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Thursday 2006-09-07 - P’yŏngyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Growing talent
In every school in the country, children can take part in all sorts of extra-curricular activities. Those who show real talent for something can move on to one of the 11 Children’s’ Palaces in the country; then they go there every day after school to practice and receive high-quality instruction.
This afternoon, we visit one such Children’s’ Palace in P'yŏngyang, the Mangyongdae School children's Palace. It really is a palace, fitted out in local marble with decorations of other types of stone. For a change, we get a tour not from a professional local guide, but from a teenage girl (she's 15, maybe) who tells us about the building and smoothly shows us around along various classes. We see children taking lessons in music (both on the traditional zither and on accordion), swimming (a large swimming hall with jumping boards of different heights, the highest 5m high), calligraphy, embroidery (using a technique that's more like painting with colored threads -- the best done so that both sides of the cloth are "good" so the painting can be put up in a free-standing frame). Some of the kids are already very good, while others are still learning basic techniques.
After visiting these classes (obviously a small selection of what’s on offer), we get to see one of the weekly performances. In the theater, all foreign tourists sit in the middle section of seats, while other visitors, mainly schoolchildren, sit on either side: as usual we’re kept carefully apart from local people.
The kids, of a variety of ages, present a dazzling show with song and dance, mime, acrobatics, and both modern and traditional music. These kids are so good, I get goose pimples every now and then — and I’m not the only one. True, they’re the cream of the cream, but it’s extremely impressive.
