Great Prince Zidan

As I started attending a course of modern Chinese at university, I realized I’d become addicted to the language itself. I wasn’t alone, though. To see people hastily grabbing chairs and plopping down into them, you’d think them starving students at the school cafeteria, but here were true lovers and admirers of their subject, enjoying it more than many other things in the world. It doesn’t mean we’ve lost interest in other languages – not at all – but we forget about them all when our ‘laoshi’ enters the auditorium speaking a beautiful, soft Chinese and starts teaching us in her own engaging and thought-provoking way. She’s so eager to make us love China that she spends her personal time on extra-classes – cultural lessons at which we learn about Chinese scenery, traditions, arts, history and literature. Last week we watched the Beijing opera performance. Librettos for such operas usually feature both tragic and comic elements, interspersed with singing, dancing, and poetic narration, to dramatize historical events and popular legends. However the one we had on the screen is called ‘The Revenge of Prince Zidan’, and it’s not based on a real event, it’s kind of a ‘Hamlet’ remake. Ideally, we all should have been very sad because almost every character was slaughtered (and some of them simply committed suicide) in the end, but, personally, I couldn’t help smiling. I wasn’t exulting. I heard others laughing, too. Talented actors and actresses had been playing their roles in a very fascinating, but ludicrous way: they’d been walking around with a sort of pompous humility and singing at the top of their voices. Before dying one of them, a little short guy with a gloriously full, thick beard, rolled around several times like a pellet – and only then, having straightened it carefully, he died. The main hero, Prince Zidan, impressed his public with brilliant speeches and wonderful gestures. So I liked the performance very much! The only trouble with it was that I could hardly understand what the people had been saying – but that only means I should be more diligent studying the Chinese language I love so much... :(

So well-written, there's barely anything to correct.

'grabbing chairs and plopping down into them'    'plopping in to' suggests soft-upholstered chairs, an armchair or sofa, whereas in a classroom or lecture hall the seats are usually rigid, so 'on to them' would seem more appropriate.

'we watched the Beijing opera performance'    presumably there is more than one such so :  'we watched the Beijing Opera perform', or 'we watched a performance by the Beijing Opera'.  If this does not refer to a company called the Beijing Opera, then you might say 'we watched a Beijing opera performance', suggesting that Beijing opera differs from other styles of Chinese opera.

'it’s kind of a ‘Hamlet’ remake' :  it's a kind of ‘Hamlet’ remake;  'kind of a . .' is more slang speech than written English.

'very fascinating' :  no need for 'very'

This piece of writing would be a credit to a native English speaker.  Just work on the Chinese !

Great Prince Zidan

As I started attending a course of modern Chinese at university, I realized I’d become addicted to the language itself. I wasn’t alone, though. To see people hastily grabbing chairs and plopping down into them, you’d think them starving students at the school cafeteria, but here were true lovers and admirers of their subject, enjoying it more than many other things in the world. It doesn’t mean we’ve lost interest in other languages – not at all – but we forget about them all when our ‘laoshi’ enters the auditorium speaking a beautiful, soft Chinese and starts teaching us in her own engaging and thought-provoking way. She’s so eager to make us love China that she spends her personal time on extra-classes – cultural lessons at which we learn about Chinese scenery, traditions, arts, history and literature. Last week we watched the Beijing opera performance. Librettos for such operas usually feature both tragic and comic elements, interspersed with singing, dancing, and poetic narration, to dramatize historical events and popular legends. However the one we had on the screen is called ‘The Revenge of Prince Zidan’, and it’s not based on a real event, it’s kind of a ‘Hamlet’ remake. Ideally, we all should have been very sad because almost every character was slaughtered (and some of them simply committed suicide) in the end, but, personally, I couldn’t help smiling. I wasn’t exulting. I heard others laughing, too. Talented actors and actresses had been playing their roles in a very fascinating, but ludicrous way: they’d been walking around with a sort of pompous humility and singing at the top of their voices. Before dying one of them, a little short guy with a gloriously full, thick beard, rolled around several times like a pellet – and only then, having straightened it carefully, he died. The main hero, Prince Zidan, impressed his public with brilliant speeches and wonderful gestures. So I liked the performance very much! The only trouble with it was that I could hardly understand what the people had been saying – but that only means I should be more diligent studying the Chinese language I love so much... :(

"plopping down into them" -- I think "in" is probably more correct than "into" or "on".  "Into" doesn't work here because there is not much enclosure; on the other hand, although one sits "on" a bench, a board, a cushion, or a tuffet (as per "Little Miss Muffet"), one typically sits "in" a chair, given that it at least has a back that partially encloses you.

