Liu Yuan, who died of cancer in December, helped reintroduce jazz to the Chinese mainland.

A performance of le qiang (乐腔, literally "joyful vocal tune"), formerly known as lao qiang (落腔), a rare genre of local Chinese opera (Chinese: difang xiqu, 地方戏曲) from Anyang (安阳市), northern Henan province (河南省), central China. The title of the play being performed here is "Jie Didi"《借髢髢》. The troupe is the Hua County Le Qiang Theater Troupe (Chinese: Hua Xian Le Qiang Jutuan, 滑县乐腔剧团), which is based in Hua County (滑县), Anyang (安阳市), northern Henan province (河南省), central China.

(I admit I’ve been quite derelict in not keeping up with posting on my website. There are reasons for this dereliction, though I’m not sure exactly what they are. Suffice it to say I have been in a bit of a writing slump lately, but the first step to the cure is to admit the problem. The second step