Beijing Opera Overview

Beijing Opera

Beijing Opera or Jingju is a national opera of China, which is also known as Peking Opera. Beijing Opera is engrained in Chinese culture, but it is not a native opera in Beijing. It came from the south of China to Beijing and was formed by the exchange between actors. Beijing Opera has been popular for more than 150 years. You will learn something about all aspects of the opera in this chapter. More specifically, the chapter will discuss types of facial makeup found in Beijing Opera, types of roles played in Beijing Opera and the long-held traditions of Beijing Opera.

Types of Roles in Beijing Opera

Keep in mind that although the following roles are primary, not all Beijing Opera shows are performed this way. The following is a discussion of types of roles in Beijing Opera that are called Hangdang (行当). There are four major types. They are Sheng (生), Dan (旦), Jing (净) and Chou (丑). Then which kinds of roles in Beijing Opera have a mask-like painted face? 

A) Sheng (生) B) Dan (旦) C) Jing (净) D) Chou (丑)

The answer to the question is C and D. Jing and Chou are male characters in Beijing Opera with a painted face. Jing is the primary type of facial makeup for those male characters who are straightforward, unsophisticated, rough or boorish. Chou is the minor type of facial makeup, for those male characters who are resourceful, quick-witted, humorous, insidious or cunning.

Sheng is a type of role for handsome men, old and young. The old ones usually wear an artificial beard. Dan is a type of role for a woman, or for a womanish man.

Having reviewed these roles, can you determine what type of role Tang Seng, the Buddhist monk with a kind face, would play in Beijing Opera?

Yes, it would be a Dan!

Tang Seng is a handsome man of long life. He is a steady man with an old head on young shoulders. He talks womanishly, and he is always long-winded (taking more time than necessary to say something).

Traditions of Beijing Opera

1.    Brief Introduction to the Beginning of Beijing Opera

Beijing Opera came into being when Anhui opera troupes visited Peking (renamed Beijing in 1949) in 1790 and stayed there ever since. The Beijing Opera began and flourished under the imperial patron and subsequently became accessible to ordinary people.

In Beijing, these troupes combined the two main types of melodies in traditional Chinese operas, “erhuang (二黄)”  and “xipi (西皮)”,  (erhuang + xipi = pihuang 皮黄=jingju). Both were performed mostly on stage in the open air. The orchestra played loudly, and the performers would sing in a sharp style. They usually wore costumes of sharply contrasting colors, like those of Henri Matisse. One famous type of costume is an official robe called “mang” which is embroidered with different kinds of Chinese dragons with four or five claws.

The instruments for the orchestra are mainly the Huqin (Chinese violin), Erhu (a two-stringed fiddle), Yueqin (four-stringed and full-moon-shaped guitar), Sheng (reed pipe) and Pipa (lute). They are often played for a peaceful scene (文场). To depict a battle scene (武场), Beijing Opera has a percussion band, whose commonly used instruments include small and large gongs and cymbals (naobo, 铙钱). The band sits on the left side of the stage. In the band, one person plays the Ban (like castanets) and drum simultaneously. He conducts the band.

“Kuang qi Tai Tai, Kuang qi Tai Tai” is the melody known to every household in China.

2.    Features of Beijing Opera

The main feature of Beijing Opera is symbolic, stylized and integrated into the performances. Here are some examples.

A table on the stage in Beijing Opera can be imagined as a bridge, as in a story about Zhong Kui and his sister. It could also be well, as in a story from the Three King Kingdoms.

The use of a fan is stylized in Beijing Opera with different roles. A Dan fans a Sheng fans himself about his belly, and a Jing fans himself about his hip.

Any dramatic piece of Beijing Opera is integrated, and an example of this It is a harmonious combination of some local operas, dramas, ballet and acrobatics, consisting of dances, dialogues, monologues, martial arts, and mimes.

The melodic lines of a song in Beijing Opera are in rhyme, like an English limerick. This is figuratively called to follow the “rut” (the broad narrow mark in the ground made by a wheel). Below are two lines from a song in Shajiabang.

想当初老子的队伍才开张(Zhang),

拢共才有十几个人七八条枪(Qiang)。

In English, it goes ：

I still remembered that hard time of mine,

Winning a dozen men with half a dozen guns.

