Why do opera actors paint their faces?

On the stage of opera, some actors have their faces colorfully depicted with various patterns called face paint. Generally used to play the role of net, ugly role of a variety of characters, it and the role of raw, Dan slightly applied ink make-up is different, with exaggerated colors and lines to highlight the character traits of the characters, so that the audience look at the face, it will be aware of the role of the person. This is a kind of patterned character makeup, which is also unique to Chinese opera. Opera face painting is usually divided into two categories, namely, pure-legged face painting and ugly-legged face painting. Pure-footed faces have red, black, and white faces, while clown faces mainly have white powder blocks outlined on the bridge of the nose, commonly known as "tofu block faces". Generally, the red face represents loyalty and courage (e.g. Guan Yu), the black face represents uprightness (e.g. Bao Zheng and Zhang Fei), and the white face represents treachery and evil (e.g. Cao Cao). However, the same black-based face paint, due to different specific patterns, can show different looks, such as Xiang Yu's crying, Zhang Fei's laughter, and Bao Zheng's sadness. Face painting makes the character's personality clear at a glance.