A few weeks ago in my Chinese Cinema class we watched a movie called Farewell my Concubine (霸王别姬) about the world surrounding traditional Peking Opera from the waning days of the Great Qing Dynasty to Reform and Reopening under Deng Xiaoping. While Farewell my Concubine touched on several interesting topics from the Cultural Revolution to gender roles to raising orphans to the relationship of childhood friends in adulthood, the topic that most peaked my curiosity was Peking Opera itself since I actually knew very little about it. Thankfully, my Chinese midterm gave me a great opportunity to do some research, since it is a presentation on Peking Opera and its many meny complexities (可是,我只好用中文为我的汉语口语中考试). Unsurprisingly, Peking Opera has an extremely long history with some of the traditional plays coming from ancient Chinese stories, though what we would now call Peking Opera really developed in the late 1700s. Peking Opera remained relatively popular until the Cultural Revolution, since the Red Guards saw it as old therefor something that should be destroyed. Interestingly enough, Farewell my Concubine actually depicts Red Guards humiliating members of the Opera troupe, a sight still extremely rare in Chinese cinema. While Peking Opera did live on in the Nationalist controlled Taiwan long enough for the mainland to drop the madness of the Cultural Revolution it never regained the popularity it once had. Since most of the operas themselves are quite old, they use archaic language that most modern Chinese can't really understand, even the Chinese in China have to have Chinese subtitles to understand the Chinese. There have been attempts to rejuvenate Peking Opera for the modern age by introducing new shows; apparently you can watch Peking Opera interpretations of Mao's war against the Japanese and Shakespeare. Still the traditional divisions of martial & civil operas, serious 大戏 & fun 小戏, and the four traditional forms of performers (生旦净丑) remain even while the actual costumes, production management, and training have been changed and adapted for the modern world. Chinese films, particularly by the 5th Generation of Chinese Directors like Farewell my Concubine, have come to embrace Peking Opera as a way to help tell their story. Peking Opera has also been embraced by the growing tourist trade, both domestic and international. If you are in the capital of Beijing, why not see the capital style of opera (the 京 in 京剧 literally means capital while the 剧 is some type of theater)? I have read some complaints though that much of this new Peking Opera is a bit gimicky since most people in the audience of a Peking Opera don't actually know what Peking Opera should be like. Still, it is nice that Beijing Opera is kind of hanging on.
2 Comments
Dad
3/29/2017 10:44:00 pm
I guess not understanding the language is par for the course in opera, anyway. The beloved classic western operas are usually performed in their native language, often French, German or Italian, as well.
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sharon
3/31/2017 05:53:46 am
what are the prices like to see "opera"... is it prohibitively expensive (chinese style) like NYC?
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AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
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