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TOPDevelopment of Opera

Chinese Opera, Greek Tragicomedy, and Indian Sanskrit Drama are reputed together as the tree most ancient forms of Drama in the world.

Chinese Opera includes Local Classical Opera in South China in Song and Yuan Dynasty, Poetic Drama Set to Music in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Romance in Ming and Qing Dynasties, as well as Peking Opera and local operas in various regions of China. They were generally called the culture of traditional Chinese Drama. It was not until 12th Century that Chinese Opera started to develop with strides and finally matured. Through more than 800 years' innovation, development, and prosperity, over 300 categories of opera and a list of millions of opera performance are still very popular today in the huge land of China, demonstrating strong vitality and lasting artistic effect. The major task of Chinese Opera is to reflect life through singing and dancing. Local Classic Opera in South China in Song Dynasty and Poetic Drama Set to Music become more and more compatible by absorbing nutrition from many other artistic forms, such as poetry, music, dancing, painting, singing while speaking, acrobatics, and martial arts, etc. Now they have become a form of drama which centers on singing, speaking, performing, and martial arts. The artistic features of Chinese Opera are fully demonstrated through musical dialogue (singing and speaking), dancing-like actions (martial arts and performing), artificial scene on the stage, and performance according to procedures.

By now China has more than 360 categories of opera, and the most influential ones include Pingju Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yueju Opera, Luju Opera, Yuju Opera, Qinju Opera, Chuanju Opera, Yueju Opera, Xiangju Opera, and Guju Opera, etc. They vary from each other in style and each of them is endowed with local characters and the atmosphere of local life.

TOPBeijing Opera/ Peking Opera

There are about three typical forms of drama in the world, and they are opera, ballet, and Chinese Peking Opera. Honored as "Opera of the Oriental World", Peking Opera is the quintessence of China. Since it is originated in Beijing, it is therefore called Peking Opera (Beijing Opera). Peking Opera developed for quite a long time before it finally matured in 12th Century. Through more than 800 years' improvement, innovation, and enrichment, it can display to the world its strong vigor and vitality.

Peking Opera is a comprehensive form of performance. It combined singing, speaking, performing, and martial arts just in one. Through prescribed means of performance, it narrates stories and depicts characters. Peking Opera has four major roles, namely, sheng(male lead), dan (female character type), jing (painted face type), and chou (male and female clown). Besides, there are many minor roles. 

Painted Face is the unique artistic component of Peking Opera. Whether one character is loyal or evil, beautiful or ugly, kind or vice, noble or humble, could be clearly distinguished through Painted Face. For instance, a red face stands for loyalty and devotion; purl represents wisdom and braveness; black reflects dignity and noble character; white is a metaphor to persons who have bad faith and malicious means; blue signifies strong perseverance and boldness; yellow delivers the atrocity of the character; gold and silver are usually the representation of immortals, Buddhists, ghosts, and monsters. If the role has a gold face and body, it aims to deliver the feeling o f transience or the shadow of a shade. 

More on Peking Opera

TOPYueju Opera

Yueju Opera is originated in Shengzhou City, the area of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province. It used to called Little Singing Group, Diduma, Shaoxing Opera Group, Chinese Actor by Sing and Acting in Shaoxing, Mao'er Little Sing Group, Shaoju Opera, Shengju Opera, and Shanju Opera. On September 17th, 1925, this kind of opera was for the first time called Yue Opera in Shenbao Newspaper. Since 1938, most singing groups and troupes called themselves Yue Opera. It was not until the founding of People's Republic of China that various performances of this opera style were generally named Yueju Opera.

The genre of Yueju Opera comprises of many artistic elements, such as a list of plays, singing, speaking, performing, and martial arts, etc. These factors are comprehensively reflected through typical artistic images in the performance. The aria of Yueju Opera is most innovative, characteristic, and influential. Therefore, people often reputed Yue Opera as "Genre Aria". In fact, the aria of Yueju Opera has two components: melody and singing methods. In terms of melody, different categories of opera develop their own styles through cantus, rhyme, and orderliness. Upon the singing methods, each opera delivers its lingering charm through phonation, tone color, and varied tune patterns.

The charm of Yueju Opera lies in its unique creativeness and characteristics. Different artists hold different specialties, interests, and qualifications. Even though they are out of the same school of opera, performance of the same character in the same play may vary in aria. Artists of different genres, of course, have their respective innovations and original creations. Therefore, one role in a play could be demonstrated through various images and artistic characteristics. 

TOPHuangmei Opera

Huangmei Opera is the major local opera in Anahuac Province. Generally known as Huangmei Aria or Caicha Opera, Huangmei Opera came into being in late 18th Century in Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangxi Province. One of its branches has migrated eastwards to the area of Anqing in Huaining County of Anhui Province. It combined with local arts, and displayed its features through singing and speaking in local language. Therefore, it is called Huaiqiang Opera or Huaidiao Opera. It is the original form of Huangmei Opera.

In terms of the list of plays, it is said that Huangmei Opera has 36 Daxi (large-scale performances) and Xiaoxi (72 small-scale performances). Daxi aims to express the dissatisfaction on social oppression and great disparity between the rich and the poor and expectations for a happy and peaceful life. For instance, there are Story of Buckwheat, Marriage with a Fairy, and Accusation on the Official of Grain. Most Daxi reflect the real life in the rural area and such operas include Counting the Barley, Spinning Cotton Yarn, and Sale of Bamboo Basket.

