Art Form Gao Tai in Tonghai

The art form named Gao Tai may be a little strange for the foreign students who just come to study Chinese in China. It has a long history because it appears as early as 200 years ago. After combining drama, novel, historical legends, folk stories, statue, painting, designing and decoration together, the artists make it a kind of stage art with dramaticism, plots and also removable. In Tonghai, the Gao Tai art is exhibited in every January 16th in Chinese lunar calendar.

At the first beginning, the artists confirm the theme, and then begin to meditate to create by following the theme. They choose the steel materials and fix them on the small stage with a square of about one meter with the help of iron poles. According to the needs of the modeling, it will be decorated with the flowers and trees and so on. For the artificial hill, bonsai, flying and walking animals, gardens, houses and landscapes, the artists make them with bamboo chips carefully.

In this art form, you can see all kinds of shapes that imply the natural world and the social life. The furniture used in the stage is the specially made woodcarving art works. When learning Chinese Mandarin, you should know there are three stages, the high, the middle and the low. And there are places for sit and stand. When performing, the artists choose the selected and trained children of four or five years to dress up according to the roles they act. Each one Gao Tai is a movable stage.

You may be curious about the subject matters when you come to learn Chinese language in China. As a matter of fact, the theme could be the ancient stories, the modern life and the stories reflect the ethnic customs. Some themes are famous such as water overflowing Jinshan Mountain, Tales of the Marshes, General and Premier Make up, etc.

Taking Tales of the Marshes as an example, the first stage is Songjiang sitting on the ancient folding chair covered by the tiger skin. The second stage is the hero Wu Song is waving his feast to hit the tiger and Lu Zhishen besides a willow tree. The one on the third stage is Lin Chong who are wearing bamboo hat and holding sword. All of these show a vivid plot in the story Tales of the Marshes.