1. CHINESE OPERA
戏曲 (XÌQǓ)
JOSEPH GOOD, ALESSANDRO BAZZOLI, WILL ATKINSON, VIKING BOHMAN,
MATTEO LINDLEY, PORT KOSSMANN, SEBASTIAN HICKS
PROFESSOR: 刘老师
FALL TERM 2016
2. STRUCTURE
1. Introduction and Vocabulary (Alessandro)
2. Chinese Opera
1. Background (Joey)
2. Beijing Opera (Joey)
3. Canton Opera (Sebastian)
4. Classical Pieces (Sebastian)
3. Historical Development
1. Traditional/Dynastic China (Matteo)
2. Maoist China (Port)
3. Modern Times (Viking)
4. Symbolism: Colours and Costumes (Will)
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4. VOCABULARY
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假装 jiǎ zhuāng to prentend
艺术 yì shù art
唱 chàng to sing
腐败 fǔ bài corruption
文化 wén huà culture
花 huā flower
剧院 jù yuàn theater
表演 biǎo yǎn to act
颜色 yán sè colour
画 huà paint
紫 zǐ purple
求婚 qiú hūn to ask for marriage
5. CHINESE OPERA:
BACKGROUND
• there are over 360 different types of Chinese opera
• most famous include Beijing, Cantonese, Kunqu and Xiqu
• many are centuries old
• at one point, there were over 10,000 individual operas
• Now: only about 4,700
• Similar character stereotypes exist in every different kind of
Chinese opera
• Plot lines revolve around:
• Comedy
• Romance
• political and military strife
Beijing Opera is considered China's national art form.
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6. EXAMPLE: BEIJING OPERA
• Beijing Opera was formally created in 1790
and has remained widely popular ever since
• Very symbolic
• All acting revolves around miming.
• Few props are used -> all focus on the
actors
• Four categories of characters
• 生 [Sheng] (male characters)
• Laosheng (老生)，Xiaosheng (小生),
Wusheng (武生)
• 旦 [Deng] (female characters)
• Zhengdan (正旦), Laodan (老旦), Huadan
(花旦), Wudan (武旦) and Daomadan (刀
马旦)
• 净 [Jing] (characters with painted faces)
• Zhengjing (正净), Fujing (副净), Wujing (
武净), Maojing (毛净)
• 丑 [Fujing] (clowns)
• Wenchou (文丑), Wuchou (武丑),
Nüchou (女丑)
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• Actors are mostly male, study for 8-10 years before being allowed to perform
• Actors usually come from the same families
7. CANTONESE OPERA
• Cantonese opera uses Mandarin or Guān Huà (官话; Cantonese:
Gun1 Waa6/2) when actors are involved with government,
monarchy, or military.
• music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics and acting are all featured in
Cantonese opera. Most of the plots are based on Chinese
history and famous Chinese classics and myths.
8. 紫钗记 ZǏ CHĀI JÌ
THE LEGEND OF THE PURPLE HAIRPIN
• Tong Dik Sang, Tang dynasty novel
• In the Tang Dynasty, a young scholar,
Li Yi, has travelled to the capital,
Chang’an, to take the national civil
examination.
• Li Yi by chance picks up a purple
hairpin that belongs to Huo Xiaoyu,
who falls in love with him at first
sight. She gives him the hairpin as a
token of her love for him.
• a high court official’s daughter meets
Li Yi, and asks to marry him but he is
already married.
9. 紫钗记
• He considers himself married to
Xiao yu.
• Sent to the front and goes into
poverty and has to sell the purple
hairpin
• Xiao yu goes to pray, and seeks
help from a man in a yellow robe.
He reveals his true identity, that
of the Fourth Prince. He is under
the Emperor’s instructions to
investigate Official Lo for treason.
