Peking Opera News Letter

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Introducing Paking Opera 



The Chinese Peking Opera

the world of Chinese opera is a world of magical enchantment. It is trully
uniqut in the sense that  it has no like or equal. Everything about this
form of classical Chinese drama is distinctive:the music, which sounds bizarre
to the Western ear, the stylized acting that takes years to master; the elaborate
make-up;the gorgeously embroidered costumes;the simple stage properties;
and the use of the falsetto, and artificially high-pitched voice, in
nmuch of the dialogue and song.

Chinese opera dates from the reign of the Song4 Dynasty Emperor
Zhen1-Zong1 who  ruled China from 977 AD to 1200. Its origins are
attributged to the songs and dances that accompanied festivals of
professionals who used to entertain the customers of tea houses.
Chinese opera is thus about 600 years older that Western opera.

In recent times many extra-long Chinese operas have been abbreviated,
but the essentials have been preserved. Chinese opera is among the arts
flourishing today in the Republic of China's island province of
Taiwan, particularly since the Cultural Renaissance Movement launched
in 1966.

The Stories

The plots are drawn from popular novels, historical events, folklore
and mythology. They are essentially unaccomplicated and easy to follow.
The theatre goer is assisted by the players who address the audience
directly. They identify themselves and recite particulars that make it
simply for the audience to follow or anticipate the action. Most theatre
goers are familiar with the plots and enjoy seeing their favorite operas
time and again. They derive special pleasure in noting how
different players portray the same parts.

The themes of the stories fall under two braod divisions,
military and civil, with most of the characters sharply defined
either as good or bad. Righteousness usually triumphs whether
in ordinary life or on the battlefield.

Main Characters
There are hour types of roles. The sheng, which literally means
a learned man, is the male lead. Sheng characters are usually very
dignified men, they either have a high social status, or they deserve to
have one. They are respected people, such as scholars atatesmen,
varriors, and men of a high moral standard.

The second main role types is the Dan4, or female lead. This role
type is further divided into two groups:the elderly women and
women in their prime or in their teens. The latter category can
still further be divided into two sub-types,namely, Qing1yi1
or blue-dress, and Hua1dan4, or flower Dan4.

The third tole type is the Jing4, or the painted-face role type.
(The word Jing4 means to clean or to wash. Actors who play this role
type must thoroughly wash their faces before painting them.)
Characters with painted faces are men of great physical,mental or
superntural ability. The most striking features of this role type
are in its voice and its makeup. The voice must bear a booming and
thundering quality and the entire face must be painted in a design
developed specifically for the character. The familiar characters
are usually immediately recognizable to the audience.

The last role type is th+ Chou3, which loosely translated, means
clown or jester. Although they often play humorous and funny characters,
they may also play villains and men whodo not command much
dignity and respect. One might say the Chou3 is the opposite
to the Sheng as it implies a relatively low social or moral
statures. These men also have their faces painted, but to
a much lesser degree, with the design only covering the
middle of the face. This is why they are also called the samll
painted faces (xiao3 hua1 lian3), as  opposed to the large painted
faces (da4  hua1 lian3) of the Jing4. The most interesting feature of
this role type is its license to imporvise and to add lib.
The Chou3 charcters can even make a commentary about the
other characters or about the situation to the audience. They
serve as a direct link between the characters and the audience.
Amother departure from the other role types is the rather
flesible use of thisrole type to play both men and women.
The gender of the character is not as relevant to this particular
style of acting as the implied social or moral stature.
Each type is subdivided into several groups. Role types are
often determined according to the talents, voice range, and
personality of the actors who may only be playing one specific
role type for the entire period of his/her career. However,
many versatile actors learn to do more than one type. This
was especially common during the old days when frequent
touring of a troupe allowed only a smaller number of players
to carry on the shows.

Costumes

Customes indicate the general character of the persons portrayed,
their rank and status and ven weather they are rich or poor. The
costumes used in Chinese opera are based on those worn during
the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and succeeding dynasties. But
exaggerations in style have been made for greater theatrical
effect.

Different colours indicate the rank and status as well as the
character of the wearer, for instance, good persons of high
rank wear green, the Emperor yellow, very old or very young,
while Black for women denotes virtue and modesty under deverse
conditions. Dark crimson is worn by usurpers to a thorne, barbarian
generals or military advisers. White can denote an evil and manipulative
character. Silver and gold are used exclusively by supernatural
characters.

The costumes range from silks and satins, richly embroidered and
ornamented, to cotton used for lesser characters such as clowns.

Headgear, both for males and females, is widely varied and like the
costumes, denotes the rank and status of the persons portrayed. Some
of the headdresses are extremely elaborate and are decorated with
all sorts of accessors. Generally speaking, the more important the
character, the more elaborate the headgear. For instance, barbarian
emperors and generals have their headware adorned with long, sweeping
plumes and white foxtails. With exceptions, such as young scholars
or lovers, the male players wear beards, of which there are 18 kinds.
Each kind has its own meaning. A waist-long beard denotes an aged
person, a three-strand beard a scholar, a red beard a fierce person,
a purple beard a famous general, and so forth. No attempts is made in
the wearing of beards to simulate reality. The beards are made of hair
tired to a clearly visible wire frame that rests over the ears.

The strict traditions of Chinese opera also apply to the footwear of the
persons protrayed. The many different kinds include wooden shoes
intended to simulate the footwear of women with golden lilies -- a
euphemism for bound feet.