Beijing Opera (Beijing Travel Guide)

Beijing Opera
Beijing Opera is the national quintessence of China. It has got its name because it was formed in Beijing.
Beijing Opera has nearly 200 years' history. It has beautiful and unique aria and dance. And also, it has the still of Wushu. The singing of Beijing Opera is very tasteful, the tune and the dialogue are musical.
Beijing opera or Peking opera is a typical Beijing local drum performance. It is originated from Anhui opera in Anhui province, influenced by Hubei opera , Shanxi opera and KunQu. Gradually it becomes what it looks like today.  The performance of Beijing opera is a mixture of dance, acrobatics, singing and talking. Literature, music and painting are also important elements in Beijing opera. Roles in Beijing opera are recognized in four types based on men, women, senior and junior. There are names for the four roles as : “ Sheng“, “ Dan”, “Jing”, “Chou” in Chinese respectively. “Sheng” represent male roles. Aged male role will be named:” Lao Sheng”. Young males roles are called: ”Xiao Sheng”. “Wu Sheng” represents the roles who will fight in the play. “Dan” is for female’s roles only. Young lady or girls are named: “ Zheng Dan” or “Qing Yi”. Females who come from ordinary family are called: “Hua Dan”. “Lao Dan” will be old lady. The lady who will fight in the play is “ Wu Dan”. Male roles who is strong in size and character are called “ Jing” or “ Hua Lian”. The evil roles in the play will be named “ Chou”. Each role will define a group of people who may come from different family background and with not same social position. Excepting the very short play, most Beijing opera are designed in a way that colorful costume and beautiful singing display the spirits and soul of the Beijing opera. Beijing opera has its own performing procures. The chief roles should be on stage first. He or she then makes self introduction or reads a poem which may indicate the story of the play. Next the other roles come on the stage. The chief role should extend in sound the last words before he or she finish the beginning speech. This is the signal to start the music. This part is called “ Jiao Ban”.  Short after the music which is called “ Guo Men”, the chief role begin to sing. It is recognized in the world of drum that dialogue is the most important part in a play. There is no exception in Beijing opera as well. It makes the spirit in a play. Singing has less importance and it has to be matched with the situation of scenery, emotion and other factors. Dialogue and singing has to be changing time to time so that the audience will not feel boring. The tone in music is also different in each part of singing. The emotion of the roles in a play will decide what tone should use. Ransom changes fast to slow or slow to fast to match the emotion changing of the roles. “Er Huang” for feeling of sadness. “ Xi Pi” for happy and joy. Beijing opera has learned a lot from Chinese ancient dance art. The performing movement in Beijing opera is called “ Shen Duan”. For example walking on stage has many ways when the role changes from one to another. Roles who are not impatient will walk fast. Females will walk slowly. There are rules in Beijing opera when perform different action. Drinking, eating or doing anything else, the rules have to be followed. The way to deal with space and timing is unique as well in Beijing opera. Indoor, outdoor or other venues like in the river or on boat, all these are performed through actor’s moment. The role who has a horse stick in hand shows that he or she on a ride. A group of solders will represent troops. Dressing and make up in Beijing opera have its own unique style. The costumes are made according to the pattern of each dynasty, like Tang Dynasty, and Song, Yuan, Ming Dynasty. There are rules for what costume will particularly match the certain roles in a play. Based on the rules of costume, officials and rich people will dress clothes with long sleeves; the labor class will wear trousers and shorts. There are rules for making up in Beijing opera as well. The way how to paint on face will distinguish the good or evil and men and women. There are two major schools in Beijing opera based on their own specialties. One is representing Beijing style, another one for Shanghai. The representing artists for Beijing are: Cheng Chang Geng, Tan Xin Pei, Yu Shu Yan, Mei Lan Fang est. Major representatives for Shanghai are Zhou Xin Fan, Gai Jiao Tian, est. Since its first virgin show in Japan in 1919, Beijing opera are many times on international stages. It plays a positive role and contributes a lot in international culture exchange activities. The majority of the script of Beijing opera is from historical events or story. The traditional play reaches a number for about 1300 pieces.