 |
| Acrobatic fighting in Peking Opera. | Peking Opera performers divide performance into three realms: ˇ°being accurate,ˇ± "bei
 |
| Yu Zhenfei playing a poor sheng who is licking chopsticks. | ng beautiful" and "having a lingering charm."
What is "being accurate?" To learn acting in Peking Opera, a kid needs to learn basic skills first of all. He needs to practice every minute movement over and over again. He begins by imitating until his movements, postures, eye expression, singing style, pronunciation, intonation, etc. are judged to meet required standards, or required accuracy. For a performer, rehearsal and
 |
| A female general wearing a set of hard kao, or armor suit with flags. | actual performance consist in a combination of conventionalized movements.
Young actors can participate in performances if their acting meets standards required of each role category. In the West, individuality is emphasized in acting. An actor who does not have "individuality" is
 |
| The hua dan uses recitation to express what is on her mind. | not regarded as a good one. Not so in Peking Opera. An actor goes through two stages before becoming fully qualified. In the first stage, he needs to master singing and acting skills required in a particular play. In the second stage, with the actor's artistic accomplishment and pursuit permeating into the roles he plays, his acting may assume some
 |
| Mei Lanfang uses long sleeves to portray physical beauty. | "individuality," which is not lost on mature audiences. This is the second stage of acting.
What is "being beautiful?" This refers to a performer, armed with a fine artistic perception, being able to p
 |
| People relish watching how Peking Opera performers express characters' feelings with facial expressions and body movements. | ortray the personalities of characters accurately. "Being beautiful" is a sublimation of accuracy, a shift from emphasis on acting skills to emphasis on aesthetic values. This requires a performer to have fine artistic skills and creativity.
The third realm is that acting should have a "'lingering charm." What is charm, which is invisible? But frequent theatergoers feel it. It might be said that charm is a tacit understanding between a veteran performer and his audiences, the appreciation and comprehension of unique Peking Opera acting, the ultimate beauty of Peking Opera, which reflects the common spirit of Chinese culture. Fans have standards for ˇ°lingering charm.ˇ± Cheng Yanqiu's singing is generally regarded as having such a charm. It is described as "'being gentle as weeping and lingering as a thread." Audiences savor its aftertaste long after they have left the theater. This also applies to recitation, postures, dance movements and acrobatic fighting. |
