Suzhou pingtan

When we were in Suzhou two years ago, we came across Pingtan, a lovely art form in which two singers, usually a man playing a three-stringed instrument with a small sound box and a woman playing a pipa, sing ancient songs in an antique Suzhou dialect. We found a small studio just a few doors from our hotel where pingtan was performed, and enjoyed it so much that we went back there last night. We didn't take any photos -- it has always felt rude to ask to take them -- but there are some wonderful photos on the linked page.

We had an interesting language experience at the studio. The manager brought us two books and a couple of sheets of paper, and tried to explain to us what was expected of us -- but she did this by writing things over and over (in Chinese, of course) and saying things more slowly and loudly, just the things that we've seen Americans do in English while trying to communicate in Europe. We finally figured it out -- one book let us order drinks (we ended up with green tea, mostly by default) and the other book let us order songs, at a cost of 20 to 50 yuan each. There were a few others at the performance, also ordering songs, so we had a nice evening.