"Chinese Kungfu Show," a performance that displays the best of the mysterious Chinese kungfu, is being staged at the Xinrong Theatre in Beijing beginning Tuesday.

The first of its kind, "Chinese Kungfu Show" displays martial art within the structure of a dramatic story.

Presented by the Beijing Detian Shunyi Culture Development Company, the performance is aimed to entertain an increasing number of international travelers in Beijing.

The company plans to run the performance for two years at the Xinrong Theatre, which is close to the Daguanyuan Hotel in the southern part of downtown Beijing.

"Most foreign travellers would go to a Peking Opera play in Beijing," said Cao Xin, general manager of the company. "Now we are providing them an option, a show of Chinese kungfu, which is easier to understand in comparison with Peking Opera."

The show tells a story of two kindred souls. The "Dragon" and the "Tiger," which had been competing in kungfu annually for years.

However, the successors of the two kindreds - the "dragon girl" and the "tiger boy" - fall in love with each other through competing in kungfu, thus ending the hatred between the two kindreds which had lasted for generations.

"The focus of the performance is on Chinese kungfu, but we are going to employ many art forms such as modern dance and set design to make it a very enjoyable show," said Gao Du, the show's artistic director.

As the plot develops, the audience sees various forms of Chinese martial arts, such as bare-handed practice, one-to-one competing and weapons practice.

The 40-odd actors are students of three schools of Chinese martial art in Shandong and Hebei provinces.

"Martial arts are such an important part of Chinese culture that it is estimated there are about 5 million martial arts practitioners in China," said Cao. "We hope to introduce Chinese martial arts to more people in the world through our performances."

( China Daily April 18, 2002)