"you’d think them starving students" -- this should be "you'd think THEY WERE starving students".  "Them" doesn't work here because you must use the nominative form of the pronoun -- which is "they" -- appropriate to the clause "they were starving students". 

"To see people hastily grabbing chairs and plopping down into them, you’d think them starving students at the school cafeteria, but here were true lovers and admirers of their subject, enjoying it more than many other things in the world." -- I would put a semicolon (;) after cafeteria; that way, it won't read like a "run-on sentence". !0_0!

"extra-classes" -- I don't think you need the hyphen here; she gives you "extra classes".

"Last week we watched the Beijing opera performance." -- I agree with Adrian's correction.

"and it’s not based on a real event, it’s kind of a ‘Hamlet’ remake." -- Better to write "and it's not based on a real event, but is more akin to a remake of 'Hamlet'... so that you don't end up with a "run-on sentence". !0_0!

"and some of them simply committed suicide" -- "WHILE some of them committed suicide" works better.

"I wasn’t exulting. I heard others laughing, too." -- It's better to join these two related thoughts: "I wasn't exulting, and I heard others laughing too." 

"Before dying one of them, a little short guy with a gloriously full, thick beard, rolled around several times like a pellet – and only then, having straightened it carefully, he died." -- It should be "and only then, AFTER STRAIGHTENING HIMSELF OUT carefully, DID HE DIE."

"that only means I should be more diligent studying the Chinese language I love so much..." -- See my previous correction! :-)

Great Prince Zidan

As I started attending a course of modern Chinese at university, I realized I’d become addicted to the language itself. I wasn’t alone, though. To see people hastily grabbing chairs and plopping down into them, you’d think them starving students at the school cafeteria, but here were true lovers and admirers of their subject, enjoying it more than many other things in the world. It doesn’t mean we’ve lost interest in other languages – not at all – but we forget about them all when our ‘laoshi’ enters the auditorium speaking a beautiful, soft Chinese and starts teaching us in her own engaging and thought-provoking way. She’s so eager to make us love China that she spends her personal time on extra-classes – cultural lessons at which we learn about Chinese scenery, traditions, arts, history and literature. Last week we watched the Beijing opera performance. Librettos for such operas usually feature both tragic and comic elements, interspersed with singing, dancing, and poetic narration, to dramatize historical events and popular legends. However the one we had on the screen is called ‘The Revenge of Prince Zidan’, and it’s not based on a real event, it’s kind of a ‘Hamlet’ remake. Ideally, we all should have been very sad because almost every character was slaughtered (and some of them simply committed suicide) in the end, but, personally, I couldn’t help smiling. I wasn’t exulting. I heard others laughing, too. Talented actors and actresses had been playing their roles in a very fascinating, but ludicrous way: they’d been walking around with a sort of pompous humility and singing at the top of their voices. Before dying one of them, a little short guy with a gloriously full, thick beard, rolled around several times like a pellet – and only then, having straightened it carefully, he died. The main hero, Prince Zidan, impressed his public with brilliant speeches and wonderful gestures. So I liked the performance very much! The only trouble with it was that I could hardly understand what the people had been saying – but that only means I should be more diligent studying the Chinese language I love so much... :(

The last line needs to be either "I should be more diligent IN studying the Chinese language..." or "I should be more DILIGENTLY studying the Chinese language..."  "Diligent" is an adjective, and as such, it  cannot modify the verb form "to be studying"; that requires the adverbial form "diligently".