Beijing Opera (Youtube Project) This project is centered on Beijing Opera also referred to as Peking Opera or as the Chinese call it Jingju. It’s a form of the traditional Chinese theater that combines dance, mime, acrobatics, music, and vocal performance. Beijing Opera developed in the late eighteenth century and became fully recognized throughout China by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court and has become one of the cultural treasures of China. Major performances are based in Beijing, Southern Shanghai, Northern Tianjin, and Taiwan. It has also spread to other countries such as the United States and Japan. Political influences have long played a part in the arts of China (World Music, 187). The Taiwanese took on the Opera and made it into their own. Naming it Guoju, which means national, or the in other words the National Opera. This reflects disputes over the true seat of Chinese government. After the Chinese Civil War ended, Beijing opera became the focal point of ethnic identity for the Mainland and Communist party. When the Communist Party of China came to power in the Mainland, the newly formed government moved to bring art into line with Communist ideology. Their goal was to make art and literature a component of the revolution. Dramatic works without Communist themes were considered subversive, and were ultimately banned during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Before Beijing opera evolved it was considered a religious ritual. Today, the performance is symbolic gestures and poetic dialogues in harmony with music. The accompaniment for a Peking opera performance usually consists of a small ensemble of traditional melodic and percussion instruments. The melodies played mainly fall into three broad categories. The first is the aria, can be further divided into those of the Erhuang and Xipi. An aria in the Xipi style that is sung by a young Sheng to indicate heightened emotion. The second type of melody heard is the fixed-tune melody, or qupai. These are instrumental tunes that serve a wider range of purposes than arias. Examples include the "Water Dragon Tune,” which shows the arrival of an important person, and "Triple Thrust,” which may signal a feast or banquet. The final type provides context to the music in ways similar to the fixed-tune melodies. For example, there are as many as forty-eight different percussion patterns that accompany stage entrance. Each one identifies the entering character by his or her individual rank and personality. I chose Beijing Opera because it is a beautiful art form that has sparked the interest of not only the youth but people of all ages in other countries. The first key characteristic of Beijing Opera are the musical instruments that are of bowed, plucked strings, and percussion. The second characteristic is the performance roles that consist of four main roles, men and women have been known to play the opposite gender. The third characteristic is face painting that indicates characters roles, morality and also a sign to distinguish good from evil and loyal from disloyal. The fourth is the character costumes, each color of the costumes represents a different rank that the performer plays. Finally, the style of Beijing Opera. The plays are focused on historical or traditional stories about civil, political and military struggles, which can be classified into two group, civil and martial. In the following bullet points are the five key characteristics of Beijing Opera with an overview and video links to further explain each characteristic.
• Beijing Opera Musical Instruments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDd6Qam0kfk The orchestra of Beijing Opera usually has a team of eight members. The four main instruments of Wen Chang are Jinghu, Jing Erhu, yueqin, and sanxian. Jinghu, which produces a characteristic high sound, is the principal instrument in Beijing Opera. All other instruments in the string instrument section can be substituted, but never the Jinghu. Wen Chang instruments are used to accompany singing. The four main instruments of Wu Chang are castanets, drum, big gong, small gong, and cymbals. The main function of Wu Chang is to create atmospheres. The person playing the castanets and drum is the conductor of the orchestra, which sets the rhythms of the music. Wu Chang instruments are used to create atmospheres in acting, fighting, and dancing.
• Beijing Opera Performance Roles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vzEpqHylIw There are four main characters roles in the Peking opera. The four roles are sheng the male character, tan the female character, ching the painted faces, and ch’ou the clown or jester. Sheng are usually dignified, or heroic characters. There are three types of the sheng character; wusheng which are usually warriors and heroes, laosheng which are scholars, officials, and advisors, and siaosheng which are lovers and young scholars. The tan roles are female and were often played by men until the communist era. There are five types of the tan character; blue cloth tan, and flower tan, laotan, wutan and ch’outan. Blue cloth tan are demure middle-aged women, while flower tan are flirtatious women, typically of low status. Laotan are older women, wutan are war heroines, and ch’outan are ugly humorous women of low status. Ching are easy recognized by their painted faces and usually have some sort of supernatural power. There are three types of the ching character; the great painted face, the supporting role fuching, and warrior wuching. The ch’ou is a clown or jester character. They are usually of lower status and are the only characters that use improvise speeches. There are three types of the ch’ou character; the military wuch’ou, the civil wench’ou, and female ch’outan.
