3. Peking Opera or Beijing Opera
✘ combines music, vocal performance, pantomime, dance,
and acrobatics.
✘ It started in the late 18th century and became fully
developed and recognized by the mid-19th century.
✘ Qing Dynasty court it became extremely popular and
came to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of
China.
4.
5. Roles and Characters:
✘ 1. Sheng- is the main male role in Peking opera
✘ a. Xiaosheng actors are often involved with beautiful
women by virtue of the handsome and young image
they project.
✘ b. Wusheng is a martial character for roles involving
combat. They are highly trained in acrobatics, and
have a natural voice when singing.
✘ c. Laosheng is a dignified older role, these characters
have a gentle and cultivated disposition, and wear
sensible costumes.
6. Roles and Characters:
✘ 2. Dan - refers to any female role in Peking
opera
✘ a. Laodan- old woman
✘ b. Wudan- martial woman
✘ c. Daomadan are young female warriors
✘ d. Qingyi are virtuous and elite women
✘ e. Huadan are vivacious and unmarried
women
7. Roles and Characters:
✘ 3. Jing is a painted face
male role who plays either
primary or secondary roles.
9. Peking-opera performers utilize four main skills.
✘ 1. Song
✘ 2. Speech
✘ 3. Dance-acting - This includes pure
dance, pantomime, and all other types
of dance.
✘ 4. Combat - includes both acrobatics
and fighting with all manner of
weaponry.
10. The meaning of colors in Peking Opera
Masks/Make-ups
✘ Red - devotion, courage, bravery, uprightness and loyalty.
✘ Black - roughness and fierceness
✘ Yellow - fierceness, ambition and cool-headedness
✘ Purple - uprightness, sophistication and cool-headedness
✘ Reddish purple - just and noble character
✘ Blue - loyalty, fierceness and sharpness
11. The meaning of colors in Peking Opera
Masks/Make-ups
✘ White - dangerousness, suspiciousness and craftiness.
Commonly seen on the stage is the white face for the powerful
villain
✘ Green - impulsive and violent and stubbornness
✘ Xiaohualian (the petty painted face) is a small patch of chalk on
and around
✘ the nose.
12. ✘ Aesthetic Aims and Principles of Movement:
✘ The highest aim of performers in Peking Opera is to
put beauty into every motion.
✘ The art form, gestures, settings, music, and character
types are determined by long held conventions
13. ✘ Conventions of movement
✘ -Walking in a large circle always symbolizes traveling a long distance
✘ - Character straightening his or her costume and headdress symbolizes that an
important character is about to speak
✘ -Pantomimic opening and closing of doors and mounting and descending of stairs
✘ Stages:
✘ 1.square platforms, the action on stage is usually visible from at least three sides
✘ 2. stages were built above the line of sight of the viewers, but some modern stages
✘ 3.have been constructed with higher audience seating divided into two parts by an
embroidered curtain called a shoujiu.
14. Costume: Xingtou
✘ 1. popularly known as Xifu in Chinese
✘ 2. origins of Peking Opera costumes can be traced back to the mid-14th
century
✘ 3. enable the audience to distinguish a character's sex and status at first
glance if noble or humble, civilian or military, officials or private citizens
✘ 4. give expression to sharp distinctions between good and evil or loyal
and wicked characters
✘ 5. oblong wings (chizi) attached to a gauze hat indicate a loyal official.
✘ 6. In contrast, a corrupt official is made to wear a gauze hat with
rhomboidal wing
15.
16. Props:
✘ 1. utilizes very few props
✘ 2. will almost always have a table
and at least one chair, which can
be turned through convention into
such diverse objects as a city wall,
a mountain, or a bed
✘ 3.a whip is used to indicate a horse
and an oar symbolizes a boat
17. ✘ Musicians:
✘ are visible to the audience on the
front part of the stage
✘ Viewers:
✘ always seated south of the stage,
therefore, north is the most
important direction
✘ Performers:
✘ immediately move to center north
upon entering the stage. All
characters enter from the east and
exit from the west
