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Introduction of Peking Opera (Beijing Opera)
Peking opera of China is a national treasure with a
history of 200 years. In the 55th year of the reign of Emperor
Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty(1790) ,the four big Huiban opera Troupes
entered the capital and combined with Kunqu opera, Yiyang opera, Hanju
opera and Luantan in Beijing's thearetical circle of the time. Through
a period of more than half a century of combination and integration of
various kinds of opera there evolved the present Peking opera, the
biggest kind of opera in China, whose richness of repertoire, great
number of artists of performance and of audiences, and profound
influence are incomparable in China.
Peking opera is a synthesis of stylized action, singing, dialogue and
mime, acrobatic fighting and dancing to represent a story or depict
different characters and their feelings of gladness, anger, sorrow,
happiness, surprise, fear and sadness. In Peking opera there are four
main types of roles: sheng (male) dan (young female), jing( painted
face,male), and chou (clown, male or female). The characters may be
loyal or treacherous, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, their images
being vividly manifested. The repertoire of Peking opera
is mainly engaged in fairy tales of preceding dynasties, important
historical events, emperors, ministers and generals, geniuses and
great beauties, from the ancient times to Yao, Shun, Yu, the Spring
and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period and the dynasties of Qin,
Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. The music of
Peking opera is that of the "plate and cavity style".Its melody with
harmonious rhythms is graceful and pleasing to the ears. The melody
may be classified into two groups: "Xipi" and "erhong", guiding
pattern, original pattern, slow pattern, quick pattern, desultary
pattern being their chief patterns. The performance is accompanied by
a tune played on wind instruments, percussion instruments and stringed
instruments, the chief musical instruments being jinghu (a
two-stringed bowed instrument with a high register), yueqin( a
four-stringed plucked instrument with a full-moon-shaped sound box),
Sanxian( a three-stringed plucked instrument), suona horn, flute drum,
big-gong, cymbals, small-gong, etc. The costumes in
Peking opera are graceful, magnificent, elegant and brilliant, most of
which are made in handicraft embroidery. As the traditional Chinese
pattern are adopted, the costumes are of a high aesthetic value.
The types of facial make-ups in Peking opera are rich and various,
depicting different characters and remarkable images, therefore they
are highly appreciated. Moreover there are numerous fixed editions of
facial make-up. Since Mei Lanfang, the grand master of
Peking opera, visited Japan in 1919, Peking opera has become more and
more popular with people all over the world, and it has made an
excellent contribution to cultural exchange between China and the
West, to friendly association and to improvement of solidarity.
Peking Opera house of Beijing has been invited to perform in U.S.A.,
England, France, Germany, Italy (three times), Australia, Japan( four
times), Brazil, Turkey, Singapore, South korea and Hongkong (five
times). The performances have made an outstanding contribution to
Sino-foreign cultural exchange and to the promotion of friendly
association of peoples in the world, and were highly appreciated by
foreign audiences. In 1993 Peking Opera House of Beijing
as a big Peking opera troupe made a performance visit to Taiwan,
pushing the cultural exchange to a new height. Peking
Opera house of Beijing is willing to participate in activities of
international cultural exchange and of commercial performances and
sincerely hopes that friends in various countries will make contacts
with us about cultural exchange and performances. |
