Laughter reaches you before the stage does at the Liu Laogen Stage, where errenzhuan duos sing, dance and tease while twirling fans and red handkerchiefs. A short walk away, the yellow-tiled roofs of Mukden Palace sit quiet, and later the crackle of chicken frames on a charcoal grill fills the night markets.
Beyond the palace, pine-shaded Beiling Park wraps around an emperor's tomb, and the Korean restaurants of Xita keep their tables busy late. Summers are hot and rainy, winters dry and bitterly cold. A Local Friend can open a door you would not have knocked on, from a grill with no English sign to a seat where the whole room is in on the joke.
