Best bets

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theater The Peony Pavilion

Date: Dec 7-9－7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 100-500 yuan

Four hundred years ago, Tang Xianzu composed The Peony Pavilion, which has become a favored cultural treasure in the world and a romantic masterpiece in China's history of drama. The love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, who are parted in life and separated by death as is depicted in the masterpiece, reveals how feudality oppresses human nature and proclaims the glory of human nature that stands for the liberation of personality. The drama is well-known for its beautiful wording and interesting spoken parts. In 2001, UNESCO declared Kunqu Opera as an "oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity", when Kunqu Opera art was, however, on the edge of extinction in China.

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Date: Dec 13-15－7:30 pm

Venue: Beijing Exhibition Theater

Price: 280-1,760 yuan

Drawing on Irish traditions, the combined talents of the performers propel Irish dancing and music into the present day, capturing the imagination of audiences across all ages and cultures in an innovative and exciting blend of dance, music and song. Of all the performances to emerge from Ireland－in rock, music, theater and film－nothing has carried the energy, the sensuality and the spectacle of Riverdance.