• Beijing Opera Face Painting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JuFBD-M2A0 Face painting is a unique language in Beijing Opera. The brightly colored, grotesquely-patterned face paintings have rich historical backgrounds. It reflects ethics, wisdom, and philosophy of Chinese traditional culture. It is used as an important way to indicate characters roles, morality and also a sign to distinguish good from evil and loyal from disloyal. Face make-up is the most unique feature in Beijing Opera. It is a kind of art, employed to indicate a character’s personality, age, and temperament. There are some consensuses in the facial make-up such as, the red for braveness and loyalty, black for unrighteousness, white for cunning and craftiness, blue for valor and power, yellow for insidiousness and cruelness, and green for stubbornness and stalwartness. The face painting patterns are based on folklores and literatures such as the main character in the novel “Xi You Ji,” or “Pilgrimage to the West,” The Monkey-king and Guan Yu the character in the novel “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” Religion is expressed in the make-up of the Monkey-king character by the Buddhism beads on the forehead. It is also expressed in the legend of the character Bao Zheng, the quintessence just judge in China and god in heaven.
• Costumes of Beijing Opera http://www1.chinaculture.org/08olympics/2008-07/09/content_136358_2.htm The costumes are versions of the style of clothing worn during the Ming Dynasty. They convey additional information about the characteristic of the character. For example, the emperor is usually the only person to wear yellow. On his mang p’ao the dragons point up. If any other official wear yellow then their dragons must point down. Other colors wore are red, green, orange, white, black, and blue. Each color represents a different rank. Red symbolizes faithful army commanders. Green is for generals and statesmen, orange is for older statesmen, white for young generals and ministers, black for the brave, honest, and upright but in some situations black can mean poverty, and blue for dishonest statesmen. The beards shown in the Peking Opera signify wealth and temperament. A long beard indicates wealth and power, and narrow whiskers represents learned men, while short thick beard covering most of the face symbolizes rough and selfish. I could not find a youtube video that focused only on the costumes. I did some more research and found the video link above to china culture organization.
• Style of Beijing Opera
Civil: Silang Visits His Mother https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65PPa1eqjK0 The plot is about a general named Silang in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). In a battle between the Song Dynasty and its northern neighbor Chitan Kingdom (907-1125), the general was captured by the enemy and married Princess Tiejing of the Chitan, changing his name into Muyi. Fifteen years later, his mother Madam, led the troops to Yanmen Pass in order to attack Chitan. With the help of the pass board Princess Tiejing stealing from the Queen, Silang succeeded in meeting with his mother in the Song Camps in private. However, when he returned to Chitan in the very night, the Queen learnt about it, arrested him in anger and gave order for his death. Princess Tiejing was heartbroken and begged her mother to pardon her husband. Finally, Silang survived the death penalty.

Martial: The Crossroads part I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWb8zqH2CR4 The Crossroads part II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOwTVBzWXWc&list=UUnRUniNGXcxc3yObE5_066w The Crossroads is one of the most classic kung fu style repertoires with no dialog or singing in Beijing Opera. This story happened during the Song dynasty. Jiao Zan was exiled to Shamen Island for the murder of a wicked government official. On his way to the island he stayed at a guest house where his friends had followed him to secretly protect him. The owner of the house misunderstood that he intended to kill Jiao Zan. They fought in the dark until Jiao Zan appears in time to clear up the misunderstanding.
Themes of Peking opera includes more than 1,400 works. Early plays were often adaptations from earlier Chinese theatre styles, such as kunqu. The oldest and most generally used system is to sort plays into civil and martial types. Civil plays focus on the relationships between characters and their personal, domestic, and romantic situations. Martial plays feature a greater emphasis on action and combat skill.
This paper was a summation of the five key characteristics of Beijing Opera. The first, musical instruments of wen chang and wu chang. These instruments are used to accompany singing and create atmosphere. Second, performance roles that consist of sheng, tan, ching, and ch’ou. Third, face painting helps the audience distinguish to character’s role and morality. Fourth, costumes indicates the ranking of the character by different colors. Finally, style or theme consisting of civil and martial forms. Each key characteristic is a main component that makes Beijing Opera so beautiful.
With the combination of dance, mime, acrobatics, music, and vocal performance this amazing genre is a wonderful way to express Chinese culture and history. Beijing Opera contains the soul of Chinese national culture. Its unique charm inspires the character of Chinese people. There is no doubt that it is truly a treasure of the Chinese culture. The Liyuan Theatre in Beijing is the best choice to experience this art form in its true nature.