Types of Facial Makeup in Beijing Opera

We will emphasize the mask-like types of facial makeup in Beijing Opera, known as Lianpu (脸谱), which is usually reserved for male roles. Also, the color of facial makeup plays an outstanding part in showing the personality of the role in Beijing Opera. Facial makeups are not masks, which are separate from the face.

They are colors or patterns painted on the face, based on the descriptions of the roles in classical stories. They are usually simplified or exaggerated to point to the personality of certain character types, such as a blue face for a brave person, a red face for a loyal individual, or a white face for a cunning figure. Listed below are some typical examples.

1. Dou Erdun (a Chinese Robin Hood)

In Beijing Opera,  the blue face is reserved traditionally for the brave and proud, usually the one who plans well when doing things. The color of facial makeup for Dou Erdun is blue.

Dou Erdun was a Chinese Robin Hood with powerful back and shoulders, who fought against the Qing Dynasty. He was the 2nd child in the family and had an elder brother. That is the Chinese character “二”（er), which is now formally written as “尔” (er) in the play. The character “dun” is similar to the English suffix -ump (meaning “to come in contact heavily”)as in words like plump, rump. Dou Erdun had the guts to steal a royal horse. He is remembered as gallant and brave.

Also, he was skillful in using each of the 18 weapons (刀dāo, 枪qiāng, 剑jiàn, 戟jǐ, 斧fǔ, 钺yuè, 钩gōu, 叉chā, 鞭biān, 锏jiǎn, 锤chuí,抓zhuā, 镜jìng, 胎tāi, 链liàn, 槊shuò, 棒bàng, 拐子guǎi zi, 流星liú xīng). In fact, he is especially good at fighting with his hook-like,hand-guard swords which are recalled in the way his eyebrows are painted to resemble his swords.

2. Guangong (a well-known general of the Three Kingdoms Period)

In Beijing Opera, Guangong’s face is traditionally painted red, depicting the character as being very heroic or honest.

Guangong is one of the well-known characters in The Three Kingdoms.

Gong is a word showing respect for addressing an old man in Medieval China, which roughly means Mister. Traditionally, men describe themselves with another name to further explain the meaning of their name.

Yunchang, the style name, was the name people respectfully called Guangong. When Guangong referred to himself, he would use his name Yu, which meant feather. What kind of feather do you think it refers to in his name? It is the one as long as a cloud, which gives meaning to Yunchang.

Finally, the three lines at the forehead and the top of the nose bridge which connect the eyebrows stand for these three figures: Liu, Guan, and Zhang. They are the characters who took an oath of brotherhood with emphasis placed on the middle one.

3. Cao Cao (a crafty prime minister in the Han Dynasty)

Cao Cao was a crafty prime minister in Han Dynasty, adept at both sword and pen. He is traditionally painted white, for the color white represents the deceitful as well as the self-willed. The knitted lines between his brows suggest that he was a very suspicious man. As a poet, he wrote well-known lines, “to enjoy wine and song while we can, for life is short”.

4. Dian Wei (a mighty and loyal warrior)

The color yellow, which stands for cruelty and intense fierceness, is applied to another figure in Beijing Opera called Dian Wei. Dian Wei was a mighty warrior under Cao Cao. He was Cao’s favorite bodyguard. Cao Cao was unfortunate and cried when Dian Wei died. Dian Wei had a loyal heart for Cao Cao, which was shown by the color on his cheeks.

Also, he was good at using a Chinese halberd, the spear with a double-sword head instead of the one resembling the ax, and he killed many powerful enemies with this weapon.

5. Baogong (Judge Baogong)

Blackface stands for being upright and straightforward. Neither bribes nor pressure could deflect Judge Bao from administrating the law justly. The scar, left by a horse hoof when the child Bao slept beside a country road, resembled a crescent moon. His white moon-shaped scar on the black forehead was the passport to the underworld.

Judge Baogong was said to use a set of head cutters - similar to hand hay Cutters - to behead. Baogong was known to cut up evildoers for the good of the people and of the country.

