Taipei collective stages Peking Opera to keep tradition alive

TAIPEI－The 30-square-meter room, situated on the first floor of a residential building in Taipei, looks like an old teahouse that has its curtains drawn and doors closed.

The clients in the room are old, some of them in their 90s. And, their chosen form of entertainment is centuries older. The tunes played on string instruments and drums and the slow singing, mixed with calls of "Bravo" and ripples of applause, are carefully managed to not disturb the neighbors.

Xiangyan, which means "feast of sound" in Chinese, is the only Peking Opera fan club that opens every day in Taipei.