Opera, the quintessence
of Chinese culture, began to be formed on the basis of the Hui Opera
from Anhui and Han Opera from Hubei. 300 years ago in the reign
of Emperor Kangxi, Geyang and Kun melodies were prevailed in the
area of Beijing. During Emperor Qianlong’s reign, Qin Opera came
to Beijing. In 1781, a Hui Opera Troup headed by a famous actor
came to Beijing to perform for the Emperor. Later the Hui Opera
developed in Beijing and absorbed essence from other operas. In
the middle of 19th century, Han Opera came to Beijing, The Hui Opera
and Han Opera often performed together, they learned from each other.
Later Peking Opera came into being on the basic melody of Erhuang
of Hui Opera and Xipi melody of Han Opera and combining Beijing
Features of playing
The art of Peking Opera is a kind of composite one consisting of
literature, music, dance, fine arts, martial arts and acrobatics.
Its performance art and artistic forms have four distinctive features,
namely every action in a play is stylized, symbolic, rhythmical
and exaggerated. To be stylized means put singing, narration, action
and wrestling into a given form according to different roles. To
be symbolic means to use props to symbol real things or to use gestures
to symbol actions in reality. To be rhythmical means every action
done in rhythm. To be exaggerated means the actions and expressions
performed are exaggerated.
The Peking Opera has special tunes. To keep the peace with the changing
emotions of actors and plots the tunes must be changed accordingly.
So from the music tunes the audience can have a better understanding
of the opera. The tunes crate the atmosphere necessary for the unfolding
of the plot.
Types of roles in Peking Opera
The roles in Peking Opera are classified into the following types:
Sheng (male roles), Dan (female role), Jing (painted- face) and
Sheng is divided into Laosheng and Xiaosheng. Laosheng, namely,
handsome middle aged and old aged male roles who wear beards and
whose faces are not painted. A laosheng must be good at acting,
singing and often plays the role of court official, scholar or man
of gentility. Xiaosheng, namely, is a handsome young gentleman,
scholar or warrior’s role. Dan can be divided into Qinyi, Huadan
and Wudan. Qinyi is a role of beautiful young or middle-aged role.
She is good at dancing, singing and recitation. Huadan is the role
of lovely young lady with beautiful movement. Wudan plays the role
of swordswoman or fairy with good martial skills. Laodan is the
role of elder lady good at sings with natural voice. Jing is a role
with painted face to show vivid expression and characteristics.
He always plays the role of ministers, officers, the emperor, prince
and he is good at singing, martial arts or narrations. Chou, clown,
is easily recognized by the nose which is painted powder-white.
Chou is good at singing, spoken art and martial skills.
The facial makeup of Peking Opera is in accord with its performing
style. Different techniques are used to apply paint to actor’s
face and eyebrows, thus indicating the age, sex and personality
of the character. The headdress, costume and boots indicate a character’s
status. The painted face should be in bright colors with different
lines to express the personality and its inner world. The colors
usually used include red, pink, black, purple, gray, blue, green,
yellow, white, etc. Generally, red indicates the character is loyal,
courageous and upright. Black indicates a firm and frank nature.
White indicates treacherous. Purple symbolizes being steady and
cautious. Yellow indicates being efficient or fierce. Blue means
boldness. Green means stubborn and cruel. Pink means kind. Characters
of ghosts, monsters and immortals often have their faces painted
with gold and silver colors.
The costumes are divided into five groups: Mang (ceremonial robe),
Kao (armor), Zhe (lined coat), Pei (robe), Yi (coat). The colors
of the costumes are divided into the upper five colors: (red, green,
yellow, white and black) and the lower five colors: (purple, pink,
blue, light green and deep red). The costumes are in different colors
and designs according to the different social status of the characters.
For instance, the royal family members wear ceremonial robes or
lined coats embroidered with dragon and phoenix. The court officials
and ministers wear ceremonial robes and official robes embroidered
with crane and peacock. The generals wear ceremonial robe and armor
robe embroidered with unicorn, tiger and leopard. The gentries wear
lined coats and robes embroidered with birds and flowers. The ordinary
people lined coats, robe and coat without embroideries.
Helmets and headgears
The helmets and headgears worn in Peking Opera are in keeping the
status and age of the characters and their costumes.
The helmets worn by male characters include the tiger head helmet,
the lion helmet, the lotus leaf helmet and tassel helmet, etc. The
female characters were seven-star helmet and butterfly helmet, etc.
Crowns include flat crown, nine-dragon crown, phoenix crown, jade
crown and marten crown, etc. There are kerchiefs for various characters
such as official, scholar, student and military officer. Hats are
divided into soft hat and military hat.
Elaborately made headgear of various styles such as Datou, ancient
style and Manchu style would be worn by female.
Pheasant plumes and foxtails are worn with the costume to indicate
the characters’ age and personality.
Peking Opera Ensemble
It consists of eight to ten people playing Chinese wind, stringed
and percussion instruments. Such techniques as blowing, hitting,
pulling and flicking, are used in playing. It has two sub-groups,
one is for playing with non-fighting scenes and the other is for
the fighting scene. For playing non-fighting scenes, the instruments
used include Jinghu (Beijing fiddle),jingerhu (the second Beijing
fiddle), Sanxian (three-stringed guitar) Yueqin (moon mandolin),
bamboo flute, Suona (Chinese clarinet), Haidi (flute), and Sheng
(reed organ), etc. For playing with the fighting scenes, the percussion
instruments are used, which include drums, gongs, cymbal, etc.
The ensemble both provides vocal accompaniment and plays melodies
on its own so as to harmonize singing, recitation, actions, martial
skills and dancing. That gives effect to express emotions, cooperated
actions taking place on the stage, and leads to the unfolding plot.
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