Beijing Opera is the quintessence of China. It is the largest Chinese opera form and has over 200 years of history. Beijing Opera infuses four artistic methods: singing, dialogue, dancing, and martial art. Lian pu “脸谱” is the facial painting through dramatic artists’ long-term practice and their understanding and judgment of the roles in plays. The color of the lianpu represents different characteristics of different roles.
Red indicates devotion, courage bravery, uprightness and loyalty.
Black symbolizes roughness and fierceness. The black face indicates either a rough and bold character or an impartial and selfless personality.
Yellow signifies fierceness, ambition and cool-headedness.
Purple stands for uprightness, sophistication and cool-headedness).
Blue represents staunchness, fierceness and astuteness.
White suggests cattiness, suspiciousness and craftiness. Commonly seen on the stage is the white face for the powerful villain. It highlights all that is bad in human nature: cunning, craftiness, and treachery.
A green face tells the audience that the character is impulsive and violent and depicts surly stubbornness, impetuosity and a total lack of self-restraint.
This is a video with Chinese children dancing and celebrating the many different faces of Beijing Opera. Click here to watch this video.
This is a video with children performing Beijing Opera. Click here to watch this video.
In this lesson, the children created and designed their very own 脸谱. See the children working hard below.
Can you guess who it is?