Peking Opera in 100 words or less

Peking Opera is one of the opera styles formed in Beijing, which has a history of 200 years. It was formed on the basis of Huizhou Opera and Han Opera, absorbing the advantages and specialties of Kunqu Opera, Qin Opera and other operas. In 1790 A.D. (55th year of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty), Hui Opera began to enter Beijing. With its beautiful and melodious singing and excellent performance, it was welcomed by the audience.

Peking Opera, once known as Ping Opera, is a Chinese opera that is mainly sung in western style and Erhuang style, accompanied by huqin and gongs and drums, and is regarded as the national treasure of China, ranking among the top three Chinese operas in the list of Chinese Opera. Peking Opera has traveled all over the world and has become an important medium for introducing and spreading traditional Chinese art and culture. It is distributed all over China, with Beijing as the center. On November 16, 2010, Peking Opera was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The predecessor of Peking Opera was the Hui Ban (徽班), a group of singers who mainly sang the blowing, high pizzicato, and erhuang (二黄), which was popular in the Jiangnan region in the early Qing Dynasty. Huiban mobility, and other types of frequent contact, in the sound of mutual exchange and penetration, so in the process of development also played a lot of Kun opera, but also absorbed the Luo Luo cavity and some other miscellaneous songs. In the 55th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1790), the first Hui class (Sanqing class) headed by Gao Langting (the name of Yueguan) entered Beijing to take part in the celebration of Emperor Qianlong's 80th birthday.