Chinese Opera

Chinese opera has its origins over two thousand years ago. Since its start it has been developed into an extremely complex performing art which combines singing, music, dialogue, acrobatics, martial arts, and pantomime.

Lovers of European opera may be surprised to hear Chinese opera, as the two, on the face of it, have very little in common, other than they may both be said to be operas.

It is true to say that to the western ear, Chinese opera often seems shrill and 'noisy'. Shrill voices pierce the air, accompanied by loud gongs, crashing cymbals, drums and stringed instruments. The music is not intended to be melodic, as in the West, but rather used as punctuation to the performance. The art is not readily appreciated by western ears, but at the same time it is a highly developed art form. Although the sound of Chinese opera may seem very alien, in fact the stories which the operas tell are very familiar: heroes battle overwhelmingly powerful foes, good defends the world against evil, lovers seek escape from domineering and disapproving parents.

Another area in which Chinese opera differs from European opera is in its appeal. Chinese opera is an art of the people - enjoyed and appreciated by people from right across the social spectrum. In a real sense it is a folk art, comparable in many ways with Chinese Circus.

During the development of Chinese opera, there has always been a cross fertilisation of styles and ideas between various local variations. Although sharing a common ancestry, Chinese opera boasts over 360 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'. Among the best known forms are Jingju (Beijing Opera) and Yueju (Cantonese Opera).

Beijing opera is considered by most to be the most refined. It uses almost no scenery, but rather relies on props and costume. It generally contains a fair amount of acrobatics and swordplay. Beijing Opera can be traced back to 1790 when a troupe performed for the Emperor's birthday. As such it is but an infant in terms of Chinese opera tradition. However, it builds upon tradition and is a highly refined style. Story lines are well known and are usually taken from historical epics and romantic novels of China's past.

Cantonese opera is more 'popularist', and invariably contains a 'boy meets girl' plot. Interestingly Cantonese opera also contains a high degree of modern and foreign references.

One of the most intriguing of Chinese operatic forms is the Chinese revolutionary opera classics like The White-Haired Girl and Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy (pictured right). These operas where developed as a means of spreading revolutionary ideas and concepts among the masses - as already noted, opera was and is an art form popular among the masses, and the adaptation of revolutionary ideas into Chinese operatic productions was, it has to be said, something of a stroke of genius in lateral thinking!

In all Chinese opera characters have painted faces and include warriors, gods and demons, scholars, clowns and officials. Face painting leans heavily on earlier forms of mask and make up. Facial patterns rely on exaggeration and the symbolism of colour to suggest a character's attributes and natures. The faces painted become what the Chinese call 'a mirror of the soul'. Well versed members of the audience will be able to tell instantly the nature of a character on the stage by their face.

Although colours sometime represent a physical attribute of a character, they are predominantly used as indicators of a characters personality. Some of the principle colours are listed below.

Red: loyalty, courage

Dark red: loyal, time-tested warrior

Pink: humour

Yellow: brutality

Gold and silver: supernatural (demons, Buddhas, spirits)

Green: chivalry

Blue: valour, resolution

Purple: wisdom, bravery, steadfastness

Black: loyalty, integrity

Powder white: cruelty, treachery

Off White: inflated, domineering

Grey: an old scoundrel