If you’re lucky enough to be able to afford paying $46.55 on back row, third level seats at the Paramount, grab your Husky Card and hurry downtown to the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular before the tickets sell out.

The performance, featuring drums, costumes and dancing, celebrates a culture that goes back 5,000 years; you can see it today at 7:30 p.m.

Seattle is a stop on this worldwide tour for the first time. Taipei, Berlin and Sydney came first, but the stunning, plum-blossomed backdrops are still appropriate for this month.

Hosts describe the art’s meaning in both Chinese and English, making the themes of beauty, purity and truth accessible to speakers of either language. Those with a Chinese heritage will get a heavy dose of ethnic tradition; everyone else can benefit from the cross-cultural exposure.

Taiwan’s vice president Annette Lu calls it an extension of the cultural wonder and treasure of the most glorious time of the Tang and Han Dynasties.

The act has an all-star cast. Artist and author Yung Yung Tsuai choreographs with lead dancers Vina Lee and Michelle Ren, and Guan Guimin projects tenor tones. In 1991, featured musician Xiaochun Qi won the Performer’s Award at the Spring of Shanghai International Erhu Competition.

The performers, described in promotions as “heavenly beauties descend[ing] to the world with gentle grace,” are costumed in splendid garb are inspired by each ancient dynasty.

Animated backgrounds, which digital designer Jim Chu said are designed seven to eight months before the tour begins, showcase the on-stage action. Warriors hold bamboo weapons, deities perch atop giant lotus flowers, and golden-clad drummers dance under paper lanterns. Solo artists pluck at delicate harp (and heart) strings, men in indigo wave dragon-adorned flags, and there is even a live orchestra.

Before you head down to this night of visual pleasure, you may want to read background on the beliefs and history behind it. You might not have guessed that the blue-green symbolizes vitality, or that the intrinsic is supposed to be subtle.

If you can’t afford to see the show that Life & Style calls “inspirational and exciting” in person, you can still check out a video at bestchineseshows.com.