China's national Peking Opera troupe wraps up U.S. visit

Peking Opera performers on a 14-day tour in the United States sponsored by the Chinese government staged their last show here on Friday, marking the end of activities to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The troupe of over 30 top artists from Beijing Peking Opera Theater and its Dalian counterpart has performed classic plays in four U.S. cities of Houston, Atlanta, Detroit and Los Angeles since Feb. 21, entertaining over 10,000 home-sick overseas Chinese as well as natives who love the Chinese culture.

Like the earlier performances, the three-hour gala on Friday was cordially received by fervent U.S. audience, English-speaking or not, who flocked to the theater to enjoy a dozen classic selections of different Peking Opera genres, with the help of translations on a projector.

Shelter Start, 46, a documentary director, told Xinhua before the opening of the show that he came to the show with his wife, a big fan of Peking Opera.

"I've seen the opera before. It is so beautiful, the actors, the costume, the gestures and the stories behind their performance," he said, adding that the cultural difference is not a problem.

"Of course we cannot get the whole story. But we can see something through by the performers' facial expressions and moves," he said.

Specifically, the works of Real and Fake Monkey King and Farewell My Concubine, all-time favorites to foreign audience, drew laughter and tears as actors performed the gripping dramas with melodious singing, exquisite gestures and dramatic facial expressions.

The annual gala, named "Cultures of China, Festival of Spring," has toured the world since 2009 as part of new year celebrations organized by the official Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council.