CH’ANG-O. When we were feasting I perceived how mortals celebrated this happy occasion in couples and enjoyed each other’s company. The thought of my lonely life fills me with sorrow. (_Singing_) I go down by marble steps and part the crystal curtains to see how mortal couples live and prepare fresh fruits and delicious wines to celebrate the Festival. Here I see a family feasting and chatting, there a group walking hand in hand, and others while away their time in their modest homes, while I sit in my Palace, lonely and companionless. Ah! who is there to pity me? (_Speaking_) Deeply do I regret my offence of stealing the Elixir of Life. As punishment I am now destined to spend my nights in sorrow. (_Fairies reappear to escort Ch’ang-O to visit the Heavenly Queen, Hsi Wang Mu._) (_Exeunt all._) [Illustration] CHAPTER FIVE MODERN TENDENCIES During the last decades of the Ch’ing Dynasty, that is to say about forty years ago, many of the idle and rich members of the ruling class, the Manchus, developed an interest in the theater. The government provided these men with an income but imposed no duties on them; and while a large number filled the time that hung heavy on their hands by smoking opium, others imitated the work of the socially disinherited actor. Sometimes princes of the royal family appeared on the stage in much the same spirit of a search for new sensations in which others impersonated beggars on the streets. Naturally enough, such undignified behavior was highly disapproved of in government circles, and therefore the idlers who spent most of their time in the theaters found it more expedient to perform in private when their artistic natures felt the itch for self-expression. For this purpose clubs were formed called _p’iao yu_, friends of the theater or amateurs. It is interesting to note that many of the palaces of the princes of the Manchu Dynasty in the vicinity of Peking are provided with stages where the theater lovers could perform in private. Many wealthy merchants followed this fashion set by the princes, and in recent years also a large number of students have devoted their leisure time to the study of acting. To-day the number of amateurs in Peking is enormous; there is such a craze for acting that every photographer’s shop is provided with costumes and other theatrical paraphernalia in order that the _p’iao yu_ may have his picture taken in the rôle of his favorite character.