TOPYuju Opera

Yuju Opera, also known as Bangzi Opera, was originated from late Ming Dynasty and early Qing dynasty. This kind of opera is mainly played by singing, and widely favored by common people. Yuju Opera developed and expanded rapidly, and by now it has built up its own characteristics of several branches. There are Xiangfu Opera popular in Kaifeng City, Yuxi Opera in Luoyang City, Yudong Opera in Shangqiu City, and Shakou Opera in the region of Luohe River, Xuchang, and Zhoukou. Yuju Opera centers on the performance of famous roles and has developed five well known genres of performance on the role of dan. The five genres are represented by Chang Xiangyu, Chen Suzhen, Ma Jinfeng, Yan Liping, and Cui Lantian. The genre of Chang Xiangyu boasts of boldness and infuriation; Chen Suzhen Genre features freshness and brightness; the genre of Ma Paigang is characterized by energy and vigor; the genre of Cui Lantian impresses one with deep connotation; and that of Yan Lipin distinguishes it self from others with circumbendibus and subtleness. By now, the five genres have their pupils or disciples all over the world. Yuju Opera has a list of over 1000 plays, a large part of which are based in historical novels. For example, there are operas on Apotheosis of Heroes, Wagang Fortress, Hoers of Yang Family, Heroes of Yue Family, etc. Besides, many other plays of Yuju Opera depict marriage, love, and ethnics.

Yuju Opera is favored by the society because it walks close to the life of average people with a plain in style, and suit both refined and popular tastes. Therefore, Yuju has a very solid foundation among the crowd. It is the fundamental reason why Yuju is so vigorous as to be honored the best local opera nation widely. 

TOPYueju Opera

Yueju Opera is very popular Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Hang Kong, and Macao. Still in many other countries and regions, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippine, Indonesia, Australia, United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and South and Middle Africa, performance of Yueju is warmly welcomed. Yueju Opera combines the arias of many other operas introduced to Guangdong Province, such as Geyang, Kunshan, and Bangzi. Moreover, it absorbs nutrition from Bangzi and Erhaung which came into being from folk music in Pearl River Delta. Yueju Opera is one of the most popular operas in South China. 

TOPQinqiang Opera

Qinqiang Opera is very popular in many provinces of Northwest China, such as Shanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Since it takes Bangzi as musical instrument, Qinqiang Opera is also known as Bangzi Opera and Huanghaungzi (the sound of the musical instrument). Qinqiang Opera was originated from Shanxi and Gansu Provinces in ancient times and took singing and dancing as its primeval form. Through continuous innovation and improvement by several generations, it has developed to be a well known kind of Chinese Opera and boasts of a long history.

TOPChuanju Opera

Chuanju Opera is the combination of five arias, namely, Kun, Gao, Hu, Tan, and Deng. It is very popular in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou Provinces. The old form of Chuanju Opera has several branches, such as Chuanxi, Ziyang, Chuanbei, and Xiachuanddong, etc. By now, the most popular branches are Huanpai Opera of Dan Genre, Fupai Opera of Chou Genre, and Caopai Opera of Wu Genre.

The performance of Chuan Opera is characterized by truthfulness, subtleness, humor, and rich atmosphere of life. The brightest feature of Chuan Opera is the utilization of various performing skills, such as Changing Painted Faces, Opening Huiyan (the eye which can perceive both the past and future), Rushing through Firing Rings, and Hiding Knives, to depict characters in the play and deliver the mysterious and colorful atmosphere on the stage. Besides, the musical instruments, gong and drum, function a lot during the performance. The most common and frequently used drums and gongs include tabour, Tanggu drum, big gong, Dabo cymbals, and little gong, and the five are collectively called "Wu Fang" ("Wu" in Chinese means five). Together with Xuanyue and Suona, they are named "Qi Fang", all under the direction of tabour. Chuanju Opera has a lot of roles, namely, sheng（male lead）, dan （female character type）, jing（painted face type）, chou (male and female clown), mo, and za, etc.

TOPZangju Opera

Zangju Opera is the most ancient among the operas of ethnic minorities in China. Besides Tibet, Zangju Opera is also favored in Batang, Litang, and Ganzi in Sichuan Province, Xiahe in Gansu Province, Yushu in Qinghai Province, and Zhongdian in Yunnan Province.

In terms of performance, Zangju Opera emphasizes six skills, namely, Singing, dancing, rhyme, speaking, acrobatics, and performing.

Zangju Opera players have only one same style of clothing. They never use dressing but domino.

TOPPainted face in Chinese opera

Chinese Opera is a very comprehensive stage art. It integrates the elements of literature, music, dancing, marital arts, and fine arts. In terms of the vision effect presented to the audience, Painted Face, which is a central component of performance, displays the style and characteristics of different roles and setting in the opera. Painted Face is one of the key elements which receive attention from the audience. For the traditional operas of China, the depiction of roles was considered as the key aspect during the whole performance. It involved the dressing of head and face, and costumes. Painted Face is a component of the dressing of face, playing an important role in the depiction of character. 

What is the Painted Face?

"Painted Face is a kind art which is unique to Chinese Opera; it uses dressing and sculpting on stage. From the perspective of opera itself, Painted Face is combined with characters; considering fine arts, it is displayed through patterns and designs. Through many years' development, Painted Face has become matured along with the evolution of opera, and gradually formed up its own rules or methods". Since it is unique to Chinese Opera, it is different from the dressing art of any other countries. Painted Face in Chinese Opera has its own charm and glamour.