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Beijing Opera

About Beijing Opera

Although it is called Beijing opera, its origins are in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Hubei.

Beijing opera’s two main melodies; Xipi and Erhuang originated from Anhui and Hubei operas. Much dialogue is also carried out in an archaic dialect originating partially from those regions. It also absorbed music and arias from other operas and musical arts such as the historic Qinqiang as well as being very strongly influenced by Kunqu, the form that preceded it as court art. It is regarded that Beijing opera was born when the Four Great Anhui Troupes came to Beijing in 1790. Beijing opera was originally staged for the court and came into the public later. In 1828, some famous Hubei troupes came to Beijing. They often jointly performed in the stage with Anhui troupes. The combination gradually formed Beijing opera’s main melodies.

Four main roles

* Sheng (生, Male role)
* Dan (旦, Female role)
* Jing (净, Painted face male role)
* Chou (丑, Clown role)

The three roles other than the second role represent male characters.

There is an explanation about why the roles take the names above. It is said that they were chosen to have opposite meanings. Sheng in Chinese may mean “strange” or “rare”, but the chief male role is a well known character. Dan, which means “morning” or “masculine”, is contrary to the feminine nature of the characters. Jing means “clean”, but in fact the paintings on their faces make the characters look unclean but colorful. And Chou in Chinese sometimes represents the animal “ox”, which, in some senses, is slow and silent - in contrast, the Chou characters are usually quick and talkative.

Four Great Dans

* Mei Lanfang
* Cheng Yanqiu
* Shang Xiaoyun
* Xun Huisheng

Repertoire

The traditional repertoire of Beijing opera includes more than 1,000 works, mostly taken from historical novels or traditional stories about civil, political and military struggles.

Modern live productions for tourists include English language displays of the text, useful for those unfamiliar with the classic stories.