I'm an amateur drama critic and my favorite hobby is watching plays. Beijing Tianqiao is the cradle and birthplace of old Beijing folk culture. Today, Tianqiao is the center of performing arts in the capital with international standards. There are 8 performance venues of different sizes and each is special in its own way. In 2015, the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center opened. I have seen more than 50 plays here. The first play I saw was the Center’s inaugural show "The Phantom of the Opera”. This is the musical I feel most deeply about. I never thought the original Andrew Lloyd Webber version would come to my doorstep. This is our amphitheater at the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

It can accommodate a very, very large audience. it has more than 1,600 seats in total. Our theater is equipped with the most advanced performance equipment. It not only adds to the artistic appeal of the musicals, via achieving perfect presentations, it also can maximize the audiovisual experience of our audiences. Not only diverse foreign productions are put on here, there are also excellent original works from China. Different kinds of plays from different genres and subjects are all performed here. The performing arts center has gradually grown up to be a new cultural landmark in Beijing. It has also become a major stage for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. In addition to watching plays here, I can also participate in various performance-related activities like master lectures, workshops, exhibitions, art education, themed salons, etc. I have been here 3 years I guess that I have been cooperating as a guest trainer at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center and I really love how Tianqiao organized this kind of drama activities and drama education in many different kinds of forms.

Nowadays, Beijing is focusing on building "Great Performances in Beijing" as its cultural brand. In the past year there have been 216 performance venues in Beijing and more than 20,000 performances were held. 4.5 million people went to see them. As a drama lover, I think this amazing. It makes me incredibly happy. It is also one of the reasons why I love this city.