Old art in trendy, new bottle

By Guo Shuhan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-12 09:47

The Internet is used for publicity. The group has its own BBS, website and six QQ (a popular Chinese online chatting application) groups. The audience is of roughly the same age as the performers. Occasionally, a few salt-and-pepper-haired seniors pop in. Sometimes, parents bring along children. There is also a tourist inflow.

After graduating from The National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, Gao held a day job and performed in the evenings. He worked as a department store attendant and a painter in a crafts shop, and lived on just four steamed loaves of bread for a whole week. He even sold used bottles to raise money.

"Every man is the architect of his own fortune," Gao keeps telling his group. People would leave in the first several months, unable to cope with the teething problems. "They thought I was too idealistic," smiles Gao. Once his girlfriend got so exasperated that she cut Gao's costumes into pieces and made a mop.

The average monthly salary for group members is around 1,000 yuan at present, barely enough for them to scrape through. But there is no dearth of enthusiasm.

There are frequent audience-performer interactions during shows. Once, an actor introduced his partner on stage, saying: "Li Lin is the only foreigner in our group, he comes from Thailand." Immediately a lady sitting on the second floor stood up and shouted excitedly: "I'm from Thailand! I love you!"

"Audiences have sharp eyes," says Gao. "They can sense whether the actor is working hard enough, trying to improve on his skills." One reason for Gao's extensive reading is that he wants to keep himself updated and not let anyone catch him on the wrong foot.

Gao attributes Xiha's success to its being able to move in sync with the times and its down-to-earth spirit. "We merge catchwords, landmark events with traditional performing skills. We have developed cross-talk drama from pure cross-talk, that's an invention."

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