Among the hundreds of forms of opera throughout the country, Beijing Opera has the greatest influence and is therefore regarded as a national form.
Beijing Opera is a comprehensive performing art that combines music, singing, dialogue, pantomime, acrobatics and martial arts. Hence an actor or actress in Beijing Opera has to meet more requirements than that in other forms of performing art. He or she has to be a performing artist, a singer, and a dancer at the same time. It usually takes the student more than ten years of training to learn singing and acrobatic skills. Thus, it is difficult to be a qualified performer in Beijing Opera.
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Symbolism prevaols in Beijing Opera. The stage of Beijing Opera knows mo limit in space or time. It can be the setting for any action. The performers acting is mostly pantomine. Footwork, gestures, and various kinds of body movements can portray and symbolize the actions of opening a door, climbing a hill, going upstairs, or rowing a boat. When a girl is doing needle work, she has neither a needle nor thresd in her hands. When a lady is riding in a carriage, the performer actually has to walk flanked on each side by a flag with coloured tassels represents riding a horse. Four generals and four soldiers represet an army of thousands. In a word, each action of a performer of Beijing Opera is highly symbolic.
The character roles in Beijing Opera are divided into four main types according to the sex, age, social status, and profession of the character. Sheng refers to male roles. Shengis subdivided into lao sheng (middle-aged or old men), xiao sheng (young men )and wu sheng (men with maritial skills). Dan refers to female roles. Like sheng, dan is also subdivided into various types. Qing yi is a woman with a strict moral code; hua dan is a vivacious young woman; wu dan is a woman with martial skills and lao dan is an elderly woman. Jing refers to the roles with painted faces. They are usually warriors, heroes, statesmen, or even demons. Jing can be further divided into wen jing (civilian type) and wu jing (warrior type ). Chou, or clown, is a comic character and can be recognized at first sight for his special make-up (a patch of white paint on his nose). Chou is subdivided into wen chou (civilian clown)and wu chou (clown with martial skills).
