Tuesday was my birthday... and I went to see Terracotta Warriors at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts on Homer St.  What an awesome spectacular spectacle.  There is almost constant motion and music to this incredible production of dance, martial arts, gymnastics and song.  It was much more exciting than seeing the Vancouver Opera production of Madame Butterfly, four years ago on my birthday.

My girlfriend and I didn’t quite get there early enough to read through the program and the synopsis, which is what we like to do for non-English opera productions.  We were excited to see this second action-musical, written, directed and produced by Dr. Dennis Law, which combines Chinese dance with gymnastics, song and martial arts.  While there are no surtitles to decipher the show and the only words are from the songs sung in Mandarin, the show is completely understandable.  It is like watching opera sung in Italian, German or French - none of which I understand.  It is like watching ballet, distinct and interpretive movement tells the story through the choreography and the body language of the dancers.

The show opens as the theatre darkens and a lone figure dressed in stylistic ancient Chinese garb appears near the elaborate Chinese drum and percussion set off the right side of the stage.  Offstage musicians are common in Chinese productions, and I had last seen it used to brilliant effect in the theatre production "Mom, Dad, I'm Living with a White Girl" written by Marty Wong.

The large gong is struck, and the drummer plays the largest dragon boat type drum I have ever seen.  He also moves to the Chinese bells behind him.  Moving very distinct and theatrical-like, at this moment - he is the show, and he knows it.  This is very different from the musicians in a Western style orchestra pit - where musicians are better heard and not seen.

Stage fog rolls out from the stage, as if a large mist had filled a cave.  Indeed it is a cave as four peasants explore and are caught in an earthquake.  Rocks fall and large stone warriors are revealed.  This dramatizes the discovery of the Terracotta Army in the mid-70's.  Up to that point, very little was known about the weaponry and costumes of the period governed by the First Emperor of China.  The discovery of Emperor Qin's burial mounds was one of the most significant archeological discoveries of the 20th Century.

All of the following scenes then interpret the life of Qin Shihuang (pronounced "Chin Shi Wong") from the time when the Qin army defeats the army of the state of Yi.  Qin is then coronated as first emperor of China, the country that still bears his name over 2200 years after his unified warring states into a single country, as well as unifying currency, written language, weights and measures, roads and irrigation systems. 

Lush costumes and rich pageantry fill the stage.  The battle scenes are excitingly choreographed, with dozens of fights happening simultaneously.  The court scenes allow for dance scenes and elaborate costumes of the emperor's beloved concubines as well as for the acrobats and performers of the court.  We are then presented with wonderful displays of jumping, sword work, giant yo-yo's and plate twirling.  These are ancient practices that have filled many Chinese dance and Chinese opera stages over the years.  But what makes this production different is that not only are the costumes more elaborate, but so are the sets, lighting and production values.  Terracotta Warriors brings Chinese tradition dance and theatre production into the 21st Century.

It is incredibly ambitious to attempt to tell the story of Qin Shihuang in a single story, so highlights such as the discovery of his mother with a court advisor turned conspirator, Qin's eunuch advisor, Qin's quest for immortality and his fear of death, as well as Qin's tirades of book burning and burying scholars alive are demonstrated.

Qin's achievements are so vast, that the only Western leaders that can be compared to him are Alexander the Great, Julius Cesar who each built long lasting empires that eventually eroded, while Qin's legacy is the longest continuous nation on earth.

In presenting the story of Qin, Dennis Law accomplishes what nobody else in North America has ever done before.  He artistically puts Chinese art, culture and history not only as equal with Western art, but as historical and culturally significant.  For the greater part of the last two hundred years, China and its culture has been regarded as inferior 3rd World quality by Western eyes. 

After the show, Dr. Law said to my girlfriend, "You are not Chinese, did you have any trouble understanding the story."  Deb replied, "Oh not at all... The actions very distinctly give you the story, and the dancing is very broad.  Not a problem at all... and I didn't even read the synopsis."  Over dinner, I had given Deb a brief run down of the life of Emperor Qin Shihuang, first emperor of China.  How he had unified China, rising through the Period of Warring States, how he had many concubines, and had burned books in an effort to control knowledge, that he built both the Great Wall of China, and later the Terracotta Warriors for his burial tomb.

In Western society, the references to Asian culture are often stereotyped and have been historically racist.  Original productions of Madam Butterfly had the original libretto altered for politically correct reasons.  The original production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical “Flower Drum Song” was a pastiche of immigrant Asian clichés and was recently re-written by renowned Chinese American playwright David Henry Hwang.  With Terracotta Warriors, we are able to address a historical Chinese story with the creation of an original work of art with Chinese artists instead of a Western perspective that directs and writes how they think the Chinese voice should act and sound.

In my own experience as I grew up in Canada during the 60's, 70's and 80's, I learned and experienced the second class-ness of being a visible minority in Canada. To be Asian, was to be inferior, no wonder so many Asian Canadians grew up with negative identity crises, especially after suffering through discriminatory head tax, labour, education and immigration restrictions, race riots,  internment camps, property confiscation, relocation and deportation.

But somehow, sitting in the Centre, with my mouth hanging open, watching in awe of the acrobatic feats and the beautiful costumes and dancing - it is more than okay to be Chinese.  It is affirming to know that I come from a rich ancestry of culture, art, history and innovation.