A theater that combines many arts
Chinese opera is not opera in the Western sense of a sung drama only. It blends song, spoken lines, acting, mime, dance, martial skills and acrobatics, supported by live music, with painted faces and elaborate costume. Performers train for years in all of these skills. The result is a style of theater in which a story is told as much through movement and convention as through words.
Early roots
Performance traditions in China go back very far, including ritual dance, court entertainment, comic skits and storytelling. These strands slowly merged. By the Song dynasty, urban entertainment districts offered skits, songs and varied acts. A more developed form of drama appeared in the Yuan dynasty, usually called zaju, which combined song, speech and music in a four-act structure, and a number of plays from this period are still read and studied.
Kunqu and the rise of regional styles
In later centuries, a refined style called Kunqu, named after the Kunshan area, became prominent. It has a gentle, lyrical singing style accompanied by flute and other instruments, and it was admired by educated audiences. Meanwhile, many other regional types of opera developed, each using local dialect, music and stories. There were different sung forms in the north and south, and a wide range of local theater in towns and villages.
Beijing opera (also called Peking opera) took its familiar shape in the Qing dynasty, usually dated to the late eighteenth century, when troupes from different regions performed in the capital and their styles merged with others. It became widely known across the country. Other well-known styles include Cantonese opera in the south, Sichuan opera with its quick mask-changing tricks, and many local forms. Today, a count of regional types is often given in the hundreds, though the exact number depends on how they are classified.
Stage conventions
Opera stages are usually bare, with a few pieces of furniture such as a table and chairs that can stand for many things. Instead of scenery, performers use stylized actions. A rider may hold a whip to show a horse, a movement around the stage can indicate a journey, and flicking a sleeve can express emotion. Audiences learn to read these signs, and they often enjoy seeing how skillfully the actor performs them.
Music is central. Percussion marks the pace of action and entrance of characters, while string and wind instruments accompany the singing. Some traditional instruments heard in opera, such as the erhu, are discussed in our article on traditional instruments.
Roles, face paint and costume
Characters are generally grouped into role types:
- Sheng, male roles, including scholars, officials and warriors.
- Dan, female roles. In many traditions, men once played these parts, though women now perform them too.
- Jing, roles with painted faces, often strong or unusual characters.
- Chou, comic roles, often marked by a patch of white paint on the nose.
Face paint in particular conveys information at a glance. Colors can suggest personality traits, for example red is often associated with loyalty or bravery, though the meanings vary somewhat by style and character. Our article on color symbolism covers the wider background to such associations.
Costume is rich and symbolic. Embroidered robes, headdresses, long “water sleeves” and feathered helmets show rank, gender and mood. The costume is meant to be striking from far away, and the look of an opera performer is itself a well-known image of Chinese theater.
Stories and influence
Opera plots draw on history, legend and fiction. Tales from the Three Kingdoms, outlaw stories, supernatural romances, and episodes from the great classical novels have been favorites. For many people in the past, particularly those who could not read, opera was the way they learned the main stories of their history and the moral ideas attached to them, such as loyalty, filial duty and justice.
Because of this, opera shaped popular culture. Characters and incidents entered everyday speech, and well-known lines became sayings. Opera performances were also woven into community life, staged at temple fairs, festivals and family celebrations, often on temporary outdoor stages. Opera’s styles influenced the visual arts, such as New Year prints and puppet theater, and later influenced film and other media.
Opera today
In the twentieth century, opera went through major changes in organization, training, subject matter and staging. Troupes, schools and theaters adapted to new audiences and technology. Many regional forms face challenges as audiences shift to other entertainment, and preservation and training programs have been set up to support them. At the same time, opera is still performed widely, from major theaters to parks and village stages, and many younger performers experiment with new productions. Anyone attending for the first time will find it easier to enjoy with a short summary of the plot and a basic idea of the role types, and then to simply follow the music and movement.