Back to Homepage Switch to 6th Grade

Beijing Opera

Navigation
Background Information
Lesson Plans
Helpful Links
Other Resources

Back Back to Homepage 		Introduction
This strand introduces a fascinating and unique Chinese art form—Beijing Opera. Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents to the audience an encyclopedia of Chinese culture, including wonderful stories, beautiful paintings, exquisite costumes, graceful gestures, and acrobatic fighting.

Background Information about Beijing (Peking) Opera

Among the hundreds of forms of opera throughout China, Beijing Opera exerts the greatest influence, and is therefore regarded as a national art form. The accompanying music, singing and costumes are all fascinating and artistic. Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents to the audience an encyclopedia of Chinese culture as well as unfolding stories, beautiful paintings, exquisite costumes, graceful gestures and acrobatic fighting. Since it enjoys a higher reputation than other local operas, almost every province of China has more than one Beijing Opera troupe. This kind of opera is so popular among the Chinese, especially seniors, that a Beijing Opera Month has been declared.

  1. History
  2. Components
  3. Band
  4. Singing and Dialogue
  5. Roles
  6. Facial Painting (Masks)
  7. Symbolism
  8. Costume

History

Beijing opera has a history of over 200 years. The main melodies originated from Xipi and Erhuang, in Anhui and Hubei, respectively, and over time techniques from many other local operas were incorporated.

It is generally accepted that Beijing opera gradually came into being after 1790, when the famous four Anhui opera troupes came to Beijing. Beijing opera underwent fast development during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi under the imperial patron, and eventually became more accessible to the common people.

Components

In ancient times, Beijing Opera was performed mostly on open-air stages in markets, streets, teahouses, or temple courtyards. The orchestra had to play loudly and the performers had to develop a piercing style of singing, in order to be heard over the crowds. The costumes were a garish collection of sharply contrasting colors because the stages were dim and lit only by oil lamps. It is a harmonious combination of Grand Opera, Ballet and acrobatic display, consisting of Dancing, dialogue, monologue, acrobatic combat and mime. Hence an actor or actress in Beijing Opera has to meet more requirements than that in other forms of performing art. He or she has to be a performing artist, a singer, and a dancer at the same time. It usually takes the student more than ten years of training to learn singing and acrobatic skills. Thus, it is difficult to be a qualified performer in Beijing Opera.

Band

The Beijing opera band mainly consists of orchestra band and percussion band. The former frequently accompanies peaceful scenes while the later often follows scenes of war and fighting. The commonly used percussion instruments include castanets, drums, bells and cymbals. One person usually plays the castanets and the drum simultaneously, and is the conductor of the whole band. The orchestral instruments are mainly the Jinghu, the Erhu, the Huqin, the Yueqin, the Sheng (reed pipe), the Suona, the Pipa (lute), and other instruments. The band usually sits stage-left.

Singing and Dialogue

Singing in Beijing Opera consists of a score of melodies based on Xipi and sorrowful feelings. Spoken dialogue is done in two forms: Yuebai, which sounds like the Hubei and Anhui dialects, and Jingbai, which sounds like the Beijing dialect. The former is used by main and serious characters and the latter for minor and frivolous roles.

Roles

There are four main roles in Beijing Opera: Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou.

Sheng are the leading male actors and are divided into LaoSheng, who wear beards and represent old men; XiaoSheng, who represent young men; WuSheng, who are acrobats who play military men and fighters; and WawaSheng, who play kids. These roles usually wear no facial paintings. HongSheng, another category of Sheng, whose face is painted red, mainly plays Guanyu (Chinese Ares) and Zhao Kuangyin (the founder of the Song Dynasty).

Dan are the female roles. Formerly, the term meant “female impersonator.” It is divided into many categories: LaoDan, the old ladies; and CaiDan. the female comedians. WuDan usually play military or nonmilitary women capable of martial arts. The most important category, Qingyi, usually play respectable and decent ladies in elegant costumes. HuaDan are lively and clever young girls, usually in short costumes.