11. DAWN OF CHINESE OPERA
• Two early plays put in scene simple
situations
• 参军戏 (Cānjūn xì): The Corrupt
Official mocked
• 大面(Dà miàn): A celebration of a
masked warrior
• First recurring roles and recurring
masks to show those roles
• Tang Dynasty (唐;Táng) first
flourishing of Chinese opera
• thanks to the emperor sponsored
troupe of the Pear Garden (梨园;
Líyuán) the first Chinese opera
troupe
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12. RISE OF CHINESE OPERA
• Yuan dynasty (元; Yuán)
• scholars and nobles embrace Chinese
Opera
• becomes de facto official (national) art form
• language of the opera switches from very
complex classical Chinese to local Chinese
dialects
• Ming dynasty (明; Míng)
• Chinese Opera assmuses its “Modern”
characteristic all characters now have
singing roles
• Qing dynasty (清; Qing) propagates opera to
the lower classes
• Republic of China (中华民国; Zhōnghuá
mínguó): Opera starts taking on elements of
Western plays
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13. OPERA IN EARLY
COMMUNIST CHINA
• golden age of Chinese Opera from 1830 until about 1960
• 1930s: Red Army cultural troupes use Opera to promote party goals
and Communist political philosophy
• 1940s: (re-)establishment of Chinese opera in most Communist-
controlled areas
• 1945+: Party encourages the development of Beijing Opera (京剧)
• earlier opera classics, new contemporary and historical pieces
• Opera reflected changes in the Chinese government‘s (cultural) policy
• 1956: Hundred Flowers Movement (百花运动 - Bǎihuā yùndòng)
• 1965: Controversy around popular opera „Han Rui Dismissed From
Office“(海瑞罢官 - Hǎi Ruì bà guān) is one of first major starting
events of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (文革 - wéngé)
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14. HAI RUI DISMISSED FROM OFFICE
(海瑞罢官 - HǍI RUÌ BÀ GUĀN)
• 1959 play about a Ming dynasty official
getting expelled from court after criticizing
the emperor
• Hugely popular, even approved earlier by Mao
• But: Parable to 1959 Mount Lu Conference (庐山
会议 - Lúshān huìyì) incident?
• 1965: utilized by Mao Zedong and his wife
Jiang Qing to start the Cultural Revolution
• zhǔxí 主席 - chairman
• Máo Zédōng 毛泽东
• tàitai 太太 – wife
• Jiāng Qīng 江青 - Jiang Qing
• wéngé 文革 – (short for) Cultural Revolution
• sìrénbāng 四人帮 - Gang of Four
• Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) lead to
banishment of all Chinese opera activities
• Except for 8 model operas (样板戏 - yàngbǎnxì)
• 1976+: revival of Beijing/Chinese opera
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一九七二年: 文革的时候
左边: 美国的总统尼克森
右边: 毛泽东的太太江青
1971: At the Time of the Cultural Revolution
Left side: U.S. president Richard Nixon
Right Side: Mao Zedong‘s wife Jiang Qing
15. CHINESE OPERA TODAY
Relatively popular
• Many old people (老年人) sing
for fun
• Shows in places such as Peking
Opera Theatre (正乙祠戏楼 -
Zhèngyǐcí Xìlóu)
A way to connect with traditional
China
• Incorporated into new music,
“One Night in Beijing” (北京一夜)
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http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjM4MzUzNzY4.html?from=s1.8-1-1.2&spm=a2h0k.8191407.0.0#paction
16. SYMBOLISM:
COLOURS AND COSTUMES
Cao Cao, a treacherous warlord
character, wears a mang.
Source: History of Peking Opera
• Chinese opera is highly symbolic
• scarcity of props on stage, those used are often
reference an object rather than showing it
directly
• meaning is emphasised over accurate depiction
• Chinese opera costumes are called Xingtou
行头, or more commonly Xifu 戏服
• primary function of costuming is to distinguish
the rank, gender and personality characteristics
of the character
• created through the use of colour and symbolic
association.
• Different characters:
• Mang
• Pei
• Xue
• Kao
• Yi
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17. SOURCES
• ‘An Introduction to Peking Opera’, the World of Chinese, available
at http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2014/11/and-introduction-
to-peking-opera/
• Cao Cao (picture): http://www.pekingopera.eu/pekingopera-
en.html
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