Beijing Opera is a tradition in Chinese culture. It was formed from Jingban opera based on other operas. It has a history of over 200 years.
In Qing Dynasty, the emperors often celebrated their birthdays or important events by watching Jingban opera. In 1790, Emperor Qianlong wanted to try a different opera. So Huiban opera with other opera troupes was asked to the capital to perform with Jingban opera. The performance was very successful and popular, which made Jingban opera improve a lot. After many performances for a long time, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Beijing Opera finally formed and became the biggest of all the operas in China.
There are four main roles in Beijing Opera: Sheng (male), Dan (female), Jing (painted face, male), and Chou (funny clown, male or female). Sheng is the leading male actor. For example, a Wusheng is a soldier or a fighter, a Xiaosheng is a young man, and a Laosheng is an old man. Dan is the leading female role. For example, a Huadan is a young woman, and a Qingyi is a middle-aged woman. Jing, mostly male, is the face-painted role, and is the special role who is a history hero, such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, or Bao Gong. Chou is the comedy actor or clown with funny painted face. They mainly make the audience laugh and happy.
Beijing Opera roles usually wear fantastic costumes. They act, dance or fight with special singing and different body language. Besides special singing, fantastic costumes and different body language, Beijing Opera is full of interesting stories, and fairy tales from the old times, such as the dynasties Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. So when you are watching Beijing Opera, you are actually learning Chinese history.
From the 1920s to the 1940s, Beijing Opera had four most well-known performers (Dan roles): Mei Lanfang, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng. They(especially Mei Lanfang) gave many perfect performances in different countries so that the world began to know Beijing Opera.
