Yuju Opera:Yuju Opera, also known as Bangzi Opera, was originated from late Ming Dynasty and early Qing dynasty. This kind of opera is mainly played by singing, and widely favored by common people. Yuju Opera developed and expanded rapidly, and by now it has built up its own characteristics of several branches. There are Xiangfu Opera popular in Kaifeng City, Yuxi Opera in Luoyang City, Yudong Opera in Shangqiu City, and Shakou Opera in the region of Luohe River, Xuchang, and Zhoukou. Yuju Opera centers on the performance of famous roles and has developed five well known genres of performance on the role of dan. The five genres are represented by Chang Xiangyu, Chen Suzhen, Ma Jinfeng, Yan Liping, and Cui Lantian. The genre of Chang Xiangyu boasts of boldness and infuriation; Chen Suzhen Genre features freshness and brightness; the genre of Ma Paigang is characterized by energy and vigor; the genre of Cui Lantian impresses one with deep connotation; and that of Yan Lipin distinguishes it self from others with circumbendibus and subtleness. By now, the five genres have their pupils or disciples all over the world. Yuju Opera has a list of over 1000 plays, a large part of which are based in historical novels. For example, there are operas on Apotheosis of Heroes, Wagang Fortress, Hoers of Yang Family, Heroes of Yue Family, etc. Besides, many other plays of Yuju Opera depict marriage, love, and ethnics.
Yuju Opera is favored by the society because it walks close to the life of average people with a plain in style, and suit both refined and popular tastes. Therefore, Yuju has a very solid foundation among the crowd. It is the fundamental reason why Yuju is so vigorous as to be honored the best local opera nation widely.
Yueju Opera:Yueju Opera is very popular Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Hang Kong, and Macao. Still in many other countries and regions, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippine, Indonesia, Australia, United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and South and Middle Africa, performance of Yueju is warmly welcomed. Yueju Opera combines the arias of many other operas introduced to Guangdong Province, such as Geyang, Kunshan, and Bangzi. Moreover, it absorbs nutrition from Bangzi and Erhaung which came into being from folk music in Pearl River Delta. Yueju Opera is one of the most popular operas in South China.
Qinqiang Opera:Qinqiang Opera is very popular in many provinces of Northwest China, such as Shanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Since it takes Bangzi as musical instrument, Qinqiang Opera is also known as Bangzi Opera and Huanghaungzi (the sound of the musical instrument). Qinqiang Opera was originated from Shanxi and Gansu Provinces in ancient times and took singing and dancing as its primeval form. Through continuous innovation and improvement by several generations, it has developed to be a well known kind of Chinese Opera and boasts of a long history.
Chuanju Opera:Chuanju Opera is the combination of five arias, namely, Kun, Gao, Hu, Tan, and Deng. It is very popular in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou Provinces. The old form of Chuanju Opera has several branches, such as Chuanxi, Ziyang, Chuanbei, and Xiachuanddong, etc. By now, the most popular branches are Huanpai Opera of Dan Genre, Fupai Opera of Chou Genre, and Caopai Opera of Wu Genre.
The performance of Chuan Opera is characterized by truthfulness, subtleness, humor, and rich atmosphere of life. The brightest feature of Chuan Opera is the utilization of various performing skills, such as Changing Painted Faces, Opening Huiyan (the eye which can perceive both the past and future), Rushing through Firing Rings, and Hiding Knives, to depict characters in the play and deliver the mysterious and colorful atmosphere on the stage. Besides, the musical instruments, gong and drum, function a lot during the performance. The most common and frequently used drums and gongs include tabour, Tanggu drum, big gong, Dabo cymbals, and little gong, and the five are collectively called 'Wu Fang' ('Wu' in Chinese means five). Together with Xuanyue and Suona, they are named 'Qi Fang', all under the direction of tabour. Chuanju Opera has a lot of roles, namely, sheng male lead,dan,female character type,jing painted face type,chou (male and female clown), mo, and za, etc.
Zangju Opera:Zangju Opera is the most ancient among the operas of ethnic minorities in China. Besides Tibet, Zangju Opera is also favored in Batang, Litang, and Ganzi in Sichuan Province, Xiahe in Gansu Province, Yushu in Qinghai Province, and Zhongdian in Yunnan Province.
In terms of performance, Zangju Opera emphasizes six skills, namely, Singing, dancing, rhyme, speaking, acrobatics, and performing.
Zangju Opera players have only one same style of clothing. They never use dressing but domino.
Painted face in Chinese opera:Chinese Opera is a very comprehensive stage art. It integrates the elements of literature, music, dancing, marital arts, and fine arts. In terms of the vision effect presented to the audience, Painted Face, which is a central component of performance, displays the style and characteristics of different roles and setting in the opera. Painted Face is one of the key elements which receive attention from the audience. For the traditional operas of China, the depiction of roles was considered as the key aspect during the whole performance. It involved the dressing of head and face, and costumes. Painted Face is a component of the dressing of face, playing an important role in the depiction of character.
What is the Painted Face?
'Painted Face is a kind art which is unique to Chinese Opera; it uses dressing and sculpting on stage. From the perspective of opera itself, Painted Face is combined with characters; considering fine arts, it is displayed through patterns and designs. Through many years\' development, Painted Face has become matured along with the evolution of opera, and gradually formed up its own rules or methods'. Since it is unique to Chinese Opera, it is different from the dressing art of any other countries. Painted Face in Chinese Opera has its own charm and glamour.