Beijing Opera #Peking Opera is the most colourful, spectacular performance art that dazzles and often fascinates foreigners. Peking opera, or the Beijing Opera, is also referred to as Pingju or Jingxi in Chinese. It is the most influential Chinese opera centred in Beijing and has a history of more than 200 years.
It is one of China’s major traditional art forms listed under the UNESCO Intangible World Heritage list since 2010. The tune of Peking opera is quite similar to that of Han opera, therefore, Han opera is widely known as the Mother of Peking opera. The origin of the Peking opera is from the southern Anhui and eastern Hubei provinces of China, which share the same dialect as Xiajiang Mandarin.
Peking opera is a performance art that consists of singing, reciting, acting and martial arts. Peking Opera’s performance system, named after Mei Lanfang, is regarded as the representative of the Oriental theatre performance system and is one of the three major performance systems in the world. The dramas are mainly composed of historical stories, historical events, emperors and generals, famous women of the past dynasties, and Chinese literature and classical novels.
There are about 1,300 traditional repertoires and over 400 are performed. The Peking Opera’s two main melodies are Xipi and Erhuang melodies, which have harmonious rhythms and are described as graceful and pleasing to the ears. There are four main types of roles in Peking opera: male (sheng), painted-face male (jing), female (dan) and clown (chou).
Each of these role types has several different subsets differentiated by age and personality. Peking opera singers vocalise with a tonal quality that can be characterised as bright, straight and nasal. The performance is accompanied by a tune played on wind instruments, percussion instruments and stringed instruments. The chief musical instruments are jinghu, yueqin, Sanxian and Suona.
The five most popular Beijing Opera Stories are: 有5个最受欢迎的京剧故事-
Farewell My Concubine 霸王别姬
It tells the story of Xiang Yu and Liu Bang fighting for the dynasty. In the play, Xiang Yu is surrounded by Liu Bang’s army and is about to fail. Looking at the only woman in front of him, Yu Ji, who accompanies her from birth to death in every war after marrying herself, not only sings tragedy of Yu Ji Seeing Xiang Yu being trapped, she feels heartache. She doesn’t want to be a burden to her lover, so she drew her sword and died by suicide.
She wants to use her death to arouse her lover’s heroic spirit. She hopes that Xiang Yu, who had always defeated the general, can break the siege and lose her spiritual support. Xiang Yu finally died by suicide in Wujiang at the age of 31. Heroes and beautiful women leave a story about eternal love. Love is not about glory and wealth but about perseverance in the face of catastrophe.
Drunken Beauty 贵妃醉酒
Emperor Tang Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty’s favourite concubine Yang Yu Huan’s beauty is known throughout the country and the city. She is proficient in rhythm, is good at singing and dancing, and at playing the pipa. Even Emperor Tang loved her very much. One day, Emperor Tang and Concubine Yang make an appointment at the pavilion of flowers to enjoy and drink. However, Emperor Tang does not attend and goes with another concubine. Concubine Yang is distraught, shows her drunken beauty after pouring her sorrow with wine, and returns to the palace in exhaustion.
And the other three stories include:
Zhaojun Departs the Frontier 昭君出塞
The Heavenly Maids Scatter Blossoms天女散花
Lady General Mu Takes Command 穆桂英挂帅
Peking Opera is the most wonderful and rich performing art. It is loved by many people; many international friends have come to China to learn Peking Opera. CCTV 4 has broadcast Peking Opera in both Chinese and English many times. Peking Opera has been on the stage of all countries in the world, becoming a bridge of cultural exchanges and friendship between China and foreign countries.
If you travel to Beijing, you must not miss the wonderful Peking Opera performance. You will fall in love with the Chinese tradition and its mesmerising cultural heritage. Thank you for watching this space. We will bring more fascinating stories on Chinese culture. Don’t forget to like, share and comment on the post.
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Credit — Voice by: Miss Sun Feng ; Actress in picture: Miss Sun Feng; Picture courtesy: Longfeng Palace, Zhengzhou, China (http://www.zzlfg.com/) ; Editing Team: XuFancheng Culture Study Center — Beijing Opera Tune (Jing Diao); Jiangsu Song and Dance Ensemble Folk Orchestra. For more information, visit us here or here.