History of Peking Opera

Peking Opera, also called Peking Opera, is one of China's operas. Peking Opera was formed in Beijing in the middle of the19th century. It combines Hui Opera and Han Opera, and absorbs the advantages of Bangzi, Kunqu Opera, Qin Opera and Yiyang Opera. After the formation of Peking Opera, it gained unprecedented prosperity in the Qing court. Peking Opera is characterized by Xipi and Huanger, accompanied by huqin and gongs and drums, and is regarded as the quintessence of Chinese culture.

Origin and formation

In the fifty-fifth year of Qing Qianlong (A.D. 1790), four Anhui opera classes from southern China came to Beijing one after another. The first Huiban who went to Beijing was Sanqing, who mainly sang Huang Er tune. Because of its rich tunes and various tracks, it gradually overwhelmed the Shaanxi opera prevailing in Beijing at that time. Many Shaanxi opera actors transferred to Anhui opera class, which formed the fusion of Anhui opera and Shaanxi opera. Subsequently, three other Huizhou classes, Sixi class, Chuntai class and Hechun class, also came to Beijing, which led to the gradual decline of Kunqu opera, which had been popular for many years, and more Kunqu opera actors moved to Huizhou class.

During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty (around 1828), Hubei performers went to Beijing and brought Han tunes (Chu tunes and Xipi tunes). Many artists from Han Dynasty joined the Huiban and performed on the same stage with the Huiban, which formed the confluence of Xipi and Huang Er and formed the so-called "Pihuang Opera". At this time, the Pihuang opera, which was formed in the capital, was influenced by Beijing pronunciation and accent and had the characteristics of "Beijing dialect".

Later, because they often performed in Shanghai, Shanghainese called this kind of Pihuang drama with Beijing characteristics "Peking Opera", also called "Peking Opera". Because of the rapid development of Beijing Opera in Beijing, its artistic level ranks among the best in China's operas, and then it is popular all over the country, so it is also called "National Opera".