Chinese opera is one of the oldest dramatic art forms in the world. Though there are some historical references to opera dating as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period, it was during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) that Chinese opera took on a more organized form under Emperor Xuanzong. He founded the first opera troupe in China, known as the Pear Garden. It was created mainly for his enjoyment and opera professionals are still known as "Disciples of the Pear Garden” today.
During the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), Chinese opera was encouraged by emperors and court officials and became a traditional art form. One form of opera that came out of the Yuan Dynasty was the Zaju or variety plays. This form of opera involved rhyming schemes and created special roles that became prevalent in many future operas. The main roles included: Dan (female), Sheng (male), Jing (painted-face), and Chou (clown). Currently, there are over 300 forms of Chinese opera. Of these, the Beijing opera is the most well-known.
Beijing Opera
The origin of the Beijing opera (or Peking opera) can be dated back to 1790. Four opera troupes from the Anhui Province came to Beijing to perform and eventually merged with some troupes from Hubei. It is generally thought that the Beijing opera was fully formed by 1845. Beijing opera incorporates singing, dialogue, dancing, and
martial arts to create dramatic art that is an infusion of
music, performance,
literature, and face-painting.
Females were prohibited from performing on-stage during the early years due to a ban that was put in place in 1772. Females began performing on-stage during the 1870’s, but the ban wasn’t officially lifted until 1912.
Opera performers begin training at a very young age. Prior to the 20th century, students were handpicked to become performers and studied long hours at the hands of the teachers. The students became indebted to the masters and had to repay them through their performances. After 1911, training took place in more organized schools. Training was very arduous and the entire group of students would be beaten if one made a mistake during a performance. Students were taught singing, acrobatics, and gestures.
There are four main roles in Beijing opera: Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou. The Sheng is the main male role. He can be young or old, noble or common. The Dan is the main female role and was originally divided into five types: old, martial, young warriors, virtuous and elite, and vivacious and unmarried. The Jing is a male with a painted face. It involves a very forceful character involved heavily with either singing, physical performances, or martial arts. The Chou is a male clown. It is often the secondary role, but can be very demanding because of the combination of comic acting, acrobatics, and strong voice.
The music in a Beijing opera is most often comprised of traditional melodic and percussion instruments. The lead instrument is the jinghu, a small high pitched two string spike fiddle. The other melodic instrument is the yueqin, a plucked lute. Percussion includes the daluo, xiaoluo, and naobo.
Beijing opera includes a repertoire of over 1,300 plays. Most come from historical novels or traditional stories about civil, political, and military problems. Most plays can be broken down into civil and martial types. Civil plays focus more on relationships between people, romance, and domestic situations. Martial plays contain a lot of action and combat.
Like in many areas of Chinese culture, color plays an important part in opera performances. Beijing opera performers will paint their faces to portray a character and each color signifies a different personality trait. Some common colors include red (devotion, bravery), black (roughness, fierceness), white (sinister, crafty), and yellow (ambition, cool-headed).
Beijing opera has spread to many other countries throughout the world. It can be found in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan, as well as the United States.
