Enjoying a Fantastic Famous Mask Changing Show in an Old Theatre, Chengdu, China

Wherever we visit a place, we are always interested in learning about the art and cultures and the lives of the people in the area. We were fortunate that on this trip to China, we had J. who acted as our guide. J has visited Chengdu many times and therefore he was able to book us a hotel that was within walking distance to many great attractions.

We took advantage of this convenience and explored this famous city by walking everywhere. Chengdu’s many cultural activities and relaxing lifestyles were reflected in the many interesting and unique shops and stores we passed by in the area. We strolled along a few streets not far from our hotel and they were quiet with few people. Many stores were closed due to the Chinese New Year and its owners and employees had gone back to their home villages or towns.

We had an early dinner in a mom and pop restaurant and visited one of the many bookstores. I loved the way the book store was set up with tables and chairs for patrons to relax , drink tea while browsing through some books. J was tickled pink when he saw two cats crawling on the tables in the bookstore and played with them for a while.

We passed by a small privately run theatre and decided to watch our first live show in this enchanting city. However, we still had a few hours so we went to a restaurant for some preshow appetizer and tea. Chengdu people seemed to know how to enjoy life, even a place for a drink had a nice vibe of being welcoming and relaxing. We

had our tea break for a little while and then headed to the theatre for the show. The show tickets were affordable offering theatre goers three different packages. One category ticket offered drinks and snacks while another one offering a preshow picture taking session with Chinese costumes and headpieces. We took the package with snacks and pictures with costumes. It was a fun experience. We wee amazed at how fast the theatre assistant could dress us up in ancient traditional Chinese costumes for our picture taking session.

The show was a new and educational experience for us. It included performances such as a sword dance, hand shadow puppet, singing, comedy, a tea pouring dance and the highlight of the show, the mask changing performance. There were about 4- 5 actors who came onto the stage each wearing a different mask performing some dancing. All of a sudden with a swipe of their hands over their faces, the masks changed into completely different ones . It happened in such lightning speed that no matter how carefully and intensively we were looking at the performers, we could not figure out how they did it.

At the end of the show, the performers walked among the audience and started swiping their hands over their faces. .Boom! Their masks changed right in front of our faces with a very close distance but we still could not understand how it all happened. Amazing show indeed! The Chengdu mask changing show is a must see when you are visiting this wonderful city! RT, Chengdu, China