CULTURE-CHINA: Traditional Vaudeville Tries a Comeback (1) An Inter Press Service Feature

BEIJING, Nov 24 (IPS) - Down a narrow Beijing back alley in the heart of the city's old red-light district, traditional Chinese vaudeville is struggling for a comeback.

For more than four decades of communist rule, the Tianqiao Paradise Teahouse -- once one of Beijing's premiere centres for acrobats, magicians, Peking Opera singers, comedians, martial arts performers and folk balladeers -- was closed for performances and used as an auditorium for Communist Party meetings.

But now, city officials and investors with an eye on the tourist dollar and the pockets of returning overseas Chinese are trying to revive a semblance of the vaudeville theatre life and street performances that once graced this southern Beijing neighborhood.

"Three years ago, the municipal government said we must try to recover the traditional culture of Beijing, and in 1992, the government said to restore this old Beijing teahouse,"explains He Qiwang, general manager of the Tianqiao Paradise Teahouse.

"Most importantly," he adds, "we need to revive Chinese culture to attract tourists to come here."

Before the communist victory in 1949, the Tianqiao district was the lively home of Beijing's folk art and culture as well as the seamy venue of burlesque prostitution, crime and clannish secret societies.

The area was named after the white marble Bridge of Heaven or Tianqiao that once stood in the area. The bridge was used by the Chinese emperors, who were known as Sons of Heaven, to cross the river to a favorite temple.

After coming to power, China's communist leaders moved to end what were regarded as bourgeois vices and rounded up madames, prostitutes and gangsters. But the effort to tun lively Tianqiao into a staid residential neighbourhood also included putting a stop to the vaudeville shows there.

Indeed, the demise of the colourful district was only part of the dismantling of the old Beijing. Ancient city walls and neighborhoods of courtyard houses were also torn down to make way for the socialist architectural monoliths and characterless high- rises that dominate the bleak skyline of present-day Beijing.

But overseas Chinese have been visiting their homeland more and more in recent years, and inevitably look for remnants of the city of their childhood. This prompted Beijing officials to consider restoring at least some of the features of old Tianqiao.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service