Henan opera
Henan opera or Henan bangzi, is a form of Chinese opera, especially popular in Henan, Hubei, and other provinces.
Henan opera came into being during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. There are four major types of Henan opera. Xiangfu tune opera is heard around Kaifeng; Yudong tune in the Shangqiu area. Yuxi tune is heard around Luoyang, and the Shahe tune around Luohe. Yudong and Yuxi are the main forms, with Yudong expressing comedy and Yuxi expressing tragedy.One famous Henan opera performer is Chang Xiangyu.
Qinqiang
Qinqiang or Luantan is the representative folk Chinese opera of the northwest Province of Shanxi, China, where it was called Qin thousands of years ago. Its melodies were originated from the rural areas of ancient Shaanxi and Gansu.
The genre uses the bangzi (woodblock) as one of the accompanying instruments, from which it derives its other name, Bangzi opera. Bangzi tune is the oldest, most affluent opera tune in China's Four Great Characteristic Melodies. Qinqiang is the representative of the Bangzi opera and the most important origin of other Bangzi operas.
There are 13 kinds of characters in Qinqiang including four kinds of "Sheng", six kinds of "Dan", two kinds of "Jing" and one kind of "Chou", also knowns as "13 Tou Wangzi".
Cantonese opera
Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Cantonese culture. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau,Singapore and Malaysia. Like all versions of Chinese opera, it is a traditional Chinese art form, involving music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics and acting.
Cantonese opera has much in common with other Chinese theatre genres. Commentators often take pride in the idea that all Chinese theatre styles are but minor variations on a pan-Chinese music-theater tradition, and that the basic features or principles are consistent from one local performance form to another. Thus, music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics and acting all feature. Most of the plots are based on Chinese history and famous Chinese classics and myths. The culture and philosophies of the Chinese people can be seen in the plays. Virtues like loyalty, moral, love, patriotism and faithfulness are often reflected by the operas.
There are two types of Cantonese opera plays: Mou (martial arts) and Man (highly educated, esp. in poetry and culture). Mou plays emphasize war, the characters usually being generals or warriors. These works contain action scenes and involve a lot of weaponry and armour. Man plays tend to be gentler and more elegant. Scholars are the main characters in these plays. Water sleeves are used extensively in man plays to produce movements reflecting the elegance and tenderness of the characters; all female characters wear them. In man plays, characters put a lot of effort into creating distinctive facial expressions and gestures to express their underlying emotions.
Costumes
Costumes correspond to the theme of the play and indicate the character of each role.As mentioned above, each type of play is associated with particular costumes. The water sleeves of man plays can be attached to the waist or the sides of the breast areas. Costumes can be single or double breasted.
Costumes also indicate the status of the character. Lower-status characters, such as females, wear less elaborate dress, which those of higher rank have more decorative costumes.
Makeup
Applying makeup for Cantonese opera is a long and specialized process. One of the most common styles is the "white and red face": an application of white foundation and a red color around the eyes that fades down to the bottom of cheeks. The eyebrows are black and sometimes elongated. Usually, female characters have thinner eyebrows than males. There are black makeup around the eyes with a shape similar to the eyes of a Chinese phoenix. Lipstick is usually bright red.
Actors are given temporary facelifts by holding the skin up with a ribbon on the back of the head. This lifts the corners of the eyes, producing an authoritative look.
Each role has its own style of make-up: the clown has a large white spot in the middle of his face, for example. A sick character has a thin red line pointing upwards in between his eyebrows. Aggressive and frustrated character roles often have an arrow shape fading into the forehead in between the eyebrows.
Strong male characters wear "open face" makeup. Each character's makeup has its own distinct characteristics, with symbolic patterns and coloration.
Hairstyle, hats and helmets
Hats and helmets signify social status, age and capability: scholars and officials wear black hats with wings on either side; generals wear helmets with pheasant feathers; soldiers wear ordinary hats, and kings wear crowns. Queens or princesses have jewelled helmets. If a hat or helmet is removed, this indicates the character is exhausted, frustrated, or ready to surrender.
Hairstyles can express a character's emotions: warriors express their sadness at losing a battle by swinging their ponytails. For the female roles, buns indicated a maiden, while a married woman has a 'dai tau'.
Huaguxi
Huaguxi is a form of Chinese opera originating in Hunan province. It is known in China for its earthy quality, and is often referred to as the "spicy" form of Chinese opera. Huaguxi is known to have existed as early as 1695, during the Qing Dynasty. Unlike other forms of Chinese opera, Huaguxi originally had only two roles. These including the xiao chou, a small male clown, and the xiao dan, a vivacious young girl. The female role was played by men until women entered Chinese opera in the early 20th century. In the mid-18th century, a xiao shen role was added. This role refers to handsome young males.
Most Huaguxi plays were originally xiao xi, short plays lasting an hour or less. These plays often dealt with everyday rural life. With the rise of professional Huaguxi performers and performances in the capital city of Changsha, longer plays, daxi began to be performed. These plays dealt with grander themes of social satire and class struggle. Like other forms of Chinese opera, Huaguxi is staged with very few props. Music accompanying Huaguxi reflects the Changsha dialect spoken in Hunan. It is played with instruments like the datong, the yue qin, the di zi, and the suona. Percussion instruments provide the basic tempo for the performance.
Throughout much of its history, Huaguxi could not be performed legally because of the perception that it was an obscene form of opera. It was officially recognized by the China in 1952, but restrictions were placed on the type of material that could be performed.
Huju
Huju, or "Shanghai opera" is a variety of Chinese opera from the area of Shanghai. It is typically sung in the Shanghainese dialect.
It is particularly popular in Baihe, the oldest town in the Qingpu District of Shanghai. There are eight to ten huju troupes in the town, and many local residents hire the troupes to perform for weddings and funerals. Huju is accompanied by an ensemble of traditional Chinese instruments, including di zi(transverse bamboo flute),er hu (two-stringed fiddle), pi pa (pear-shaped lute), yang qin (hammered dulcimer), and percussion. The instrumentation and style are closely related to the instrumental genre of Jiangnan sizhu.
The famous Chinese composition "Purple Bamboo Melody" is adapted from huju.
Kunqu
Kunqu, also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Kunqu originated in the Wu cultural area.
Kunqu boasts a 600-year history and is known as the "teacher" or "mother" of a hundred operas, because of its influence on other Chinese theatre forms, including Beijing Opera. Its emergence ushered in the second Golden Era of Chinese drama, but by the early twentieth century it had nearly disappeared, which was only exacerbated by deliberate attempts to suppress it during the Cultural Revolution.
One of the major literary forms of the Ming and Qing dynasties was chuanqi drama, originating from the South. Chuanqi, an old form of dramatic opera, originates from the nanxi in late 14th century before the kunqu opera arises. However, in late 16 century, kunqu opera starts to dominate large part of Chinese drama. Plays that continue to be famous today, including The Peony Pavilion and The Peach Blossom Fan, were originally written for the Kunqu stage. In addition, many classical Chinese novels and stories, such as Romance of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Journey to the West were adapted very early into dramatic pieces.