Jing, who are most often male, are the face-painted roles representing warriors, heroes, statesmen, adventurers, and demons. Jing is generally categorized into Zhengjing, Fujing, and Wujing.

Chou refers to clowns, who are distinguished by a white patch on the nose. Usually, white patches of varying shapes and sizes are used to further distinguish roles of different character. These clowns are definitely not rascals, and most of the time they play roles of wit, alertness, and humor. It is these characters who keep the audience laughing, and improvise quips at the right moments to ease tension in some serious plays.

Facial Painting (Masks)

It is said that this special art derived from the Chinese opera has different origins. But no matter what its origin is, the facial painting is worth appreciating for its artistic value. The paintings are representations of the roles of the characters. For example, a red face usually depicts the role's bravery, uprightness and loyalty; a white face symbolizes a sinister role's treachery and guile; a green face describes surly stubbornness, impetuosity, and lack of self-restraint. In addition, the pattern of the facial painting is significant. In a word, the unique makeup in the opera allows the characters on the stage to reveal themselves voicelessly. In Beijing Opera, over one thousand painted facial patterns are used. Each pattern makes subtle and interesting changes to the standard facial pattern.

Symbolism

Symbolism prevails in Beijing Opera. The stage of Beijing Opera knows no limit in space or time. It can be the setting for any action. The performer's acting is mostly pantomime. Footwork, gestures, and various kinds of body movements can portray and symbolize the actions of opening a door, climbing a hill, going upstairs, or rowing a boat. When a girl is doing needle work, she has neither a needle nor thread in her hands. When a lady is riding in a carriage, the performer actually has to walk flanked on each side by a flag with colored tassels represents riding a horse. Four generals and four soldiers represent an army of thousands. Therefore, each action of a performer of Beijing Opera is highly symbolic.

Costumes, make-up, and stage properties identify the character and his or her role in the opera. Yet another, and subtle, component in an actor's repertoire is the stylized gesture, used to express particular sentiments. There are hundreds of symbolic gestures using the sleeves, hands, fingers, feet, and legs. For the opera connoisseur it is the execution of these movements that mark the distinction of greatness for the actor. For example, when an actor flings the two sleeves in one direction while facing the other, this symbolizes making a decision or anger.

Even the stage on which the performance takes place is not a major concern; the props are very basic and usually include a table(s), chair(s), and curtain(s), which symbolically represent a mountain, throne, and well, respectively. Imagination is what holds the show together and keeps viewers intrigued.

Costume

The costumes in Beijing Opera impress the audience with their bright colors and magnificent embroidery. Some of the costumes used in the present performances have a resemblance to the fashion of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The use of colors indicate different social status: yellow for the imperial family, red for high nobility, red or blue for upright men, white for old officials, and black for each role. A student usually wears a blue gown, a general wears padded armor, and an emperor wears a dragon robe. Besides gorgeous clothes and headdresses, jewelry girdles for men and hair ornaments for women are also used in Beijing Opera.

Lesson Plans

Title Standard met in curriculum / Concepts and themes
Mirrors of the Soul: Beijing Opera

This lesson develops understanding of the role of color in determining an audience's perception of character. Students will experiment painting a Beijing Opera mask.

http://www.curriculum.edu.au/accessasia/catalog/mirrors.htm 		Language Arts
  • Read and Listen to collect, analyze, and interpret data, facts and ideas.
Social Studies
  • Cultures and Civilizations: People in world communities use legends, folktales, oral histories to transmit values, ideas, beliefs and traditions.
Symbolism in Beijing Opera

View the lesson plan

 Language Arts
  • Read and Listen to collect, analyze, and interpret data, facts and ideas.
Social Studies
  • Cultures and Civilizations: People in world communities use legends, folktales, oral histories to transmit values, ideas, beliefs and traditions.

Helpful Links

Other Resources

Resources available at Cornell Library