Celebrating water and Dai culture

Stepmother takes over Sohu video channel

Stepmother, a TV drama being shown on Web portal Sohu.com and CCTV since Feb 20, has quickly become the most popular show on the website's video channel.

The drama about a woman's efforts to bond with her stepchildren, has had more than 100 million clicks to date. Its popularity is being attributed in large part to its stellar cast of Jiang Wenli, Sun Chun (pictured) and its authentic 1980s feel.

Sohu.com, the exclusive distributor of the show on the Internet, has cooperated with many production companies at home and abroad to release films and TV serials on its video channel since 2006. It is now also showing American TV dramas and sitcoms series such as Nikita and The Big Bang Theory.

Celebrating water and Dai culture

The Soul of the Water, the epic multi-media dance by students from Yunnan Arts Institute, will be staged at the Great Hall of the People on March 22. Based on Dai ethnic group dances, from Yunnan province, the performance shows the water culture of the ethnic group, which celebrates the Water-splashing festival every year.

According to Dai choreographer Dao Haitao, the performance took five years to stage and will feature ethnic culture, history, legends and costumes.

Dao says water is a symbol of sanctity, beauty and brings good luck to the Dai. "Only water can help everything on Earth grow, so water is the god of life," he says.

Drama fit for a king hits the small stage

The King of Drama, the latest small theater work from Su Pengcheng, is being staged at Beijing's Muma Theater until March 27.

Featuring young actors and comedy scriptwriter Dong Runnian, the drama tells a black humor story of how ordinary people achieve big dreams. When a jobless movie director meets a hopeless office worker, they come up with the idea of opening an acting school. They try to make money but the aspiring actors cause a lot of trouble.

Presenting calligraphy through dance moves

Beijing's Haidian Theater recently hosted Guangdong Modern Dance Company's Beyond Calligraphy, one of the performances of the "Work of Excellence - Theater Arts, Guangdong", a festival sponsored by the government of Guangdong province.

Established in 1996, Guangdong Modern Dance Company is China's first troupe of modern dance. Beyond Calligraphy, a work by the company's resident choreographer Liu Qi, is an attempt to present the art of Chinese calligraphy through dance. It is an extended version of her 2005 work Upon Calligraphy, which has seen nearly 100 performances all over the world.

Besides dance, the ongoing "Work of Excellence" festival, that ends on March 19, also has drama, Cantonese Opera and acrobatics.