Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
Chinese Opera

Next

Back

Home

Chinese Opera is not a true approximation of Western Opera. It is in fact, a loose term to describe a special type of theatre which combines singing, acting, dancing, acrobatics, poetic and musical recital to create a narrative based on a folktale or historic event. There are many types of Chinese opera ranging from the classical Peking Opera to the more earthy Cantonese form. There are also many other forms reflecting the cultures of the various minorities that exist in China. Like most other people the world over, the Chinese have always expressed themselves in elaborate song and dance performances which eventually turned into dramatic recitals. Opera in its present form seems to have had the patronage of the imperial courts since the Chou dynasty. The "Hundred Plays" or "Pai Xi" were mainly acrobatic forms of the art that became popular when the great merchant and craftsmen guilds began to spread over the country and brought with them, stages for production of such plays. In an early account of the workers' life in Chingtehchen, the great ceramic centre in Kiangsi, there are records stating that kiln managers were to be fined if they did not keep their agreement to pay for workers' entertainment in the form of operas on stipulated days. Also, in many rural areas especially in Northern China along the "Old Silk Road", one can still see stages for opera in the grounds of old temples. The Yuan dynasty during the 13th and 14th centuries A.D, is regared as the "Golden Age" of Chinese Opera and under Mongol rule became the basis for most of "modern" Peking Opera. The first Chinese opera came to the West in the 18th century. It was a drama entitled "The Chao Family Orphan" written by a 14th century Yuan playwright named Chi Chun-Xiang. It is rarely performed now because it is not easy to sing. It is about a military leader who murders all the members with the exception of a male child who is rescued and reared by a loyal servant. At least five adaptions of it were made including an English version by the playwright Hatchett. Goethe is also said to have based his play "Elpenor" on it. Chinese opera training requires its participants to start at an early age, well before adolescence. Training is arduous and strenuous. In the old days, trainee-apprentice actors/singers were expected to stand out in the open and face a wall in the early morning. There, they practised voice production, somersaults, various manners of walking, specific complicated leg and arm movements and a variety of roles. They had to succeed at all these or else they would end up as an underpaid supernumerary who either carried a banner or acted as a member of a retinue for one of the "great lords" if he was lucky enough to hold his employment at all. As in Elizabethan England and the present day Kabuki and Noh theatre acting was considered a male profession with men playing female parts. In fact, the most famous and influential actor of the 20th century was Mei Lan-Feng, a man who specialised in female heroine roles. Nevertheless, all female amateur troupes did exist during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Also, women have now been allowed to train for female parts in main stream theatre.

Next

Back

Home

Next Back Home