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Peking Opera: Is there a hidden beauty?

December 28, 2009

Frank Sieren hosts Ghaffar Pourazar, the only foreigner who really knows how to perform Beijing Opera.

https://p.dw.com/p/LA25

Peking Opera is China’s most well known performance art. Even US president Obama was treated to a show during his visit to China. But despite all this attention, Peking Opera is still not very popular outside of China. What went wrong? Is it too complicated for Western ears to appreciate or just not melodious enough?

Ghaffar Pourazar, a British Iranian, who has been living in China for more than a decade, knows the answer.

He is the only foreigner who has learnt to the art of Peking Opera through years of training and just received a cultural award from the chinese government.