Chinese facial makeup is a traditional art form that has been passed down for thousands of years. It is a special way of expressing Chinese culture and history.
The history of Chinese facial makeup can be dated back to the Tang Dynasty. During this time, Chinese opera was becoming increasingly popular, and actors began to use makeup to improve their performances. The makeup was used to exaggerate（夸张）, Chinese facial makeup developed a lot.
Among all traditional Chinese operas, kinds of facial makeup in Peking Opera have developed into the most systematic（系统化的） one. Different colors are of great importance in showing the age, only three colors were used— red, while and black— reach with is own symbolic meaning.
| Red is usually used to show that a role is honest and loyal（忠诚的）. In fact, the red was just to show the color of people's skin at first. Because many roles use red and black to show they're very brave and honest, known for his loyalty to his emperor, Liu Bei. |
| The role with the white face commonly seen on the stage is bad in human nature. Typical character are Cao Cao, who was powerful but cruel in the time of he Three Kingdoms, and Qin Hui |
| The black face shows either a rude and brave character or a fair and selfless personality. Typical characters of the first are Zhang Fei with a black cross butterfly face of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Li Kui of Water Margin, and a typical character of the last is Bao Zheng, a fearless and fair official of the Song dynasty. |
Later, other colors are added, such as purple symbolizing fairness, meaning bravely；blue showing a character who has a strong personality and is very calculating（工于心计的）, people can clearly tell the difference between the nobility（贵族） and the common people or good and bad.
Today, Peking Opera facial makeup is sill an important part of Chinese culture and history. It is celebrated and appreciated by people all over the world, and it continues to be used in Chinese opera and other traditional performances.
