Wang Wei plays the leading role in a new opera, Tea: A Mirror of Soul. Photos by Jiang Dong

A few years ago, the Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun and his friends visited a nunnery in southern China. After waiting for about half an hour, an old nun came out to offer them tea. To their surprise, the bowls were all empty but, undeterred, the nun raised an empty bowl, saying "please" and ritualistically savored the "tea".

Tan and his friends were totally confused. "The bowl is empty. Where is the tea?" one of them asked. The nun did not answer, just repeated "please" and pointed at the empty bowls.

Her behavior inspired Tan, who later interpreted it as: "If there is tea in your mind, there is tea in the bowl; if there is no tea in your mind, even a full bowl means nothing."

This is the theme of his opera Tea: A Mirror of Soul. Throughout the show, chorus repeats a version of Tan's original insight: Bowl empty, scent glows; shadow gone, dream grows.

Commissioned by Tokyo's Suntory Hall and premiered in 2002, the three-act opera has wowed audiences all over the world with its synthesis of Chinese philosophy, lush Western orchestration, the use of an all-male "Greek-style" chorus and Tan's trademark "organic" music.

The opera is being staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts on July 30 and 31 to celebrate the Olympics.

So, why tea?

"I had long thought of creating an opera to explore Zen," says Tan. "That trip to the nunnery inspired my interest in tea, one of the most ordinary drinks in the world.

"When I prepared for the opera, I read tons of books about it. I traveled around China and Japan to do research and experienced so many interesting things, including an unforgettable tea bath in Japan.


"Finally I realized that tea and the ritual for drinking it is a perfect metaphor of philosophy, a way of life, Chinese culture, the relationship between the human beings and nature, and a best interpretation of my concept of Zen."

Philosophy is one thing, but Tan needed a dramatic story, one of love and hate, and of life and death. Therefore he and playwright Xu Ying created a doomed 9th century love affair between a Japanese monk, Seikyo, and a Chinese princess, Lan.

Each of the three acts has a natural element in the title: Water and Fire; Paper; and Ceramic and Stones.

Tan created the titles after reading Book of Tea of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), which is ostensibly a complete guide to the traditional methods of growing, harvesting, preparing and savoring tea. He learned that the three most important factors in the tea ritual were the quality of water, quantity of water and fire, and which ceramic tea set was chosen.

In Act I, the well-dressed women percussionists pour the water into big glass bowls. In Act II, paper is rustled, rippled, crumpled and torn to create the sound of wind. In Act III, the monks tap stones together rhythmically to increase dramatic intensity preceding the princess' murder by her brother.

Tan has the stones emitting a feeling of fate, paper a smooth sensuality and water an ominous message of birth and rebirth.

Tan had played around with similar ideas in his earlier works: Soundshape (1989), Ghost Opera (1994), Water Concerto (1998) and Water Passion After St.Matthew (2000).

"For many years I have continued to experiment with the use of water, paper and ceramic as instruments in my music," says Tan. "As I was traveling around China and Japan to research tea, I came to the realization that 'organic music' already existed in these two countries.

"As is suggested in this example, 'organic music' concerns both matters of everyday life and matters of the heart, and I have attempted to underpin Tea with this concept.

"In the Book of Tea itself, the author Lu Yu writes about water, wind, fire and earthenware, and I wanted to assimilate all of these elements into my work, because they are all essential to the aesthetics of tea."

Act II contains an interesting scene when Seikyo and Lan travel to southern China to get the Book of Tea. The two enjoy passionate times together and the percussionists blow, tear, rustle and crumple paper to imitate the sounds animals make when they are mating.

An animation, painted by the 88-year-old American-Chinese artist Ding Xiongquan, features various animals who are mating while eight Peking Opera performers dance with large white silk sheets in their hands, with mating animals painted on the sheets. Seikyo and Lan make love under a blanket, surrounded by the dancers and in the shadow of the animation.

It should be an intensely erotic scene, but it is presented in a Chinese, reserved way.

Tan's unique music is complemented by impressive visual scenes to convey his quirky concept of "hearing color and seeing sound".

"In Tea, I explore a new experience of theater," Tan says. "It is an opera of the 21st century. I hope audiences feel that the music is a feast to their eyes as it is pleasant to mine."

Behind Tan is an impressive team, which includes New York-based Chinese director Chiang Ching, artist Ding Xiongquan, German costume designer Patrizia Von Brandstein, Swedish setting designer Thomas Lundgvist and Chinese actress-turned designer Elsa Yeung.

Chiang and Tan have been working together for 26 years and last November, she directed a concert version of Tea at the Stockholm International Composers Festival.

"Since this is the first Chinese version of the opera Tea, we bring many Chinese elements to stage, from the Peking Opera, the 12 symbolic animals to the dragon dance and many others," Chiang says.

Overall, Tan creates a link between the artificial world of theater and the organic world of nature, but the opera can be too cerebral an experience if you attend it without having read the story or without being familiar with the tea ritual.

Nevertheless, Tan is confident and ambitious about his Beijing production.

"First, I write unabashed music and graceful lines for the singers," he says. "Then, I create an interesting experience combining drama, multi-media, installation and organic music.

"I want to show the world that the Chinese, who created and developed the tea culture thousands of years ago can also contribute many innovations today."

(China Daily 07/22/2008 page19)