1、Beijing Opera,Contents,1. An Overview2. The History of Beijing Opera;3. The technical term of Characters in Chinese Opera ;4. The Symbolic Meanings of Colors of Painted Faces in Beijing Opera;5. The Status and Devel

2、opment of Beijing Opera.,1. An Overview Beijing opera or Peking opera (simplified Chinese: 京劇; traditional Chinese: 京劇; pinyin: Jīngjù) is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performan

3、ce, mime, dance and acrobatics.Beijing Opera (or Peking Opera) is a form of traditional Chinese theatre and has existed for over 200 years. It is regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. It is known as one of

4、 the three main theatrical systems in the world.,,2. The History of Beijing Opera Although it is called Beijing Opera, its origins are not in Beijing but in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Hubei. During the reign of

5、 the Qianlong emperor in the Qing dynasty, Qianlong had a interest in the local opera. In 1790, to celebrate his eightieth birthday, he summoned opera troupes (戲班)from different places to perform for him in Beijing.,,Fou

6、r famous troupes from Anhui province remained in Beijing after the celebration. In 1828, A Hubei troupe came to Beijing and often performed together with the Anhui troupes. The two types of singing mixed together and gra

7、dually a new type came into being known as Beijing Opera.,,Beijing Opera is the national standard, and has a higher reputation than any other branches of Chinese Opera. Beijing and Tianjin are respected as the key base c

8、ities in the north while Shanghai is the base in the south.,3. The technical term of Characters in Chinese Opera Hang Dang (行當)Four major types of Hang Dang (行當)Sheng (生) Hang Dang Tan (旦) Hang DangChing (淨) Hang Da

9、ngChou (丑) Hang Dang,Hang Dang (行當),Hang Dang is a very special system and arrangement of Characters in Chinese opera. According to different personas in the opera, at first, actors and actresses have to found on those

10、personas’ genders, characteristics, status and etc. then emphasize on the different kinds of make up, costume, and performances; therefore, people categorize those different types of personas with the performers into the

11、 system of Hang Dang (行 當).,Four major types of Hang Dang,Hang Dang (行當) can be divided into four major types, which are sheng (生), tan(旦), ching(淨) and chou(丑), moreover, we used to have another type of Hang Dang called

12、 Mo (末), however, gradually, the Mo (末) becomes a part of the sheng (生); as a result, we only have four types of Hang Dang today. Theoretically, performers of either gender could portray any of these Hang Dang (行當) roles

13、 in opera.,Sheng (生) Hang Dang (行當),The Sheng is basically a pure male role, especially in Peking opera, besides ching(淨) and chou(丑), the rest of the male personas would be all categorized into the Sheng Hang Dang. Acc

14、ording to the age, characteristic, appearance and images, we can basically divide Sheng into the types of maturity, youth, and militant or martial art.,The Sheng of mature, Lao Sheng .,The Sheng of mature, Lao Sheng, oft

15、en performed as an aging man or a middle-age man with beards.,The Sheng of youth, Hsiao Sheng .,Hsiao Sheng is usually a young scholar or a lover Hsiao Sheng often has the kind of handsome make up without any beards. T

16、hey would use a high-pitch voice to sing but a combination of high-pitch and low-pitch voice for speaking.,The Sheng of martial art and militant, Wu Sheng .,Wu Sheng is about the militant or martial males are skilled in

17、the art of kung fu. They would use loud and masculine voice to sing and speak.,Tan Hang Dang,Tan is about the pure female roles, like Sheng, for most of the time, Dan is also the main female role in the opera.,旦,Tan,Acc

18、ording to their age, characteristic, and appearance, we would have the types of Lao Tan (老旦), Ching I (青衣), Hua Dan (花旦), Hua Shan (花衫), Wu Tan (武旦), Tao Ma Tan(刀馬旦), and Tsai Tan(彩旦), and only the Loa Tan would use low-

19、 pitch voice, and the rest of them would use a high-pitch voice for singing and speaking.,Lao Tan (老旦),Lao Tan is a role of an aging woman, and performers would use the low-pitch voice for representing the aging body con

