Clever, resourceful, and brave, the Monkey King is a favorite character in Beijing Opera. He has his origins in Chinese folklore, but was made famous by Wu Cheng’en’s 16th-century classical novel Journey to the West.
There are four main role types in Beijing Opera: sheng (male), dan (female), jing (painted face), and chou (clown). Jing have stylized patterned, colored faces, and represent warriors, heroes, statesmen, adventurers, and demons. Not only do these characters have the most striking look of all the performers, they also usually have predominantly forceful personalities.
Dan are the female roles. Laodan are old ladies, caidan are female comedians, and wudan are martial artists. The most important category, qingyi, play respectable and decent ladies in elegant costumes.
Sheng are divided into laosheng, who wear beards and represent old men, xiaosheng who are young men, and wusheng, who are acrobats.
The chou are the comic roles, characterized by white patches on their noses. Patches of different shape and size imply roles of different characters. It is the chou who keep the audience laughing.
The foremost male interpreter of the female role (dan) during Beijing Opera’s heyday in the 1920s and 1930s was Mei Lanfang. All female roles were once played by male actors. However, this is no longer the case today.
The colors of the performers’ painted faces symbolize various qualities. Red, for example, stands for loyalty and courage, purple for solemnity and a sense of justice, and green for bravery and irascibility.
Despite the dramatic visual elements of Beijing Opera, the Chinese say that they go to “listen” to opera, not to see it. Typically six or seven musicians accompany the dramatics. The stringed instruments usually include the erhu, or Chinese two-stringed violin, while percussion includes clappers, gongs, and drums.
Beijing Opera is a form of “total theater” with singing, speech, mime, and acrobatics that combine graceful gymnastics and martial arts movements. Training is notoriously hard. Costumes are designed to make the jumps seem more spectacular by billowing out as they spin.
The traditional repertoire includes more than 1,000 works, mostly based on popular tales. Modern productions aimed at tourists often include English-language displays of the text.
135 5252 7373 • 3 Hufang Lu
One-hour highlights shows held on most days.
7 Jianguo Men Nei Dajie • 6510 1308
Regular two-hour performances of mostly complete operas.
32 Ping’Anli Xi Dajie • 5833 1217
A large steel-and-glass theater.
Building 9, Tianqiao Nandajie, Xicheng District • 400 635 3355 • www.tartscenter.com
A massive arts venue specializing in ballet, musical theater and traditional opera.
Beijing’s temple to the arts offers large-scale performances (see National Center for the Performing Arts).
6303 6830 • 3 Qian Men Xi Dajie • www.laosheteahouse.com
Daily 90-minute variety shows.
6301 6688 • Qian Men Jianguo Hotel, 175 Yong’an Lu
Daily 80-minute highlights shows.
8328 8149 • 17 Qianhai Xi Jie
Summer performances only (see Mansion of Prince Gong).
6559 8285 • West Chang’an Avenue, Zhong Shan Park
Concert venue holding occasional opera performances.
138 0106 7568 • 220 Xiheyan Qian Men
Performances and 90-minute highlights shows held on selected days of the week.
3.238.235.181