Mei Lan Fang's Former Residence: Huguosi Hutong

November 29, 2008. Mei Lan Fang’s Former Residence

Earlier this semester, I had gone in search of Mei Lan Fang’s Former Residence but was unsuccessful. The directions given in the Lonely Planet Guide were insufficient. The directions listed the subway station but other than that there was no other information. The website was also not extremely helpful. Since I am on a tight budget, I have refused to take a taxi unless absolutely necessary.

On Friday, I called the museum and a nice man answers the phone. He lets me know that I can take Bus 107 from Xizhimen to ChangQiao. I look at my map and find out that I would be about a block or two away from the mentioned bus stop. I decide that it would be best for me to go to the more touristy places on Friday and visit this place (and the South Cathedral) on Saturday.

I wake up very early on Saturday morning and head out to Dongwuyuan. I am also photo-journaling my favorite shopping haunts in the Haidian District. I do not want to forget those places. Thankfully for this idea, I found out that Bus 107 plies the route between Dongwuyuan, the Beijing Exhibition Center and would take me to ChangQiao. It does not pass by Xizhimen at all. I hop on the bus after I finish taking pictures and this bus does not serve the most popular route so I manage to get a seat.

I get off at the right stop and see the Huguosi Hotel. Mei’s residence is located in the Huguosi hutong area. I walk north as I remember from looking at my map and cross the street towards the hutong. I thought I would have to search for it so I was pleasantly surprised when it was right at the corner. I snap a couple of quick pictures and proceed to buy my ticket. My student ID has come in handy at many places so I enter the residence for RMB5.

I am pleasantly to find English captions on the displays. The first display was a photo exhibition of Mei’s life and all the major opera roles he starred in. Mei looks extremely feminine to me and I wonder whether that is the reason he starred in the female roles, or whether his femininity is an influence of the roles he played. Mei is known for establishing a style of singing and is now known as the Mei Lan Fang School. I wish they had videos or recordings of his performances playing in the exhibition hall. I am interested in finding out what the Mei Lan Fang School is. Photography is not allowed in the display area.


The second display is only visible through the glass. Mei’s living room, study and bedroom are on display. He lived in this home from 1949-1961, except for a brief stay in Hong Kong. The furniture belonged to him and walls are decorated with his own calligraphy or ones given to him by friends.



The third and last display area holds several of his costumes and more pictures of his career. To me, the most interesting display in this room is a photo chart of Chinese opera hand gestures and their related meanings. I knew the gestures usually represented something but I now realized how intricate the movements are and a slight difference would imply a different meaning. While there was no museum worker in the room, I snap as many pictures as I can.



I knew I should buy some souvenirs of his performances and I wanted better pictures than what I sneaked. I allowed myself to be talked into buying a DVD, a souvenir booklet and a deck of cards, each with a different costume with his character listed. I knew this would prove to be interesting to my students someday and just looked at my purchase as a future investment. I walk off towards another main street to catch the bus to Nantang.

Subway/Bus Directions: Jishuitan Subway Station. Bus 808, 47, (heading south, stop at Huguosi which is along Xinjiekoulu Nan) then walk east towards Huguosi Hotel. The museum is at the end of the hutong road.
From Baishiqiao Dong near Carrefour, take old blue Bus 105, it will stop somewhere near Huguosi too.
From Bejing Zoo take the old blue Bus 107 (stop at ChangQiao Lukou Si after PingAnLi Lukou Si) then walk north about a block and cross the street to Huguosi Hutong (west). This is the closest bus stop with the least walking!

Laoshe Teahouse: Opera Lovers' Afternoon

November 12, 2008 I visited Laoshe Teahouse, near Qianmen on a Wednesday afternoon. I purposely picked this afternoon because the Beijing Opera Lovers' Afternoon would be going on from 2:00pm-4:00pm. I had been in these teahouse the Sunday before and had scoped it out. I wanted to attend one of the evening performances but they had raised their ticket prices considerably. The cheapest ticket used to be RMB60 but now it is RMB180. I decided it would be worth it for me to go to a vaudeville-like variety show. I arrived at the teahouse around 2:30pm and am bombarded with questions by the doormen. I am not sure exactly what they are asking or telling me as they were using the Beijing dialect. While I was in the lobby, I heard some Beijng opera singing coming from the adjoining room but I couldn't figure out where or how I get in. The brochure said they had English speaking staff but that wasn't quite the case. I decide to wander the floors of the teahouse. Depending on one's taste, it is either ornately or gaudily decorated. The walls are lined with pictures of all the dignitaries they have hosted. The second floor has a tea shop and also a gift shop, along with displays of opera costumes. I observe that the prices of the gift shop are unreasonable, given that one could pick up the same souvenirs for a fraction of the price at Qianmen. There were several miniature versions of the costumes on sale for exorbitant prices of several thousand yuan. The place is rather empty except for one wandering (lost) person: me. I proceed to the top floor and there are several tea rooms. I stumble upon the other afternoon performance program at the main performance room. I walk in and stand there for sometime, but none of the attendants ask whether I'm here to see the show. I saw part of a puppet show and shadowplay being performed. I would have loved to sit down somewhere but I did not want to be overcharged for tea. I was not sure whether I had to seat myself or be seated. I resort to standing at the doorway and watched part of the shadowplay. I observe that most of the people who are presently watching the performance are all foreigners. It was too quiet of a crowd and I felt rather uncomfortable because this is not the norm for watching such performances. I decide to brave it and proceed back to the lower floor. I would try and figure out how to get to the opera lovers' afternoon. I manage to talk to the receptionists there and figure out all I had to pay for RMB10 for entrance and a cup of tea. When I walk in, I am again totally out of my element. I think I'm the only one who is below 30 in the room. All the people were sitting around round table, talking and drinking tea. Obviously, they were regulars at this event and know each other very well. There is not a spot in the room that is open except the front table. The waiter, sensing my apprehension, finally lets me sit up in the balcony by myself. I quite enjoy my vantage point because I could now be the silent, unseen observer of the event. The audience behavior is as expected for a Chinese opera performance. While the amateurs sing their hearts out on stage, the rest are happily talking away, drinking jasmine tea and eating melon seeds. The singing is occasionally interrupted by clapping and shouts of acknowledgement from the audience. The audience participates in the performance in this manner. It is also not rude to walk in and out while there is singing. I also notice the accompanying musicians are not all completely masters of the repertoire. One person in the jinghu or erhu group was definitely the leader. He knew most of the tunes by heart. The rest of them had score books they were playing out of. I am very glad to observe this afternoon as many of these traditions are dying in Beijing. I find it very odd that the Beijing general audience doesn't quite know how to observe concert etiquette for both Western classical performances and Chinese classical performances like this one. I am not sure whether there is a middle ground and whether the middle is where the Beijingers are. If I was a Beijing opera performer, I would be disheartened to perform to a silent crowd. On the other hand, when I perform on the piano, I am distracted by a noisy audience. Maybe I wasn't the most polite and cultured guest this afternoon, as I was quiet, too quiet.