History of Peking Opera

Beijing Opera, known as the "national quintessence" of China, has a history of nearly 200 years. The name of Peking Opera first appeared in Shenbao in the second year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1876). Historically, it has been called Pihuang, Huang Er, Huang Qiang, Peking Opera, Pingju and National Opera. Four classes went to Beijing in the 55th year of Qing Qianlong (1790), and went through five stages with Kunqu opera and Han opera in Beijing. Its rich repertoire, the number of performing artists, the number of troupes, the number of audiences and the profound influence are the highest in the country.

Peking Opera is a comprehensive performing art, which integrates singing (singing), chanting (reciting), acting (acting), fighting (martial arts) and dancing (dancing). Through program performance, it tells stories, depicts characters and expresses thoughts and feelings such as "happiness, anger, sadness, joy, fear and sadness". Roles can be divided into four categories: raw (male), Dan (female), pure (male) and ugly (both male and female). Characters are divided into loyalty, ugliness, good and evil. The characters are lifelike, lifelike.

The formation and spread of Peking Opera: Peking Opera was formerly a Huizhou class popular in the south of the Yangtze River in the early Qing Dynasty, which mainly sang and blew tunes, played high-pitched and Huang Er. Huiban has strong mobility, frequent contact with other operas, and mutual communication and infiltration in vocal cavity. Therefore, in the process of development, it also performed many Kunqu operas, and also absorbed Luoluo cavity and other zaju. In the fifty-fifth year of Qing Qianlong (1790), the first Huizhou class (Sanqing class) headed by Gao Langting (a famous Yueguan) went to Beijing to participate in the celebration performance of Qianlong's 80th birthday. "Yangzhou Painting Boat Record" contains: "Gaolang Pavilion entered Beijing, with Anqing Flower Department and Beijing-Qin Erqiang, and the class name was Sanqing." Later, many Huizhou classes went to Beijing in succession. The famous classes are Sanqing, Sixi, Chuntai and Hechun, which were later called "Four Huizhou Classes in Beijing".

During the Qianlong and Jiaqing years, Beijing was rich in cultural relics, politically stable, economically prosperous, and various artists gathered. Kunqu Opera, Peking Opera and Shaanxi Opera are opposites on the Beijing stage. After arriving in Beijing, Huiban carried forward the tradition of learning from others, widely absorbed the repertoire and performance methods of Qin Opera (including some Beijing operas), and inherited many Kunqu operas, so it was rapidly improved in art.

The formal formation of Peking Opera was about twenty years after Daoguang (1840). There have been a number of plays with the characteristics of Beijing opera, and the first generation of Beijing opera actors have also appeared. Cheng Changgeng is a representative figure in this period. There are more than 1000 kinds of traditional operas in Beijing Opera, and there are more than 300 kinds that are often performed. Beijing opera is good at expressing political and military struggles with historical themes, and most of the stories are taken from historical romances and novel scripts. There are not only the whole drama, but also a large number of passbook dramas, in addition to some series.

In the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867), Peking Opera spread to Shanghai. Thus making it another Peking Opera center with the same reputation as Beijing. Before Beijing Opera entered Shanghai, that is, after the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), it spread rapidly all over the country with business trips and theatrical performances. 19 19, Mei Lanfang led a troupe to perform in Japan, and Peking Opera spread overseas for the first time. Since then, Peking Opera has been regarded as a school of drama in China all over the world.