Peking opera of China is a national treasure with a history of 200 years. Originally a form of local theatre, it spread all over the country and has become the national opera of China with its elaborate costumes, ear-splitting arias, dazzling martial arts and musical dialogue.
Most Peking Operas are an intelligible to the untrained viewer, but they are usually based on folk tales, famous novels and fairy tales and are a pleasure to watch if you know the basic story. Some of the bigger theaters have subtitle message boards in English and Chinese so even if you don't know the story you can still follow along.
Peking Opera combines stylized acting with singing, dancing, musical dialogue, martial arts, colorful facial make up and fantastic costumes.
Each role, according to their sex, age and disposition, is characterized by different designs of facial make-up, such as Jing representing a rough, frank character and Hua lian representing a crueler sinister character. So the audience can easily tell what kind of characters the actors are portraying. Facial make-up, costumes and head- dresses are wonderful works of traditional art.
Characters are classified into three basic categories: the male roles, called "sheng", female roles or "dan", and clowns or "chou", the nature of each character is shown through the different colors of the facial makeup. For example, red usually means evil or sly, and black and whiteface makeup denotes authority. The fantastic silk costumes are works of art in themselves.
You can get a good taste of what Peking Opera is all about at the Liyuan Theater in the Qianmen Hotel, Chang'an Theater, Huguang Guild Hall, which features nightly performances that are a medley of different operas. The shows are light on the singing and concentrate more on action like tumbling and martial arts and are therefore more foreigner-friendly.
In the past, both “dan” and “sheng” roles were played by male actors, but now they are played separately by females and males.
It is a must to see a Peking Opera while you are in Beijing, equivalent to seeing an opera if you go to Italy.