House not far from our hotel. We did the walk from our hotel to the opera house in about 20 minutes. A nice, comfortable walk with light breezes blowing on our faces. It was an hour long show and we were introduced to the Bai people’s customs and traditions through songs and dance. Excellent indeed!

What I appreciated most about the show was the importance it placed on the contributions of women in the Bai society. The show was good, but it was not a full house. The Yang Liping opera house is a beautiful building! After the show, we took time to go around and admire the structure and took a good view of the city from the roof section of the building. We were pleasantly surprised to find a small night market just not too far from the Opera House. We went in for some snacks and drinks and met a couple of girls from Yunnan itself. We had a nice exchange. Always nice to meet with other local people and learned from them. We walked back to Wamao hotel. It was around 930p.m., our innkeeper was waiting for us and brought out a birthday cake, with paper plates, candles and cutting knife for us to celebrate S. birthday, what a nice gesture from our hosts! RT, DALI, CHINA 20230805