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Peking
Opera
 Peking Opera is a purely Chinese opera form
with a history dating back to 1790. That year, four local opera troupes of Anhui Province
came to Beijing on a performance tour by order of the imperial court.The tour was a hit
and the troupes stayed. The artists absorbed the tunes of the local Hubei opera and drew
on the best of Kun Qu, Qin Qiang, Bang Zi and other local operas.
Many Peking Opera roles require painted faces. The different colors of
the faces represent different characters and personalities.Yellow and white represent
cunning, red stands for uprightness and loyalty, black means valor and wisdom, blue and
green indicate the vigorous and enterprising character of rebellious heroes and gold and
silver represent mystic or super-natural power.
 Sheng, dan, jing, chou are
just a few of the terms for different types of roles. sheng is the positive male role, dan
is the positive female role, jing is a supporting male role with striking character and
chou is the clown. Every type has its tell tale facial makeup and decoration. Other jargon
includes: piao you meaning Peking opera fans, piao fang, the place where fans meet to
amuse themselves and xia hai, which means turning professional. When you come across a
small group of Peking Opera fans singing on a street corner, that corner can be considered
a street piao fang. There is no lack of social celebrities among Peking Opera fans.
Emperor Guang Xu of the Qing Dynasty, for example, was not only a good amateur Peking
Opera singer, but also a good drummer in the Peking Opera orchestra (the drummer plays the
role of orchestra director). The Empress Dowager was an avid Peking Opera fan, too. The
huge three -story theater in the Summer Place is proof if her love for the art.
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