6. Zhang Fei (a fierce and forthright hero)

Today Zhang Fei sings and acts a lot on the stage instead of acrobatic fighting performance, and the facial makeup of Zhang Fei becomes a black cross. In the past, the whole face of Zhang Fei was painted black. Presently, only the forehead is black. There is a butterfly around the top of the cross, which stands for the Chinese character “飞”, meaning “to fly.”

He was a mighty warrior, good at using a lance with a head like a snake’s forked tongue.

7. Zhu Bajie (an unsavory character in The Pilgrimage to the West)

Blackface also stands for the unrestrained and unrefined as Zhu Bajie typifies.

Zhu Bajie is a character in The Pilgrimage to the West or The Chinese Odyssey. Zhu Bajie is sometimes the symbol of man’s greed, even though he has got a Buddhist bead on his forehead (Zhao Yongqi, 2010). He kills and lies. He is fond of women and the bottle (wine). He is greedy, eating too much, and he is lazy in doing work.

8. Lian Po (a man who can correct his mistake as soon as he is aware of it)

A pink face embodies being old in years, but young in spirit. The lines between his brows suggest that he took things too seriously.

Lian Po is an outstanding general of Zhao, one of the Warring States. When a minister of Zhao won a verbal battle and was promoted above him, he tried to put this minister to shame. But the minister hid from the old general and said if they fought, their enemies from other states would gain. When these words reached

Lian Po’s ears, he realized that he had made a mistake. Hence, he carried a rod on his back and asked to be thrashed as punishment. In the end, the minister shook his hands.

This is a story of making peace as the general and the terms with each other.

9. Zhong Kui (Prince of Ghosts)

Zhong Kui with a red face is a legendary heroic figure against evil influence. There is a green bat painted on his red forehead, which stands for ghosts.

With the material help of a hometown friend, Zhong Kui went to take the imperial exam and achieved the best score. But the title of Number One Scholar was removed, just due to his being too ugly. He was furious and killed himself. Being a ghost, he never did anything terrible to the people. Later he became Prince of Ghosts and returned home, and married his sister to this hometown friend.

10. Xiang Yu (a king who failed to achieve his wish)

The white face of the self-willed Xiang Yu is sad with sunken eyecups. The eyebrows of Xiang Yu are highly symbolic, looking like the Chinese character “寿” (shou), which means long life. However, a sad “long life” suggests a short one. There is a story, Farewell My Concubine, which tells that he met his Waterloo at the battle of Gaixia and he killed himself, so he failed in the halfway of his conquest.

11. Sun Wukong (the Monkey King)

Sun Wukong is one of the most important figures in the novel, The Pilgrimage to the West. Sun Wukong has the skills to transform himself in 72 different ways. In Beijing Opera, he has the golden facial makeup (the color is usually for a god or a Buddha), which is one of the most natural recognizable faces to foreign visitors to China.

The Monkey King is a hyperactive role on the stage, as in the play Havoc in Heaven. He jumps and does somersaults like monkeys. All the while, he has a potent weapon called Golden Cudgel.

12. Shi Qian (a role of a clown)

Shi Qian is a clown with thievish eyebrows. He is said to have the kungfu of a flea, and he could dance on a drum without making any sound.

He is the tricky comedian in Beijing Opera, so his face is painted white with a kite-shaped cake of tofu (bean curd) pattern.

In summary, the above are some types of facial makeup that you can see in the Beijing Opera. Each makeup scheme and color signifies one face or character for each man. The faces are modeled afterlife, but much exaggerated and symbolic.

Also, one version of opera history traces the origin of the types of facial makeup to about 1,500 years ago. There was a king of Lanling (兰陵) a strong and brave warrior, with a pretty face of a woman. Every time he fought, he wore a mask of a monster and won. The story goes that later people danced and sang songs with each of them wearing a monster mask. The king of Lanling wore purple, like those of the carnival masks in Venice, or those of the Piet, a Celtic tribe people in Ireland.

Closing Remarks

This brief a glimpse into Beijing Opera above is like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water. It is an elementary introduction in which the subject has been slightly elucidated without much detail. 

Beijing Opera is the quintessence of Chinese culture. It is loved by all men and women, old and young, at home or abroad. As the final note, Beijing Opera, along with acupuncture, was included on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2010.