Dragon's featuring brilliant colors and rich embroidery, often in the design of a dragon breathing cavity extending from the pubic region to the top of the head...Beijing opera (simplified Chinese: 京剧; traditional Chinese: 京劇...

Peking opera was born when the 'Four Great Anhui Troupes' brought Anhui opera, or what is now called Huiju, in 1790 to Beijing, for the eightieth birthday of the Qianlong Emperor on 25 September. It was originally staged for the court and only made available to the public later. In 1828, several famous Hubei troupes arrived in Beijing and performed jointly with Anhui troupes. The combination gradually formed Peking opera's melodies. Peking opera is generally regarded as having fully formed by 1845. Although it is called Peking opera (Beijing theatre style), its origins are in the southern Anhui and eastern Hubei, which share the same dialect of Xiajiang Mandarin (Lower Yangtze Mandarin). Peking opera's two main melodies, Xipi and Erhuang, were derived from Han Opera after about 1750. The tune of Peking opera is extremely similar to that of Han opera, therefore Han opera is widely known as the Mother of Peking opera. Xipi literally means 'Skin Puppet Show', referring to the puppet show that originated in Shaanxi province. Chinese puppet shows always involve singing. Much dialogue is also carried out in an archaic form of Mandarin Chinese, in which the Zhongyuan Mandarin dialects of Henan and Shaanxi are closest. This form of Mandarin is recorded in the book Zhongyuan Yinyun. It also absorbed music from other operas and local Zhili musical art forms. Some scholars believe that the Xipi musical form was derived from the historic Qinqiang, while many conventions of staging, performance elements, and aesthetic principles were retained from Kunqu, the form that preceded it as court art. Thus, Peking opera is not a monolithic form, but rather a coalescence of many older forms. However, the new form also creates its own innovations. The vocal requirements for all of the major roles were greatly reduced for Peking opera. The Chou, in particular, rarely has a singing part in Peking opera, unlike the equivalent role in Kunqu style. The melodies that accompany each play were also simplified, and are played with different traditional instruments than in earlier forms. Perhaps most noticeably, true acrobatic elements were introduced with Peking opera. The form grew in popularity throughout the 19th century. The Anhui troupes reached their peak of excellence in the middle of the century, and were invited to perform in the court of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that had been established during the Taiping Rebellion. Beginning in 1884, the Empress Dowager Cixi became a regular patron of Peking opera, cementing its status over earlier forms like Kunqu.[ The popularity of Peking opera has been attributed to the simplicity of the form, with only a few voices and singing patterns. This allowed anyone to sing the arias themselves.Peking opera was initially an exclusively male pursuit. The Qianlong Emperor had banned all female performers in Beijing in 1772. The appearance of women on the stage began unofficially during the 1870s. Female performers began to impersonate male roles and declared equality with men. They were given a venue for their talents when Li Maoer, himself a former Peking-opera performer, founded the first female Peking-opera troupe in Shanghai. By 1894, the first commercial venue showcasing female performance troupes appeared in Shanghai. This encouraged other female troupes to form, which gradually increased in popularity. As a result, theatre artist Yu Zhenting petitioned for the lifting of the ban after the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. This was accepted, and the ban was lifted in 1912, although male Dan continued to be popular after this period.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_opera
A “box-locking play” (封箱戏) is the Chinese equivalent of Western opera’s “New Year’s Gala”. The term refers to the tradition among Chinese opera companies of marking the year’s end by putting all their theatrical costumes away in their storage boxes – only for the boxes to be reopened days later to celebrate the New Year. A box-locking play is a chance for a company to let its hair down: old classics are rewritten, new comic material can be inserted, the audiences can be surprised by celebrities making “special guest appearances”.In the Tang dynasty, the Emperor has dispatched a contingent of unlikely heroes to the Western Heaven (India/Tibet) to collect Buddhist scriptures and bring them back to the Chinese capital . Leading the group is the pious Tang Seng, also known as the Tang Priest. The irascible Monkey King Sun Wukong uses wit, martial prowess and magic tricks to help defeat the many monsters, demons, and ne’er-do-wells who block their path. There is also the hulking Sha Wujing, who is earnest but not very bright. The fourth member of this group is the entertaining Pig, Zhu Bajie. While Pig is a capable fighter (he wields a mean rake), he is a creature of appetites, by nature a bit indolent, and occasionally a bit gullible.In this story, the Pig Zhu Bajie has been sent ahead to scout out Tiger Camel Peak. Word has reached the Tang Priest that the Green Lion Demon is there just waiting to eat him. The Green Lion Demon is a Taoist ascetic who has lived in a cave for thousands of years and learned more than a few magic tricks. The Green Lion Demon changes himself into a shapely woman (here called the Golden Bell Immortal) to lure the travelers to their doom. As her name suggests, The Golden Bell Immortal has a special treasure: a magic bell capable of immobilizing its victims.When we first meet Pig, two things are immediately clear: 1) he is fond of Beijing opera and 2) he enjoys a rich fantasy life. In this performance, Zhu Bajie does not sing the first couple of arias of the traditional “Stealing the Spirit Bell” libretto. Instead, the Pig sings patchworks of quotations from other Beijing operas. Each quotation, in some way appropriate to Zhu Bajie’s mission, also gives the Pig a chance to do a little play-acting. The Pig, it seems, is a ham.This type of poetic pastiche, though common in older, Ming dynasty plays and novels, is not often seen in Beijing opera. The singer Du Zhenjie really wracked his brains ransacking the treasure-trove of traditional old-man arias to find material appropriate for the first couple of musical sequences. (As Lionel Barrymoore is reported to have said on his deathbed: “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”)
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Taken on: February 16, 2016

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Sets appears in: • The Three Noble Treasures of the Heavenly Way

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