Beijing Opera ( Peking Opera) is a national treasure with a history of 200 years. It is widely regarded as the highest expression of the Chinese culture. It is known as one of the three main theatrical systems in the world. Artistically, Beijing Opera is perhaps the most refined form of opera in the world. It has deeply influenced the hearts of the Chinese people.

In the 55^th year of the reign of Emperor Qiánlóng 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 theoretical circle of the time.  Through a period of more than half a century of combination and integration of various kinds of opera in China, whose richness of repertoire, great number of artists of performance and of audiences, and profound influence are incomparable in China.

Beijing 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.  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.

Beijing Opera got its two main melodies, Xi Pi and Er_Huang.  It then absorbed music and arias from other operas and musical arts in China.  The performance is accompanied by a tune played on wind instruments, percussion instruments and stringed instruments, the chief musical instruments being a two-stringed bowed instrument with a high register, a four –stringed plucked instrument with a full-moon-shaped sound box, 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 patterns are adopted, the costumes are of a high aesthetic value.

Depicting different characters and remarkable images, the types of facial make-ups in Beijing opera are rich and various.  Therefore they are highly appreciated.  Moreover there are numerous fixed editions of facial make-up.

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 royal family and came into the public later. In 1828, some famous Hubei Troupe players came to Beijing. Hubei and Anhui troupes often jointly performed in the stage. The combination gradually formed the mainstream of Beijing Opera’s melodies. One of the rare forms of entertainment, it was favored by people from all walks of the society, from the high-ranking government officials to the lower levels of society. There are thousands of pieces covering the entire history and literature of China, even including revised stories from the west.

There are as many kinds of Chinese Opera as there are dialects. It has been estimated that there are thousands branches of Chinese Opera. Most of them are local, dominating a region within a province and its surrounding area. However, Beijing Opera is the national standard, and has a higher reputation than any of the other branches of Chinese Opera Almost every province of China has more than one Beijing Opera troupe. Beijing and Tianjin are respected as the key base cities in the north while Shanghai is the base in the south.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Beijing Opera suffered along with other kinds of theatrical arts in China. All the traditional pieces reflecting the Old Societies were banned from performance. The famous Eight Model Plays, featuring the communist activities during the anti-Japanese war and the civil war with the Nationalists, as well as the class struggles after the founding of the People’s Republic, were then developed. Many outstanding Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera actors and actresses performed in these operas. Although “Class Struggle” was the theme of most of these plays, these plays introduced some new forms of stage performances. Many people who grew up during the Cultural Revolution are still in favor of the music and singing from the Eight Model Plays.

Traditional Beijing Opera was allowed to be shown again in 1978. But due to the threat from other entertainments, Beijing Opera’s out-of-date styles and the lack of historical and theatrical knowledge of the young, this art had lost a lot of its audiences. Most of the audiences are old people, who were children when Beijing Opera was at its peak. The art is dying.

Peking Opera house of Beijing has been invited to perform in U.S.A., England, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Brazil Turkey Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.  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.

Beijing opera has become more and more popular with people all over the world, and it has made an excellent improvement of solidarity.  There have been campaigns and efforts to rescue this and other theatrical arts. The Chinese Opera journal has sponsored the annual Plum Blossom Award for more than ten years. Each year, the journal invites dozens of opera and drama players to perform in a Beijing theater. Winners include actors and actresses from all around China. Other performance competitions among the young actors and actresses have been screened live and aired in China Central Television CCTV, the largest TV network in China, and national radio stations.  A so-called Beijing Opera Month just finished lately in Beijing.

  FaMen Temple

  Dismissed from Office

  Empty City

  Teaching Son

  Losing JieTing

  Executing MaSu

  Palace Sit-in