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Beijing Opera

Known as China's national opera, Beijing Opera originated in the late 18th. Century. It combines many art forms. It has nothing in common with the opera of the West.

Beijing Opera dates back to 1790 when four opera groups from Anhui Province performed on tour in Beijing by the order of the emperor. The tour was a hit and the four opera groups stayed. The artists combined techniques from operas of other places, and created their own highly unique music and performing techniques.

Beijing Opera is the opera of the masses. It is characterized by its combination of singing, dialogue, acrobatics, kungfu and pantomime. Actors wear attractive costumes and the performance is accompanied by loud rhythms produced with traditional musical instruments. The themes of Beijing Opera are usually disasters, love stories, and life in the royal palace.Many have their source in fairy tales and stories in history, such as The Monkey King. White Snake and Women. Generals of the Yang Family.

In Beijing Opera there are four types of roles: the sheng, dan, jing and chou. Sheng are the leading male actors who portray scholars, officials, warriors, etc. Sheng can be divided into three categories: the old, the young and the kungfu experts.

Dan, or female roles, include the young, the middle-aged, and old women. Traditionally, female roles were played by male actors.

Jing are the painted-faced roles, and they represent warriors,heroes, statesmen and bad men. The painted faces are symbolic and exaggerated, and are used to represent a character's personality.For example,a loyal and courageous character would have a red face, and a wise and brave one would have a purple face.

Chou are basically the clowns (marked by a small square-shaped white color on their noses). They are sometimes positive, kind-hearted and humorous, but at other times negative, bad or silly.

Symbolism is very important in Opera. Very few props are used on stage, so the actors must rely on the use of their hand and body movements to convey messages. Each movement, gesture or facial expression is symbolic. A whip indicates riding a horse. Lifting a foot means going through a doorway. Walking in a circle around the stage indicates a long journey.

Over the past 200 years, many schools and famous performers have emerged. Famous make actors include Tan Xinpei, Yang Xiaolou and Zhou Xinfang. The most famous actors of female roles are MeiLanfang and Shang Xiaoyun.

Beijing Opera is an important part of the Chinese culture and has become an elegant art form as a result of the hard work of hundreds of artists over the past two centuries.