Peking Opera

3. Costumes

Peking Opera costumes, mainly made of satin, crepe and silk and decorated with various meticulously embroidered patterns, tell a character's sex and status at first glance, marking off people from all walks of life, noble or humble, civil or military. They primarily designate his or her role on the stage regardless of time and space. For instance, an imperial robe is suitable to any emperor in all dynasties, from the remote to the near ancient times.

Accessories, including helmets and hats, constitute an integral part to bring about dramatic stage effects.

4. Basic Skills

Peking Opera basic skills include dance movements and special acrobatic movements while singing or reciting, a necessary requirements mastered by all actors and actresses.

Lingze skills involve the manipulation of the two long pheasant tail feathers worn on warriors' helmets, such as shaking and swinging. Together with head and body movements, the shaking of the feathers expresses emotions such as surprise, hatred, happiness, and frivolity.

Bazi skills are combat skills, falling into three categories: the use of long weapons like broadsword, long-handled spear and staff; the use of short weapons like sword and dagger; and the use of one's bare hands. Combat can be either serious or funny, but both should be emotional and rhythmical.

Cap-wing skills involve the manipulation of wings of the gauze cap. With the neck as the axis, the actor moves the wings of the cap up and down, twirls them, or moves them to the left or right, or from the front to the back. Sometimes, he makes just one of the wings move. The actor makes them move or stop moving to indicate contradictory feelings, hesitation, or sudden joy.

'Beard skills' refer to the manipulation of beards, including ways of pushing, pulling, holding up, spreading, tearing, throwing, shaking, circling, and blowing, to express a variety of feelings. Some of these actions are done at the same time.

'Fan skills' help express many situations. As a special property, the fan can be used almost by all roles, especially popular among xiao sheng (a young man) and hua dan (a young girl maid).

'Hair-swinging skills' are special techniques for a male role to express his abnormal feelings, such as fear, sadness, hatred, or agony amidst death throes. The techniques include swinging, circling, twisting, and spreading over the face or up in the air.

'Sleeve skills' are the lavish, dance-like movements made with flowing sleeves, with dozens of styles likened to clouds, flowing water, cotton fields, waves, wheels, and towers. Sleeves whirled in a wheel-like or flying movement exaggerate the feelings of characters. Holding up, spreading, throwing, shaking, and flicking are most popular movements.

'Tanzi skills', or carpet skills, usually go with movements like somersaults, leaps, jumps, and falls which are mostly carried out on a carpet or rug.

'Waist and leg skills' include somersaults, swaying from right to left and from left to right, kicks, leg stretches and pulls, and upward straightened leg movements. Dances and acrobatics call for supple waists, so that the performers can control their center of gravity.

Mei Lanfang

To opera aficionados, the name Mei Lanfang is synonymous with Peking Opera. During the three decade boom of Peking Opera since the 1920s, when varied schools took shape, the Four Great Dan Actors emerged, and Mei was the most outstanding of the four.

In the early period, women were not allowed to perform on the opera stage with men. Hence, men played the female roles, called Dan.

Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) not only inherited the fine traditions of Peking Opera, but also improved it with his own creations, establishing the renowned Mei School. In his 50-year stage career, he well portrayed more than one hundred female roles, from emperor's concubines, daughters of noble families, female generals, to goddesses.

Mei was a well-known patriotic artist. In 1931, after the "Sept. 18 Incident" that marked the beginning of Japanese invasion of Northeast China, he staged Resisting Jin Invaders and Life-and-Death Hatred in Shanghai. During the World War II, he grew a beard and lived a secluded life, to show his resistance against the Japanese occupation.

Mei was the first to introduce Peking Opera to the world and made successful tours to Japan (1919, 1924 and 1956), the United States (1930) and the Soviet Union (1935 and 1952). In recognition of his literary and artistic achievements, two American universities, the University of Southern California and the Pomona College, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.

Since Mei Lanfang's visit to Japan in 1919, Peking Opera has become more and more popular with people all over the world, making excellent contribution to cultural exchange between China and the West. Its footsteps have covered 40 countries and regions in the world, winning acclaim wherever it goes.