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Confucius Institute

Michigan State University

Chinese Language and Culture Education

Sample Unit: Peking Opera

I. Teaching Objectives：

Teaching Objectives

Activities
1.1 Preconception 1.1 Students brainstorm preconceptions of Peking Opera.
1.2 Information 1.2 Students learn about Peking Opera through reading online resources and watching videos.
1.3 Hands on 1.3 Students design Peking Opera masks and share their designs with each other.
2.1 Deepen cultural understanding 2.1 Discuss to understand the cultural connotations of Peking Opera costumes and make-ups.
3.1Cross-cultural comparison 3.1 Students compare Peking Opera with western operas.

 This unit is to help students understand Chinese Peking Opera, the role categories, the performance, the cultural connotations of the make-up and the costumes. It also helps students to compare the cultural connotations in Chinese opera and western operas, so as to have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.

This unit introduces background information and basic elements of Peking Opera: role categorization, acrobatic performance, make-up and costumes as well as the cultural connotations of those basic elements. Students will also be led on cross-cultural comparison between Chinese opera and western operas for a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.

In addition to acquiring background information and materials, students will engage in hands on activities such as designing their own Peking opera masks and share their designs with each other.
II. Teaching Content：

A. Watch videos（10 minutes）

Overview 00:03–01:30
Roles: Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou 01:03–02:30
Cultural connotations of color: red 02:03–02:40
Cultural connotations of costumes 03:05–04:20
Acrobatic performance 04:50–05:20
Musical accompaniment 05:20–06:20

 

 B. In-Class Discussion（10 minutes）

Suggested Discussion Topics：

  1. What’re the symbolic elements in Peking Operas and what are their connotations?
  2. What’s the differences of cultural connotations of “red” and “white” in Chinese and western cultures?
  3. What are different musical instruments and music in Peking Opera?
    1. What are their symbolic meanings? How different are they from the musical instruments you are familiar with?
  4. What are the symbolic meanings of Peking Opera costumes and colors?

 C. Activity Plan（25 minutes）

  1.  Activity Procedures：
    1. Design a Peking Opera role for an American celebrity, including a mask and costume. Select the mask and color according to his/her personality.   
    2. Select a celebrity
    3. Paint a mask for the celebrity
    4. Let other classmates to guess who the mask is for
    5. Explain to students why you make the mask for the celebrity
  2. Videos:  
    1. Roles in Peking Opera
    2. The symbolic meanings of colors in Peking Opera masks: red, white, black 
  3. Tools and Materials： 
    1. A4 size hard paper
    2. color paint
    3. brush
    4. pencil
    5. printable masks 
  4. Relevant Resources

Painting masks in Peking Oepra：
(http://www.jingjuok.com/lp/hz/new_page_1.htm)

 

III. Supplementary Materials

Peking Opera Overview

Peking Opera is also called the National Opera. It originates from the local opera in An’Hui province, and integrates the local operas in Hubei, Shanxi and Jiangsu province. It was formed in Beijing around 1840 and became popular in the 30s and 40s of the 21st century. Now it is the most influential opera in China, and represents modern Chinese operas.
(URLs: http://www.jingjuok.com/ ； http://baike.baidu.com/view/2088.htm）

 

Symbolic Meanings of Peking Opera Make-ups

Peking Opera uses a variety of colors of the masks to symbolize the various personalities and the lives of the roles in the opera. To put it simply, red faces convey positive meaning, representing loyalty and bravery; black faces convey neutral meaning, standing for wise and ferocity; blue faces and green faces are also neutral, representing local heroes; yellow faces and white faces convey negative meaning, representing evil and hypocrisy; and golden faces and silver faces stand for mysteriousness, representing deity and demon.

In addition to color, the design of the masks also conveys symbolic meanings. For instance, powered face stands for evilness, and the masks vary in the density and the coverage of powder on the face. Different locations and coverage of powder stands for different degree of evilness. The wider the coverage, the more evil the character is. In all, colors stand for personalities and different designs stand for the degree of the personalities. Peking Opera masks originated from the religious dancing masks in the ancient times and many Chinese local operas keep this tradition.

(URLs: http://www.jingjuok.com/lp/lp1/new_page_1.htm  ）
 

Character in Peking Opera

The characters in Peking Opera are divided into four major categories based on the age and the appearances of the characters. “Shen” is the male leading actor; “Dan” is female leading actress; “Jing” are the male supportive actors with strong personalities; “Chou” is the humorous or negative characters. Every character has its symbolic masks and costumes. You’ll tell them apart as soon as the actors and actresses get on stage.

Scripts of the Video Clips

Beijing opera is the most influential opera in China and has a history of around 200 years. It synthesizes the arts of singing, dancing, recitation, martial arts, and instrumental music. Symbolism dominates the motions and stage designs. For example, the action of waving a horsewhip represents horse riding, and several equipped guys can be used to represent an army etc. Rhythmic beats of gongs and drums and other traditional Chinese instruments accompany actors’ movements. An opera show usually tells a story based on literature, folks, or history. There are different types of roles in the opera, such as Sheng1 (i.e. male roles), Dan4 (i.e. females roles), Jing4 (also called painted faces, usually are heroes, generals or marshals, or even evils or gods etc.), and Chou3 (i.e. clowns). 

Actors who play a Jing4 part usually need to perform martial art. The other roles are divided into warrior type and civilian type. Being good at martial arts is important to the warrior type actors. 
The colorful facial paintings are applied only to those who play Jing4’s roles. Different colors represent different characteristics of the hero. For example, red represents loyalty or uprightness, white represents crafty or cunning, black represents toughness and honesty, gold and silver represents gods or demon etc. The color of clothes also has a meaning. Yellow are used for the imperial, red for high officials, blue for lower officials, and black for any roles. 

Glance in China

Glance in China

Glance in China Content

© 2006 Confucius Institute at
Michigan State University