Chinese Opera

Chinese Opera has a history that dates back 4,000 years ago. It is believed that the Chinese people were involved in ritual dancing and singing to please or entertain spirits during their religious rites.

It is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which the Beijing opera (Jingju) is one of the most notable.

During the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD 220), story-telling was blended with dance to produce an elementary form of musical drama. Thus, the lessons on friendship, love, hatred, treachery and loyalty in folktales were played out on the Chinese Opera stage, where performers share these traditional folktales through speech, songs, dance, elaborate costume and colorful make-up. These stories were performed on stage as part of the ceremonies and celebrations in the imperial courts.

Opera singing and acting further developed during the Zhou Dynasty. Religious festivals were held where priests and soothsayers chanted and performed mimes to convey their beliefs to worshippers.

During the Song Dynasty, opera groups were usually made up of family members who wandered from place to place to put up performances. Child actors were common and they are trained from very young ages for a particular role.

Opera female impersonators were common as women were banned from performing on stage to prevent men from being corrupted. At that time, Opera actors were regarded as belonging to the lowest strata of society.

In the past, large-scale shows were put up at the imperial palace. However, actors who had no place to practice before the royal performances, used to rehearse in teahouses and customers would watch. Plays were also performed in temple courtyards during religious festivals such as birthdays of deities. The wealthy also engaged troupes to perform at their homes during wedding or anniversary celebrations as well as for private entertainment.

Chinese opera in a more organized form began in the Tang Dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong (712–755), who founded the "Pear Garden" (梨园; líyuán), the first known opera troupe in China. The troupe mostly performed for the emperors' personal pleasure. To this day operatic professionals are still referred to as "Disciples of the Pear Garden" (梨园弟子, líyuán dìzi).
In the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), forms like the Zaju (杂剧, zájù, variety plays), which acts based on rhyming schemes plus the innovation of having specialized roles like Dan (旦, dàn, female), Sheng (生, shēng, male), Hua (花, huā, painted-face) and Chou (丑, chou, clown) were introduced into the opera.
Although actors in theatrical performances of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) strictly adhered to speaking in Classical Chinese onstage, during the Yuan Dynasty actors speaking in the vernacular tongue gained precedent on stage.