AUCKLAND, New Zealand—Regardless of age, culture or background, the Chinese Spectacular has been touching the hearts of New Zealanders over the last three days. Saturday's matinee show was no exception.
Antonello Antonelli is Italian by ethnicity, but originally hails from South Africa. He moved to New Zealand 22 years ago and works as a real estate agent. He found out about the show months ago when he was given a flyer at the Chinese New Year celebrations in Auckland.
"I think I still have it," he said, and pulled the flyer out of his wallet. "My ex-girlfriend is Chinese — I thought I'd better go and learn some culture."
"Normally, I work on a Saturday, but I decided to take it off for the first time in three months."
Mr Antonelli found the show very emotional. "If you like classical music, which is very emotional, you will like something like this." He enjoyed tenor Hong Min's singing in particular, as well as the dancing and the costumes, which he described as: "Beautiful! Absolutely, absolutely!
"The dancing was outstanding. They are very graceful. Those people, we have a lot to learn from them [Chinese] … I like the high heels ['Ladies of the Manchu Court']. I thought that was quite European, very enjoyable.
"I love the Chinese women, I suppose because they look so young, they hold their youth so well.
"A show like this is good for you, good for the soul and good for the heart," he said.
Mr Antonelli said he had been reading about China the night before. "It is just huge, their traditions and the architecture … I have been in awe. It is a 5000-year-old tradition compared to ours in New Zealand.
"We should be looking at traditions like China's. They have a lot to show us about how to live … I think that if we all live with each other here in Auckland, we should, I think, enjoy each other's culture. We live together, so we should learn each others' cultures."
Mr Antonelli said he wants to learn Mandarin and is planning to visit China for the first time in June. He hopes to visit Hong Kong, Shanghai and "Panda Land".
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit:
www.BestChineseShows.com.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese Spectacular. For our complete coverage please visit:
http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/.
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