If you want to see Hong Kong's Chinese cultural life, simply step outside. Much of Hong Kong's drama is played in its streets, whether it's amateur Chinese opera singers at the famous Temple Street Night Market or a fortuneteller who has set up a chair and table at the side of the road or a Taoist temple. Virtually everything the Chinese consider vital still thrives in Hong Kong, including ancient religious beliefs, superstitions, wedding customs, and festivals.
The first sign that Hong Kong's cultural life is not confined to its stages and concert halls can be observed if you get up early and stroll through a city park, where you'll see people practicing tai chi, which looks like dance in slow motion. Originally a martial art developed about 1,000 years ago, tai chi today is a form of exercise that restores harmony in the body through 200 individual movements designed to use every muscle in the body. Good places to observe the art include Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui as well as Victoria Park, Hong Kong Park, and the Zoological and Botanical Gardens on Hong Kong Island. If you wish, you can even partake in a free tai chi session held 4 mornings a week on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront.
Hong Kong's many festivals are the most obvious expression of cultural life, most of which feature parades, dances, and observances of local customs. Lion dances, for example, may be performed to the accompaniment of drums, while in the evenings, there may be puppet shows or Chinese opera performances.
Of the various Chinese performing arts, Chinese opera is the most popular and widely loved. Dating back to the Mongol period, it has always appealed to both the ruling class and the masses. Virtue, corruption, violence, and lust are common themes, and performances feature elaborate costumes and makeup, haunting atonal orchestrations, and crashing cymbals. The actor-singers train for many years. The costumes signify specific stage personalities; yellow is reserved for emperors, while purple is the color worn by barbarians. Unlike Western performances, Chinese operas are noisy affairs, with families coming and going during long performances, chatting with friends, and eating.
In Hong Kong, you can also attend concerts of Western classical music, jazz, and pop, and performances of ballet, modern dance, and theater.
