China Travel Guide >> Chinese Culture

Together with Greece tragic-comedy and Indian Sanskrit Opera, Chinese opera is one of the three oldest dramatic art forms in the world. The earliest known opera theatre in China was established in the Song Dynasty with a square stage enclosed by railings. Since the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) Chinese opera has been encouraged by court officials and ...

Chinese opera performers mainly have two methods of makeup: masks and facial painting. The frequent on-stage change of masks, without the audience noticing, is a special technique, known as changing faces. Opera facial painting falls into four main categories -- personality makeup (facial designs, painted faces or Lian Pu), decorative makeup (decor...

Sichuan Opera, prevailed in its home province for centuries, giving voice to the values and cultural essence of the people. One of the most fascinating parts of Sichuan Opera is "face-changing," which is achieved by quickly tearing off, rubbing, or blowing away a mask to reveal another. The performer prepares many special masks in advance mad...

The music of Sichuan Opera is composed by five different sonic systems, namely gao qiang, hu qin, deng diao, tan xi, and kun qu. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, all of these sonic systems were still represented by their own independent troupes respectively. Music Founded in the province's capital city of Chengdu in 1912, the Sanqinghui troup...

Cantonese Opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera based in southern China and overseas ethnic Chinese communities. Cantonese Opera is a formalized operatic form that emphasizes gymnastic and martial arts skills. This form of Chinese Opera predominates in Guangdong (formerly called Canton), Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, and in...

The history of Cantonese Opera can be dated back to the southern Song dynasty (1179-1276 AD). It is generally accepted that the opera form was imported from the northern part of China and slowly migrated to the southern province of Guangdong in late 13th century. Many well-known operas performed today are from the Yuen dynasty, operas like "The Pur...

Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Cantonese culture. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. Like all versions of Chinese opera, it is a traditional Chinese art form, involving music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics, and acting. 粵劇 (Jyut6 kek6) s...

The story is set in the Southern Song Dynasty period of Chinese history. Bai Suzhen (白素貞), a female white snake demon, dreams of becoming a goddess by doing good deeds. She transforms herself into a woman and travels to the human realm. There, she meets a green snake demon, Qing (青), who causes disaster in the area she lives. Bai holds Qing ca...

The Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭; mǔdāntíng) is a play written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty and first performed in 1598 at the Pavilion of Prince Teng. As one of Tang's "Four Dreams", it has traditionally been performed as a Kunqu opera, but Chuanand Gan opera versions also exist. It is by far the most popular play of the Ming Dynasty, and is the prim...

Tang Xianzu is a renowned Ming Dynasty playwright, born in a family of scholars. Being perspicacious and bookish, he displayed his talents at the age of 12, became a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level at the age of 21, and a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations at the age of 34. He served ...