Peking Opera or Beijing Opera is a traditional Chinese form of theatre which is a hybrid of previous Chinese theatre forms and uses a combination of conventions and forms including singing, music, dancing, acting, mime and acrobatics. The traditional repertoire of Peking or Beijing Opera includes over 1,400 works based around stories from Chinese history, folklore, archetypes and modern forms of this form have embraced contemporary Chinese history, stories and life.
Starting in
the late 18th century, Peking or Beijing Opera reached its zenith
during the 19th century. Peking Opera or
Beijing Opera is one of the national art symbols of China. Beijing Opera has
over 200 years of history and originated from a southern local style of Chinese
Opera called Huiban. Huiban was
extremely popular through out the south of China in the 18th century. Peking
or Beijing Opera is said to have begun in 1790, when the ‘Four Great Anhui
Troupes’ came together to perform at the 80th birthday of Emperor Qianlong.
From this collaboration a new hybrid Chinese performance form was born.
Originally, Peking or Beijing Opera was only staged in court but by the late
1820’s some performances were done in public.
When the
Communist Party of China finally took power in Mainland China in 1949 after the
Chinese Civil War many artistic forms like Peking or Beijing Opera were
associated primarily with the Nationalist and imperialist doctrine and many
pieces were banned or brought in line with Communist ideology and form. During
this period in Mainland China, 8 plays were officially sanctioned including
operas such as ‘The Legend of the Red Lantern’. Many of the operas performed in
Mainland China at this time took on more revolutionary and proletarian ideology
and often the endings were changed to reflect Communist messages and themes.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, the opera form became a political symbol of the Kuomintang
Government’s claims to being the sole representative of authentic China and
Chinese Culture. The political use of Peking Opera in this way was often at the
expense of more indigenous aspects of Taiwanese cultural forms. In British Hong
Kong, Peking Opera was treated as a traditional Chinese form and specific more
traditional forms of the opera were encouraged there during this period.
By the end
of the Cultural Revolution in Mainland China in the late 1970’s, Peking or
Beijing Opera started to make resurgence in its more traditional forms and by
the early 1980’s traditional stories, songs and acrobatic forms started to
dominate performances of Peking or Beijing Opera in Mainland China. However, the archaic forms of language
used in the operas, along with a decline in the skill of performers and
audience numbers coupled with the popularity of television and more modern
entertainment forms, meant that by the late 1980’s, Peking or Beijing Opera
started to become a less popular and less performed theatrical art. The 1990’s
saw a resurgence in the form as it once again hybridized and adopted more
popular forms and regional and foreign techniques and conventions. Troupes like
the Shanghai Peking Opera Company started to perform in large free public
performances. Peking or Beijing Opera dancers performed at the 2008 Beijing
Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony and a Kunqu Chinese Opera (an older form of
Chinese Opera and a precursor to Peking or Beijing Opera) sequence also
appeared in this opening ceremony. Today an entire mainland Chinese television
station is dedicated to broadcasting peking or Beijing Opera - Channel CCTV-11.
Although
Peking or Beijing Opera was initially only performed by males, the female
performers who imitated the male roles eventually developed some popularity in
the late 19th century and in 1894, a sanctioned theatre showcasing
female performers was established in Shanghai. The ban on female performers was
officially lifted in 1912. Today both female and male performers can be seen in
Peking or Beijing Opera.
Peking or
Beijing Opera's two main musical elements have their origins in Han Opera and thus
Han Opera is known as the Mother of Peking Opera. Another well known part of
this performance form is the Xipi which translates as 'Skin Puppet Show' and refers to the
Chinese puppet sections which often appear in Peking or Beijing Opera which
involved sung stories acted out by puppets. Much of the language and dialogue
either sung or spoken in Peking or Beijing Opera is an old form of Mandarin
Chinese which has its origins in Zhongyuan Mandarin. By the late 19th
century, the Anhui troupes acrobatic elements had become a regular part of
performances too as had the simple singing forms which became popular with
everyday Chinese.
