Originally a form of local theatre, Peking Opera spread all over the country and then became the national opera of China. About 200 years ago, the Qing Emperor Qianlong toured in southern China and developed an interest in the local operas. On his 80th birthday, he let locaal opera troupes come to Beijing to perform for him. Some remained in Beijing after celebration. The ones from Anhui and Hubei were incorporated with the palace opera-Kunqu Opera, which formed the Peking Opera. Peking Opera combines stylized acting woth singing, dancing ,musical dialogues, martial arts, colorful facial makeup and fantastic costumes.
Males roles are “Sheng”, and clowns are “Chou”. Each role, according to their sex, age and disposition, is characterized by different designs of facial makeup, say, Jing representing a rough, frank character and Hua Face representing a cruel or sinister character. So the audience can easily tell what kind of character an actor is performing. Facial makeup, costumes and head-dresses are wonderful works of traditional art.
In the past, both Dan and Sheng roles were played by male actors, but now they also can be played by female. It is necessary to see Peking Opera while you are in China, just as seeing an opera while in Italy. There are also some other types of opera staged in China, such as Kunqu Opera, Pingju Opera and Heibei Bangzi as well as other operas from different places.
京劇本來是一種地方性的戲劇表演形式，由於它傳遍中國大江南北，深受群眾歡迎與喜愛，所以就慢慢演變成了代表中國藝術特色的全國性戲劇。大約在200多年前，清朝的乾隆在南巡時，對地方上的戲劇產生了濃厚的興趣。於是，在他80歲生日的時候，下旨傳召了很多地方上的戲劇表演團來為他祝壽。部分戲劇表演者在表演結束後，就留在了北京。這些來自安徽與湖北的表演家將昆曲與宮廷戲劇相結合，逐步演變和發展成為了享譽中國的「京劇」。京劇表演融合了唱、念、做、打等多種藝術表現形式，輔以五彩繽紛的服裝道具以及化妝。
在京劇中，男性的角色被稱為「生」，小丑被稱為「醜」。每個角色都會依照他們的性別、年齡及個性，在臉上畫不同的臉譜，比如說「淨」代表的是一個兇神惡煞坦率直白的角色，而「花」臉則是邪惡與殘酷的代表。這樣，觀眾可以很容易的分清這些演員所扮演的角色是什麼樣的性格。化妝、服飾、行頭——這些都是令人稱奇的藝術品。
在過去，京劇中的角色只能由男性扮演，而現在，無論是男人女人，都可以登臺演出了。當你來到中國的時候，一定要去看一場京劇，就像你到了義大利一定要去聽一場歌劇一樣。當然，中國還有很多其他的喜劇，比如說「昆曲」、「評劇」、「河北梆子」等等。
jīng jù
jīng jù běn lái shì yī zhǒng dì fāng xìng de xì jù biǎo yǎn xíng shì ，yóu yú tā chuán biàn zhōng guó dà jiāng nán běi ，shēn shòu qún zhòng huān yíng yǔ xǐ ài ，suǒ yǐ jiù màn màn yǎn biàn chéng le dài biǎo zhōng guó yì shù tè sè de quán guó xìng xì jù 。dà yuē zài 200duō nián qián ，qīng cháo de qián lóng zài nán xún shí ，duì dì fāng shàng de xì jù chǎn shēng le nóng hòu de xìng qù 。yú shì ，zài tā 80suì shēng rì de shí hòu ，xià zhǐ chuán zhào le hěn duō dì fāng shàng de xì jù biǎo yǎn tuán lái wèi tā zhù shòu 。bù fèn xì jù biǎo yǎn zhě zài biǎo yǎn jié shù hòu ，jiù liú zài le běi jīng 。zhè xiē lái zì ān huī yǔ hú běi de biǎo yǎn jiā jiāng kūn qǔ yǔ gōng tíng xì jù xiàng jié hé ，zhú bù yǎn biàn hé fā zhǎn chéng wéi le xiǎng yù zhōng guó de 「jīng jù 」。jīng jù biǎo yǎn róng hé le chàng 、niàn 、zuò 、dǎ děng duō zhǒng yì shù biǎo xiàn xíng shì ，fǔ yǐ wǔ cǎi bīn fēn de fú zhuāng dào jù yǐ jí huà zhuāng 。
zài jīng jù zhōng ，nán xìng de jué sè bèi chēng wéi 「shēng 」，xiǎo chǒu bèi chēng wéi 「chǒu 」。měi gè jué sè dōu huì yī zhào tā men de xìng bié 、nián líng jí gè xìng ，zài liǎn shàng huà bù tóng de liǎn pǔ ，bǐ rú shuō 「jìng 」dài biǎo de shì yī gè xiōng shén è shà tǎn shuài zhí bái de jué sè ，ér 「huā 」liǎn zé shì xié è yǔ cán kù de dài biǎo 。zhè yàng ，guān zhòng kě yǐ hěn róng yì de fēn qīng zhè xiē yǎn yuán suǒ bàn yǎn de jué sè shì shén me yàng de xìng gé 。huà zhuāng 、fú shì 、xíng tóu ——zhè xiē dōu shì lìng rén chēng qí de yì shù pǐn 。
zài guò qù ，jīng jù zhōng de jué sè zhǐ néng yóu nán xìng bàn yǎn ，ér xiàn zài ，wú lùn shì nán rén nǚ rén ，dōu kě yǐ dēng tái yǎn chū le 。dāng nǐ lái dào zhōng guó de shí hòu ，yī dìng yào qù kàn yī chǎng jīng jù ，jiù xiàng nǐ dào le yì dà lì yī dìng yào qù tīng yī chǎng gē jù yī yàng 。dāng rán ，zhōng guó hái yǒu hěn duō qí tā de xǐ jù ，bǐ rú shuō 「kūn qǔ 」、「píng jù 」、「hé běi bāng zǐ 」děng děng 。
