Big Blog 2: Chinese Opera

    Hey Everyone! I am going to teach you all about Chinese Opera! I chose to do Chinese opera because I thought it was super cool!

    Chinese Opera is a colorful performance art with acrobatic stage movements and elaborate costumes and makeup. According to Asian studies "The art might be best thought of as a confluence of stylized patterns of dress, makeup, action, staging, text, and music." Performers of Chinese opera are known as 'disciples of the pear garden'. During the Qing dynasty Chinese opera became more and more popular that it was watched in tearooms, restaurants, and makeshift stages. 

    There are many types of Chinese opera, but one of the most known types is Beijing opera also known as Peking opera. According to ThoughCo., "It was founded in 1790 when the "Four Great Anhui Troupes" went to Beijing to perform for the Imperial Court." Beijing opera is considered to be China's national art form. It is popular for its vivid makeup, beautiful costumes and sets, and the convoluted plots. Beijing opera typically involves singing actors and actresses wearing costumes reminiscent of the Ming dynasty. These performances consist of famous scenes from different stories instead of illustrating a single narrative plot. Beijing opera attracts mostly people from the lower-class and the performers are also low-class. 

    According to Asian studies, "There are four main types of roles in Beijing opera: male (sheng), painted-face male (Jing), female (dan), and clown (chou)." Costumes and makeup allows an operagoer to recognize the different role types. Martial characters often wear four flags or pennants on the back of their costumes. Facial makeup functions as symbols for communicating the character's status. Male characters often have on a fake beard and natural facial coloring while painted-face male or Jing roles wear brightly painted facial de-signs in vivid colors. Including the colors red, white, blue, black, and yellow. Each color has its own specific meaning. For instance, red indicates bravery and loyalty and yellow suggests clever deviousness. There are three main groups that female roles fall into such as young lady (qingyi), woman warrior (wudan), and old woman (laodan). Just as flags and pennants are worn by martial roles, elaborate headdresses and robes are worn by jing and qingyi roles. Clown (chou) characters have a patch of white on the center of their face as a way to be identified. Beijing operas usually feature a happy ending while Beijing plays are characterized by seriousness involving many different types of conflicts.

    Cantonese opera is based in southern China and is a formalized opera form that emphasizes gymnastic and martial arts skills. In addition to containing traditional Chinese instruments, Cantonese opera also contains western instruments such as the cello or the saxophone. Cantonese opera is made up of martial arts and intellectual (where the melodies are secondary to the lyrics). Martial arts performances are fast-paced and actors often carry weapons as props and wear armor while on the other hand, intellectual performances are slower and tend to be a more polite art form. Actors use facial expressions and "water sleeves" (long flowing sleeves on costumes made of silk) to express complex emotions. This type of opera has one of the most elaborate makeup systems out of all of Chinese opera. The makeup contains different shades of color and shapes on the forehead, which indicates trustworthiness, the mental state, and the physical health of the characters. Though, some operas require actors to have "open face" makeup which is so complicated that it looks like a painted face mask. Cantonese opera is alive and thriving in Hong Kong and will continue to find an audience in the future.

    Sichuan opera is one of China's oldest opera forms. Sichuan opera contains singing, acrobatics, and humorous narration. These performances are full of humor, wit, and lively dialogues. Sichuan opera is known for its high-pitched tunes that are accompanied by percussion instruments and choruses. Its immense vitality and dynamic performances strive to bring out an individual's artistic abilities which is what separates Sichuan opera from other operas. One of the most interesting things about Sichuan opera is "face-changing". This is achieved by quickly tearing off a mask to reveal another. Performers prepare many masks in advance which are made of gauze and elastic materials. Once the masks are painted they are pasted to the performer's face. 

    Makeup is a very important feature of Chinese opera. According to Medium, "Exaggerated facial patterns are painted on each performer's face, called "a mirror of the soul" by the Chinese, to symbolize the personality, role, and fate of a character." Different colors represent different personalities. For instance, a red face represents loyalty and bravery, a black face represents valor, silver and gold faces reflect mystery. Though makeup is one of the artistic ways to shape a character's image, costumes also play a huge role. Costumes are used to show the identity, age, nationality, personality, and occupation of the characters. Most costumes contain strong Chinese characteristics however, Yue opera uses elegant and plain colored costumes. Other than makeup and costumes, music plays an incredible role in shaping characters. The differences in the sound cavity and the quality constitute the different genres of Chinese opera. Beijing opera is accompanied by the instruments jinghu, yueqin, erhu, san xian, single-skin drum, and a gong. Huangmei opera is popular for its natural and elegant singing style. The most common instruments that are usually featured are pipa, yangqin, erhu, ban'gu, and Chinese bamboo flute. Yue opera is known for its singing style that emphasizes the timbre, clear rhythm, and colloquial lyrics. The instruments that are accompanied with this style of opera are suona, drum, guzheng, and erhu. 

    Chinese opera has evolved in many different ways over time. Within just 20 to 30 years Peking opera spread across the country and became dominant to theater stages. As a result of the policy of "letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend" over 348 types of opera are performed in China. Though, in the early 1990s Chinese opera faced a severe crisis causing the market to shrink. Eventually, in the 21st century Chinese opera rebounded and the community began to understand the significance of inheriting traditional operas and young people began embracing traditional Chinese culture.  

Works Cited

I used Chat GPT to create an outline for this blog!

“China Pictorial | Chinese Opera: Traditional Art Revival in the New Era.” China-Pictorial.com.cn, 17 Feb. 2021, china-pictorial.com.cn/chinese-opera-traditional-art-revival-in-the-new-era. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

“Chinese Operas: History, Makeup, Music, Costume, Masks.” Travelchinaguide.com, 2019, www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/arts/chinese-opera.htm.

Kallie Szczepanski. “A Brief History of Chinese Opera.” ThoughtCo, 2019, www.thoughtco.com/history-of-chinese-opera-195127.

Karacs, Sarah. “Colliding Traditions Keep Chinese Opera Alive and Well.” Zolima City Magazine, 18 Jan. 2018, zolimacitymag.com/colliding-traditions-keep-chinese-opera-alive-and-well/.

罗京湘子. “Ancient Peking Opera Finds New Fans in New York.” Global.chinadaily.com.cn, global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201811/20/WS5bf2f571a310eff303289a83.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Pandarow. “Chinese Opera | Facts, Makeup, Costumes & Music | Zhōngguó Xìjù.” Medium, 15 Mar. 2019, medium.com/@Pandarow/chinese-opera-facts-makeup-costumes-music-zh%C5%8Dnggu%C3%B3-x%C3%ACj%C3%B9-fee835068c51.

“Sichuan Opera.” En.chinaculture.org, en.chinaculture.org/created/2005-12/05/content_76647.htm.

Silverberg, Ann. “A Brief Introduction to Beijing Opera.” Association for Asian Studies, 2012, www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/a-brief-introduction-to-beijing-opera/.