There are
four skills which Peking or Beijing Opera performers must master and eventually
perform effortlessly:
-
Song
-
Speech
-
Dance-acting
(including dance and pantomime)
-
Combat
(including acrobatics and fighting)
The form of
singing, speech and movement is stylized and the grace and beauty of each is a
much sort after quality. The movements in particular have symbolic elements and
meanings.
There are
hundreds of different styles of music in Peking or Beijing Opera which can be
divided into two major forms:
-
Xipi (西皮)
-
Erhuang
(二黄)
Characters
and Roles
There are
many roles and characters in Peking and Beijing Opera. Here are the main ones:
-
The
Sheng (生) is the main male role in Peking
opera and it has many subtypes including the laosheng, xiaosheng and wusheng roles. Some laosheng characters are Hongsheng, a
red-faced older male, Guan Gong, the Chinese god of sworn brotherhood (a loyal
character) and Zhao Kuang-yin, the first Song Dynasty emperor. Sometimes these
characters sing in a low voice. Younger male main characters are known as xiaosheng and usually are typified by singing
in a high, shrill voice. On-stage, xiaosheng characters are often involved with
beautiful women. The wusheng are combat or martial arts characters who also do
acrobatics and sing in a more natural voice.
-
The
Dan (旦) is a general name for any female
characters in peking or Beijing Opera. The five subtypes of Dan are laodan (older women), wudan (martial arts and acrobatic women), daomadan
(young female
warriors), gingyi (sophisticated
and elite women) and huadan (vivacious, sometimes forthright and unmarried women). A
modern sixth type called huashan (who is a combines the sophistication of gingyi and the sensuality of huadan) has emerged in recent times.
Sometimes these characters walk with a cai qiao, or "false foot"
technique which imitates the walk of a woman with bound feet.
-
The
Jing (净) is a painted face male role and is
normally forceful and sings in a deeper voice and uses strong exaggerated
actions. There are fifteen major painted face designs used and the colours and
patterns derive from traditional Chinese color symbolism and divination on the
lines of a person's face, which are seen by many Chinese to reveal the nature,
life or personality of a individual. Jing characters often have more of a
physical or acrobatic role in performances.
-
Chou (丑) are male clown roles. Chou means
ugly and often these characters appear as merchants, jailers or in a military
role. These types of characters are the most acrobatic of the peking or Beijing
Opera characters. Chou characters wear special face paint, called xiaohualian, which distinguishes them from Jing
characters because it has a small patch of white around the nose. This
character is often accompanied by drums or a small gong or a cymbal. The
character sometimes has a clapper stick and speaks and sings in local dialect
and often improvises songs.
Training
for Characters
Training
takes years for Peking or Beijing Opera performers. In the past performers were
chosen as six or seven year olds. Training took place in formal Peking Opera
schools where pupils started at 5am with morning exercise, acrobatic and combat
skills. Acrobatic and dance skills were taught from a young age and singing,
gesture and acting were taught at a later age.
Conventions
of Peking or Beijing Opera
Originally,
Peking or Beijing Opera was performed on square platforms exposed to the
audience on three even sides. Eventually a stage with an embroided curtain
called a shoujiu
became standard and performances could be watched from the front or the back of
the stage. Today some performances are watched from one side in a proscenium
arch configuration but this is rarer. Peking or Beijing Opera stages are
normally square and viewed from three sides. Direction and North, South, east
and West are important to the staging of this opera. Most of the audience are
always seated South of the stage, therefore, north is the most important
direction in Peking opera. Although performers enter from the East and exit to
the West, when they move onto the stage they will immediately move to
"center north" upon entering the stage. A table and chairs are the
normal set items although a city wall or a mountain can also appear on stage.
Props and sound effects can be used to indicate other objects, the appearance
of a whip indicates a horse and the appearance of an oar indicates a boat.
In front of
the curtain, a table normally has all the musical instruments used where the
orchestra or Changmian set up in full view of the audience. A performance normally begins with
singing accompanied by dual flutes or Shuangshoudi. Sometimes then huqin or string or fiddle playing is then
heard. The main musical accompaniment used in Peking is done by the drummers
who must be able to accompany singers, actors and acrobatic fighting and
battles. The main drummer or huqin player normally can play in many different styles.
