Chinese Opera Brief
Chinese opera is an essential portion of Chinese intangible heritage, and also one gem of Chinese traditional culture. They reflect the real folk life of China, and release the likes and dislikes of Chinese grassroots. This is an important reason why Chinese operas can be rooted in Chinese culture and society for such a long time! Chinese people especially the rural citizens prefer to watch the opera performances as to show their expectations and pursuits of ideal life, which are totally different from the reality. In other words, the romantic and realistic stores performed in operas are their dreams, dissatisfaction, aspiration and ideas. Different from western operas, both of the forms and the stories are unique and distinctive. The form of operas shows the difference of costumes and performance styles as well as the skills or talents that the performers need; as for the stories, it is more vivid, besides there are no exact tragic stories performed on stages, just because Chinese people are traditionally eager to have a good end or have a hopeful end in the operas. Currently, in China, many types of operas are available.
HISTORY:
Chinese opera is a popular form of drama in China. In general, it dates back to the Tang Dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong (712-755), who founded the "Pear Garden" , the first known opera troupe in China. The troupe mostly performed for the emperors' personal pleasure. To this day operatic professionals are still referred to as "Disciples of the Pear Garden" . In the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), forms like the Zaju (, variety plays), which acts based on rhyming schemes plus the innovation of having specialized roles like "Dan" (, female), "Sheng" (, male), "Hua" ( painted-face) and "Chou" ( clown) were introduced into the opera. The dominant form of the Ming and early Qing dynasties was Kunqu, which came from the Wu cultural area, and evolved a longer form of play called chuanqi. Chinese operas continue to exist in 368 different forms now, the best known of which is Beijing opera, which assumed its present form in the mid-19th century and was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
In Beijing opera, traditional Chinese string and percussion instruments provide a strong rhythmic accompaniment to the acting. The acting is based on allusion: gestures, footwork, and other body movements express such actions as riding a horse, rowing a boat, or opening a door. Spoken dialogue is divided into recitative and Beijing colloquial speech, the former employed by serious characters and the latter by young females and clowns. Character roles are strictly defined. Elaborate make-up designs portray which character is acting. The traditional repertoire of Beijing opera includes more than 1,000 works, mostly taken from historical novels about political and military struggles.
The main features of Chinese Opera are a spectacle of song and dance which, together with the colorful costumes, make-up, acrobats, jesters, storytellers, acting, poetry and martial arts combine to present the Opera in a very attractive way.
The earliest known theatre appeared in the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960 to 1279) with a square stage enclosed by railings. During the period of first emperor Kublai Khan in the Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1279 to 1368) the opera had evolutional changes and the period was classified as the Golden age of the Classical Opera.
In the 19th Century the Opera was dominated by a form called Peking Opera featuring colorful costumes, elaborate make up, facial expressions and was spoken and sung in Mandarin dialect. Other operatic forms also evolved using the dialects of different areas, such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chiuzhou and Suzhou. The plays come from legendary tales and some are interpretations of actual historical events such as "The Three Kingdoms" and the "Outlaws of the Marsh".
Costumes
 
The majority of the Operatic Clothing design came from the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368 -1644). The magnificent embroideries, the gorgeous headdresses, the jeweled girdles for the men, the hair ornaments for the women, the high court shoes which help to increase the height of the performers and the different styles of face painting are the most attractive features people would like to explore.
Face Painting
This is probably one of the most fascinating arts in connection with stage costumes as each painted face has a special meaning to knowledgeable theater-goers.
The hero type characters are normally painted in relatively simple colors, whereas enemy, bandits, rebels and so on have more complicated designs on their faces.
Colors to distinguish the Characters
Redder: Courage, loyalty and straight forwardness
Blacker: Impulsiveness
Bluer: Cruelty
Whiter: Wickedness
White Nose: Joviality
 
 
Chinese Opera in Western Eyes
Chinese opera has little in common with Western opera, and the screeching falsetto of the singers, the loud clacking of the clappers and the noisy banging of drums and cymbals can sound strange to Western ears. But it is the costumes, variety of facial expressions, the actors' eye expressions and martial arts movements that mostly attract Western audiences.
A distinct feature of Chinese opera is the makeup, movements, props, and colorful costumes. These features identify a character's age, sex, and personality the moment he or she enters the story. Face painting leans heavily on earlier forms of mask and make up. Facial patterns rely on exaggeration and the symbolism of color to suggest a character's attributes and personality. The painted faces become what the Chinese call 'a mirror of the soul'. Well-versed members of the audience will be able to tell instantly the personality of characters on the stage by their painted faces. Although colors sometime represent a physical attribute of a character, they are predominantly used as indicators of a character's personality. Apart from the exquisitely embroidered traditional costumes, head-dresses are a requisite in Chinese opera. The more elaborate the head-dress, the more significant the character. Costumes are extravagant in style in order to achieve as great a theatrical effect as possible. Like the face makeup, the color codes of these costumes identify the various ranks, status, and personality of the characters.
Although sharing a common ancestry, Chinese opera boasts over 300 various distinct forms - taking their names from their places of origin. These forms are generally discernible by their use of local dialects and distinct 'melodies'. Beijing opera is considered by most to be the most refined. Also widespread are Pingju Opera, Kunqu Opera, Shaoxing Opera, Henan Opera, Sichuan Opera, Shanxi Opera, Huangmei Opera, Huagu Opera and Yangko Opera. Some Chinese ethnic minority groups have some local form of operas.
Marvelous acrobatics –it is another technique required by the actors in Chinese opera. Players can perform a variety of skills. For example, they can make fire spray out of their mouths when they act as spirits, or can gallop while squatting to act as a dwarf. 'One minute's performance on the stage takes ten years' practice behind the scenes.' can be used to describe the Chinese opera players.
Regional operas -Today, there are over 300 dazzling regional opera styles. Kun opera, which originated around Jiangsu Province, is a typical ancient opera style and features gentleness and clearness. This enabled it to be ranked among the World Oral and Intangible Heritages. Qinqiang opera from Shaanxi, known for its loudness and wildness, and Yu opera, Yue opera, and Huangmei Opera are all very enjoyable. Beijing Opera , the best-known Chinese opera style, was formed from the mingling of these regional styles.
It is concluded that The Chinese opera is a traditional form of stage entertainment, weaving together elements of mime, dance, song, dialogue, swordplay, and acrobatics into one fluid continuous flow. Gestures, movements and expressions incorporated within each performer's script come together to bring forth an impressive performance. In contrast to Western stage entertainment, which is subdivided into different categories such as opera, drama and sketches, Chinese opera has remained faithful to its original format over the centuries.
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