Information of Chinese National Artist Peking Opera

Peking Opera, also known as "Pihuang", consists of two basic cadences, "Xipi" and "Erhuang", which make up its musical material, and some local tunes (such as liu ziqiang, blowing, etc.) and Kunqu tunes are also sung. It was formed in Beijing in the early 19th century. It was formed in Beijing around 1840 and flourished in the 1930s and 1940s, when it was known as the "National Opera". Nowadays, it is still a big opera with national influence. It is a representative of modern Chinese opera, with its comprehensive lineage, mature performances, and grandeur. Chinese Peking Opera is China's "national treasure" with a history of 200 years. The name of Peking Opera can be found in the "Declaration" of the second year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1876), and it has been called "Pihuang", "Erhuang", "Huangqiang", "Jingtong", "Peking Opera", "Ping Opera", "Guo Opera", etc. In the 55th year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1790), the four Anhui Anhui Huiban classes went to the Beijing capital, and the Beijing Opera world's Kunqu Opera, Chinese Opera, Eagle's Nest, and Chaoban Bomb and other kinds of operas were blended together after fifty or sixty years, and became the Peking Opera, which is the largest Chinese Opera genre. Its repertoire, the number of performing artists, the number of troupes, the number of audiences, and the depth of its influence are all the highest in the country. Peking Opera is a comprehensive performing art. That is, singing (singing), reading (recitation), doing (performance), fighting (martial arts), dancing (dance) as a whole, through the program means of performance to narrate the story, delineate the characters, and express the "joy, anger, sadness, sorrow, happiness, shock, fear, sadness" thoughts and feelings. The roles can be divided into four major lines: Sheng (men), Dan (women), Jing (men) and Chou (both men and women). The characters are divided into loyalty and treachery, beauty and ugliness, good and evil. Each character is distinct and vivid. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage, on May 20, 2006, Beijing Opera was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

The Peking Opera face is a kind of writing and exaggerated art, often with bats, swallows, butterfly wings, etc. for the pattern hook eyebrows and cheeks, combined with exaggerated nose nest, mouth nest to portray the facial expression. Cheerful and optimistic faces always have relaxed eyebrows and eyes, while sad or violent faces mostly have curved eyebrows and eyes. When sketching, the height and curvature of the "crow's feet" reflect the age, the up and down of the "decree lines" show the temperament, and the different patterns of the "seal lines" symbolize the character. Peking Opera Face Painting

Peking Opera Face Painting is a special make-up method with national characteristics. Since every historical figure or a certain type of character has a generalized style, just like singing and playing music according to a musical score, it is called "face painting". The origin of face painting is generally said to be from masks.

The Peking Opera face, is based on a certain character, disposition or a particular type of character for the use of certain colors. The red color of the face indicates the loyalty, courage and righteousness, such as Guan Yu, Concubine Wei, Chang Yu Chun; the black color of the face indicates the strength, integrity, courage and even recklessness, such as Bao Zheng, Zhang Fei, Li Kui, etc.; the yellow color of the face indicates the ferociousness and brutality, such as Yuwen Chengdu, Dian Wei. Blue or green faces indicate some rough and violent characters, such as Duo Er Dun, Ma Wu, etc.; white faces generally indicate treacherous ministers and bad people, such as Cao Cao, Zhao Gao, etc.

The color painting methods of Peking Opera face painting are basically divided into three categories: rubbing the face, wiping the face, and hooking the face. The initial function of the face painting is to exaggerate the parts of the five senses and the texture of the face of the characters in the play, and to show the character, psychological and physical features of the people in the play in an exaggerated way, so as to serve the plot of the whole play. However, later on, the face painting has developed from simple to complex, from coarse to fine, from the surface to the inside, and from superficial to deep, and has gradually become a kind of graphic art with national characteristics, using the human face as a means of expression.

The repertoire of these plays is estimated to be about 200, such as "Cosmic Front", "Jade Hall Spring", "Chang Ban Po", "The Meeting of Heroes", "Fishing and Killing Families", "Five Men's Righteousness", "Picking the Chinese Car", "Playing the Golden Bough", "Picking Up the Jade Bracelet", "The Three Strikes of the Palm", "The Snow of June", "The Four Scholars", "Searching for Orphans and Rescuing The Orphans", "Qin Xianglian", "Playing Yan Song", "Blocking the Horses", "The Golden Jade Nu", "The Fan River Pass", "The Boar's Woods", "The Eight Hammers" and "The Empty City Plan". Farewell My Concubine, etc.