Performers
strive for beauty in every action. They try to synthesize the different skills
of the voice and body. The shapes that the performer forms in the space and on
the floor as important as the gestures and patterns created by hands and the
voice. All actions and movement has a symbolic meaning. For example, a
performer or performers walking in a large circle always symbolizes traveling a
long distance. Peking or Beijing Opera is not naturalistic but based on the
principle of Mo
(which means mime or imitation), but the imitation in Peking or Beijing Opera
is suggestive rather than directly imitative. Every action and gesture aims for
roundness so sharp angles and straight lines are avoided. A character looking
upon an object above them will sweep their eyes in a circular motion from low
to high before landing on the object. This also gives three-dimensional
movement to the characters and actors which derives from the original three
sided and traverse audience configuration. Circular and S-Shaped gestures and
movements are encouraged.
Since sets
and props are kept simple for most Peking and Beijing Opera, costumes and the
colour of costumes is important. Here are some common costume conventions:
-
Emperors
and their families wear yellow robes
-
Court
officials and high-ranking people wear purple (sometimes a dragon appears on
these garments)
-
Middle
to high-rank people or people of virtue wear red
-
Low
ranking officials wear blue
-
Young
characters and lovers wear white
-
Old
wear white, brown, or olive
-
Other
men wear black
Voice and
Song
There are
ways the voice is used or "four levels of song":
-
Songs
with music
-
Verse
recitation
-
Prose
dialogue
-
Non-verbal
or sometimes sound vocalizations
The six
main types of song lyrics used are:
-
Emotive
-
Narrational
-
Condemnatory
-
Descriptive
-
Disputive,
-
Joint
or "Shared space” dialogue or spectacle
Here is a video-clip from a Beijing Opera piece:
Chinese Beijing Opera Exercises and
Activities
Students experiment
with design and technical elements such as symbol, colour and character
appropriate to the style of make-up used in Beijing Opera.
The aim of this
lesson is to develop understandings of the role of colour in determining an
audience’s perception of character. Introduce the Beijing Opera, then explain
that the class is going to explore how colour is used in face painting.
Give students make-up
designs of two Beijing Opera characters and ask them to colour in the faces.
Ask students to write a brief analysis of each character based on their
existing understanding of colour associations. Students can even do a
performance using a Peking Opera story and cut out the masks they have created
and act with them, Students can also do these designs as face makeup.
Here is a link to
different Peking or Beijing Opera face and mask designs:
Stage Fighting is an interesting part of
Peking and Beijing Opera. Students love to practice this. Normally the
performers move around one another and do not actually touch or have the sticks
actually touch. Students can practice moving around one another with bamboo
sticks or long cardboard rolls without actually touching one another. Sometimes
sticks are thrown and whole routines are based on this. Watch the following
video and have students develop their own stick throwing or stick fighting
sequences.
Resources
"Ancient Chinese General In Beijing Opera
Costume" Royalty Free Photos, Stock Photos, Photography and Royalty
Free Images at Imagine. Web. 29 Aug. 2011.
"Beijing Opera - Peking Opera." Meiguoxing.com
- Your Beijing Travel Guide. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. http://www.meiguoxing.com/BeijingOpera/BeijingOpera.html
"China ABC" China Radio
International. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. http://thai.cri.cnchinaabc/chapter19/chapter190103.htm
A great website to read about Peking Opera and to download peking Opera from.
http://operabeijing.com/
Dynasty Warriors 5. Omega Force. 5 Oct. 2011. Koei. Playstation 2. V 5.0. English
http://operabeijing.com/
Dynasty Warriors 5. Omega Force. 5 Oct. 2011. Koei. Playstation 2. V 5.0. English
Plot or synopses of famous Peking or Beijing
Operas
"Red Full Face - Guan Yu." Paul and
Bernice Noll Website. Web. 29 Aug. 2011.
Beijing
Drama Units at:
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