20、dition.,Ching I (青衣),Ching I is a role of the kind of faithful and moral women, especially a faithful wife, lover, or maiden in distress.,Hua Tan (花旦),Hua Tan is a role of a very lively energetic young woman, or a young

21、female flirt. Sometimes, a Hua Tan could be in a low social status, but with a comic character.,Hua Shan (花衫),Hua Shan is a role that created by an opera master Mr.梅 蘭 芳. Hua Shan is a combination of Ching I and Hua Tan

22、.,Wu Tan (武旦),Wu Tan is a female martial or acrobatic fighter, and most of them are in a young age.,Tao Ma Tan (刀馬旦),Tao Ma Tan is a female heroic warrior. They would wear the conventional costume of a female military o

23、fficer; plus, a halberd or a long weapon in hands and sometime riding on a horse.,Tsai Tan (彩旦),Tsai Tan is a comic female role. They could be hilarious, ridiculous, and bad looking at the same time. Tsai Tan is also i

24、n parallel with the clown role of Chou in the opera.,Ching Hang Dang (花臉),Ching(painted face) symbolizes anyone belonging to rough crowd and can be either good or evil.The acting style of ching will focus on loud v

25、oice and exaggerated movements.Ching can be subdivided into cheng ching, wu ching and fu ching.,淨,Cheng Ching 正淨(大花臉),Cheng ching is a primarily painted-face role who emphasizes on singing and also named as “唱功花臉.” Ch

26、eng ching usually plays roles of higher social status, sophisticated manner or justice.,Typical model of Cheng Ching,銅錘花臉—徐延昭,Fu Ching 副淨 (二花臉),Fu (assistant) ching, emphasizes acting and posturing on stage and called”架

27、子花臉” as well. Fu ching often plays the role of brave and generous personality or masculine manner, like Zhang Fei.,Wu Ching 武淨 (武二花),Wu (martial-art) ching, a fighting and gymnastic role, who also called “摔打花臉”usuall

28、y plays an assistant role to the main martial-arts player.Wu ching’s acting mainly focuses on fighting instead of singing or speaking.,Chou Hang Dang (小花臉),The clown roles, chou, include both male and female character

29、s who play roles from different kinds of social status and also their language is colloquial and easily understood.The clown characters are easy to distinguish by a white "triangle" or “square” painted on the

30、middle of the face.They are also free to make spontaneous remarks, to satirize other characters, or merely to bring out laughter.,丑,Wen Chou 文丑,Wen chou who is funny and does not perform much martial-art. Wen chou

31、could be subdivided into several types according to the status, age and characteristics.Wen chou mostly represents the common people and can be either good or evil.,Wu Chou 武丑,Wu chou,an acrobatic expert in martial

32、 arts, is cleaver and energetic; furthermore, can be either good or evil .Wu chou mostly belongs to “江湖人物” who could be the model of justice and help the weakness or the negative character in the gangsters.Wu chou will

33、 use lots of movements whey they are speaking for showing their characteristic as active and full of vitality; therefore, wu chou also named “開口跳 ”.,4. The Symbolic Meaning of Colors on Panited Faces,Various personality

34、traits are presented by different colors:Red stands for an honest, loyal, righteous, straightforward, and trustworthy character. White stands for cunning, slyness, and tricky. Black for bravery and justice.,,,,Red has

35、 expressed his Warriors(勇士 ) of strong types of facial makeup in operas such as Guan Yu,,Black said the types of facial makeup in operas ming criticized(剛烈 ) people, integrity(正直 ), bravery and even reckless(魯莽 ), such a

36、s Zhang Fei,,Yellow types of facial makeup in operas that vicious brutality(兇狠殘暴 ), such as Dian Wei,,,,types of facial makeup in operas that some of the figures represented irritable(粗豪暴躁 ), such as Dou Ambassador(竇爾敦、)

37、, Ma Wu (馬武 ),Blue or green,General treacherous (奸詐的 )court official said the types of facial makeup in operas white, bad guys, such as Xu jia,,,,,,,,,,,Beijing opera is a traditional fortune of our country. Though it is