Many foreign friends first learn about Chinese culture through the numerous Chinese restaurants found all over the world, and soon discern that China is a country with delicious cuisine (菜肴).The second impression of Chinese culture is often Peking Opera, whose masks are now almost emblematic (标志性的) of China. Many countries design posters using Peking Opera masks to signal a “Year of Chinese Culture”. To understand Chinese culture, therefore, some knowledge about Peking Opera is indeed indispensable. Peking Opera contains the soul of Chinese national culture. Its unique charm inspires deep feeling in Chinese people.History:Peking Opera has been an integral part of Chinese culture for over 200 years. Originating from humble beginning in east China's Anhui and Hubei provinces, it was brought to Beijing by the Qing Emperor Qianlong who, during his periodic inspections of the southern regions, discovered and fell in love with the vibrancy and life in the performances he witnessed there. As an 80th birthday gift to himself, he ordered local troupes to perform for him and had the Anhui and Hubei groups incorporated into the palace opera. In this way Peking Opera was born.parison: Eastern and Western DramaThe actors of Ballet just dance; the actors of modern drama just speak; the actors of opera just sing songs; while only Peking Opera actors perform all four elements as “sing, speak, act and fight(the last two are also considered as dance) on the stage.芭蕾，只舞不说；话剧，只说不唱；歌剧，只唱不舞，京剧逢动必舞，有声必歌II. Main Features of Peking OperaIII. BEAUTY in Peking Opera3.1 The Delights of Peking Opera Masks3.2 Peking Opera Performance: Sing, Speak, Act, and FightIV. Mei Lanfang, Great Peking Opera ArtistV. How to appreciate Peking OperaI. Comparison: Eastern and Western DramaII. Main Features of Peking Opera1) Peking Opera is a comprehensive performing art that aesthetically combines music, singing, dialogue, pantomime, acrobatics and martial arts. Hence an actor or actress in Beijing Opera has to meet more requirements than that in other forms of performing art. All of these skills are expected to be performed effortlessly, in keeping with the spirit of the art form.2）Symbolism prevails in Peking Opera. The stage of Peking Opera knows no limit in space or time. The set can accommodate anything. For example, an actor can practice the scene of galloping the horse simply by using a horsewhip without riding a real horse on stage. A bridge is made up of two chairs standing on each side of a table. Storms are realized by performers dancing with umbrellas.These examples describe the function of the “virtual world” in the art of Peking Opera, which provides limitless room for the performances of actors; and in return, performers present the audience with a world of images full of appealing wit. Thefollowing pictures can help us understand the virtual world on the stage.3）A highly stylized art.Peking Opera follows other traditional Chinese arts in emphasizing meaning, rather than accuracy. The highest aim of performers is to inject beauty into every motion. The most common stylization method in Peking Opera is roundness. Every motion and pose is carefully manipulated to avoid sharp angles and straight lines. A character looking upon an object above them will sweep his eyes in a circular motion from low to high before landing on the object. Similarly, a character will sweep his hand in an arc from left to right in order to indicate an object on the right.The performers primarily use pantomime to express feelings and tell stories. Stylized footwork, gestures, and various kinds of body movements portray and symbolize actions such as opening a door, climbing a hill, going upstairs, or rowing a boat.The elaborate and gorgeous facial make-up and costumes are two distinguished characteristics of Beijing Opera. The audience can know what kind of character the role is from the colors and patterns.Generally speaking, red faces have the positive meaning symbolizing the brave, upright and wise men. Another positive color is purple. Black faces usually have neutral meaning, representative the just men and uprightness. Blue and green also have neutral meanings that symbolize the hero from the bushes. Meanwhile, the yellow and white represent the crafty men with negative meaning. Performers have gold or silver facial make-up standing for the monsters or Gods. Good-nature people are usually painted with relatively simple colors while make-up of hostile and doubtful characters, such as bandits, robbers, rebels and alike, bear complex marks 3.1 The Delights of Peking Opera MasksFace painting: Vivid face makeup fascinates foreigners watching Peking Opera. Actually this face painting is not done for the sake of beauty but rather it portrays different characters. Red stands for loyalty and bravery, black represents powerful and wise people, yellow and white depict fierce and cunning characters, blue and green indicate very virile Robin Hood type of outlaws, while gold and silver indicates mysterious or super-natural presences.•The Masks, applied to the two roles of the “jing” or “painted-face role” and the “chou” or “clown”, serve two pur poses.•One is to indicate identity and character of the role.•The other purpose is to express people’s appraisal of the roles from a moral and aesthetic point of view, such as respectable, hateful, noble, or ridiculous, etc.3.2 Peking Opera Performance: Sing, Speak, Act, and Fight。
