Friday May 20: Imperial Palace:

Last night our staff requested the hotel to offer more edible food at breakfast. This morning there were fewer options, but all of them were good. The Fresh Fries were a huge hit. This morning we also had the option of visiting the Imperial Palace or to stay in the hotel and rest. Of course I chose to visit the Palace. We spent almost two hours there walking through the grounds and seeing all the buildings. I had heard there were many beautiful gardens in the palace, but places we walked through did not have any gardens. We saw the Emperor’s office, the General’s office, the “First Lady’s” rooms, and the other living quarters. The weather here in Shenyang is beautiful compared to that of the other provinces we visited. The temperature in Xi’an, Shanghi, and Hangzhou was high 90s and quite humid. But the temperature here in Shenyang is 60s, with a cold wind chill. It’s funny to see everyone walking around in jackets and scarves while I’m just wearing my normal jeans and t-shirt ad completely comfortable.

We had to get back to the hotel before noon so we could pack up our bags and load them into our luggage truck. We aren’t leaving until tomorrow, but our luggage won’t fit on the train, and since it takes 39 hours to drive to Beijing by truck because of the curfews, we had to send it off a day before we left. After that we had lunch in the hotel, which was really nice. Not fancy, but everything was good, at least I thought. The Fresh Fries were still the biggest hit. I think the group is getting sick of Chinese food.

The early group left the hotel a little after 2:00 to set up the stage. When we got there we wished we had left earlier. It wasn’t an actually performance auditorium, it was a basketball arena. They had set up platforms on the gym floor to create a performance stage. Because of this, there were about 4 steps from the floor to the stage, and there was no really loading dock, so we had to unload into a side door and hallway. Then maneuver the gear through a narrow hallway and doors and around the setting as close as possible to the stage. Then we had to unpack everything from the trunks and carry them up the steps. There were plenty of guys around to help, so it went pretty quickly and nothing was damaged. We had three people to carry the harps up the steps. They wouldn’t slide on the rubber mat, so I carried them 20 feet to their spot on the stage. Setting up didn’t take as long as we thought, but we didn’t have any extra time before the rehearsal.

After rehearsal we had another wonderful Lazy Susan dinner, than had to head back to tune and finish preparing for a 7:00PM concert. The concert started a few minutes late, but we didn’t actually start playing until 7:30 because of all the speeches. Not only was this concert a new performance setting experience, but it also was a new audience experience. By 6:00 there were already many people outside waiting for the doors to open. The house opened at 6:15 and by 6:30 the hall was 99% full. By 7:00 every seat was taken and there were people sitting on the steps and standing in the back. We thought this would be another crowd like our first demanding crowd in Hangzhou. But it wasn’t. We found out that it is the Chinese culture to hold back their enthusiasm until the end of the concert, but apparently this also means they don’t have to listen and be quiet. At every concert the audience was loud. They talked to each other, on the phone, walked in and out during pieces, and were just plain noisy. But here they were particularly noisy. It wasn’t just a slight murmur, it was a full conversation. At one point Prof. Haithcock looked at the audience, but his finger to his lips and said quite loudly, “Shhhhhh.” This however only worked for about a minute. It was really distracting and I personally felt that I could play anything anytime and no one would hear or notice. Their clapping was weird to. They would start clapping about 3 seconds after Prof. Haithcock put his hands down, then they would quiet and erupt into loud clapping when he turned around and bowed. But by the time he left the stage they had already stopped. It was like pulling teeth getting ready to do our first encore. They cheered and clapped for that, but by the time we walked off and turned around to come back there was still only a slight continuation. They cheered and clapped after “Stars and Stripes,” and wouldn’t stop clapping, but it wasn’t a steady applause. It was like the audience was taking turns clapping. We did a finale encore and then were finished. Because we had started late, we didn’t finish until after 10:00. Packing up and loading out didn’t take as long as we imagined and were able to leave around 11:00. Most of the guys were busy packing up the percussion, so I got to carry the harps down the steps and to the trunks.