Many people who study opera have already guessed where the name came from. A more common saying is: "Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou" are named using "anti-metaphors". This is actually a very old legend, dating back to the days when dramas and legends (different forms of ancient opera) were popular. Zhu Zhishan, a talented scholar in the Ming Dynasty, was very dissatisfied. He thought it was ironic to describe Shengdan Jingchou as an irony, or to pretend that it was named after Emperor Zhuangzong of the Tang Dynasty. What a great talent. One sentence is worth a thousand others.
From this point of view, "sheng" refers to men. Otherwise, how could there be such names as sir, junior student, Confucian scholar, Zhang Sheng, Li Sheng, etc. Dan is a bit more complicated to explain. Drama historian Zhou Yibai believes that the word "Dan" evolved from the word "Sister". The order is "Sister" first, then "Sister" was mistakenly called "Da" (in Song Dynasty dramas such as "The Old Man Sends Da", "Shuang Sells Da" and other dramas, "Da" is "Sister"), and then the "Sister" is called "Sister". The simple form of "Da" is "Dan" (the scripts of the Jin Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty include "Dan Sensing a Guy" and "Sour Guy Dan", and the previous "Lao Gu Qian Da" also became "Lao Gu Qian Dan"). "Sister" has always been a title for women, and this can be proven in Tianjin. Since "dan" comes from "sister", it is easy to understand that "dan roles" are exclusively played by women. Jing, Ke Danqiu of the Yuan Dynasty believed that "jing" was a corruption of "beautiful". He said that he had to use facial makeup, which was pink, white and dark green. It was really beautiful. Liang started shouting, but later, for some reason, she turned into net. Ugly, no need to explain, it is just relative to "handsome". Although not all the characters played by "harlequins" are bad people, most of them have to put a piece of white powder on the bridge of their noses. After all, their image is ugly. Some people may think that this explanation is too simple and common. If you insist on researching the mystery, you will definitely find a new explanation.
Nowadays, Peking Opera roles are also divided into "sheng, dan, jing, and chou", but each category has many categories. Here, we won’t pull them one by one.
Li Yu, an opera scriptwriter in the Ming Dynasty, was very poor (then again, which opera scriptwriter is not poor). Once he went to borrow money from a rich relative, who just kept serving tea. , does not mention the word money. Li Yu didn't mention it. After drinking tea, he took the boat and left. The rich relative chuckled to himself. Not long after, someone sent a small bag, which contained white powder for clown faces and a pen. After seeing it, the rich relative immediately prepared a sum of money and gave it to Li Yu. When Li Yu saw Yinzi, he put down his pen with a smile. Half of a harlequin play starring a wealthy relative was already written.
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Peking Opera, also known as Peking Opera and Chinese Opera. It was first produced around 1970, 150 years ago. The original Peking Opera did not have a fixed singing style or genre. It was a mixture of Anhui opera, Kunqu opera, blowing tune and Siping tune. After undergoing changes and explorations, it finally had its own style, which is Peking Opera.
These were all told to me by my grandfather who loved Peking Opera. When talking about the history of Peking Opera, he was very excited, talked endlessly, and quoted classics. He could explain everything from the sect’s origins to the singing disciples in detail. To be honest, I don’t really like Peking Opera. If it really comes down to my preference, it’s just that I’m interested in the facial makeup, costumes, and movements of Peking Opera.
The first and most watched Peking Opera clip is the drunken concubine played by the famous Peking Opera artist Mr. Mei Baojiu. The lady's face was rosy, her eyes were moving, she was angry and happy at the same time, and her lower body drinking posture made me deeply impressed and intoxicated. As soon as the Allegro is struck, click, click, click… click, click, click, pause. Grandpa began to explain on the set: In the past, all female roles were played by men, and singing was the most looked down upon. It is said that actors and actresses are despised by others. It's really feudal. I dismissed it. good! On the stage, the noble concubine appeared, and in the audience, the grandpa called Cai.
Although I don’t quite understand the lyrics of Peking Opera, I still know a little about facial makeup and costumes. Facial makeup is a key step in Peking Opera. The character's personality and identity can often be seen from the facial makeup before the lyrics are spoken. For example, Guan Gong's red face, Xiang Yu's white face, Zhang Fei's black face, Cao Cao's pink and white face, thin eyebrows and long eyes, Huang Gai's Huang Laosan face, etc. These are the most basic distinctions.
The whole set of costumes in Peking Opera is very complicated. As for clothing alone, it is divided into six categories: robes, jackets, armors, helmets, boots and shoes, and accessories. Most of the robes are worn by officials, with robes and insteps, water sleeves and loose belts. The pattern of this type of robe is usually a loose dragon pattern. The most memorable one is the robe of Bao Gong in "Qin Xianglian". It has a black background with golden loose dragons, which is majestic and solemn. Short clothes are generally divided into bartenders' and boys' clothes, color dresses worn by matchmakers or young women, and tight clothes, also known as night clothes. Shi Xiu in Water Margin is dressed in such a "quick clothes and quick pants" style. Armor is easy to understand, that is, battle uniforms. There is a solid support behind the clothes, with colorful war flags on it. It looks really nice when it is rotated. The typical example is Mu Guiying's appearance in "The Female General of the Yang Family". As the name suggests, helmets and hats are what people wear on their heads, such as the emperor's dragon crown, the queen's phoenix crown, the scholar's scholar's scarf, and the official's black gauze hat. In Peking Opera, the crown also represents a character's identity. It is often said that taking off your black gauze hat means giving up your official position. Shoes are divided into thick-soled official boots and casual boots. Most official boots have white soles, which seek harmony with official uniforms. Casual boots are divided into women's wear and men's wear, and there are also differences.
The last subsidiary category includes sleeves, belts, meal orders and other accessories. Water sleeves are most often used to express the emotions of characters. When they are happy, they flutter their sleeves in circles, and when they are angry, they flutter their sleeves away, all of which are vivid and vivid.
There are many roles in Peking Opera. Broken down in detail, they are roughly as follows: Laosheng, Xiaosheng, Wusheng, Qingyi, Huadan, Daomadan, Jiao, Wenchou, Caidan, etc. Each character has his or her own singing voice and expression, from the movement of a finger to the costumes. Such a sophisticated performance form is probably only found in China.
Traditional opera is the quintessence of China. In addition to Peking Opera, there are also Kun Opera, Henan Opera, Huangmei Opera, Gaojia Opera, Henan Bangzi, Huai Opera, and so on.
As a major type of traditional opera, Peking Opera will continue to flourish. Wherever there are Chinese people, there is opera.