In Beijing opera, the actor's roles are divided under four main headings, sheng, dan, jing, and zhou, or male, female, painted face, and comic. Each role has its own vocabulary of gesture, walking, and vocal technique. Training of opera performers begins at a very early age and is not only physically demanding, but often quite brutal, as is powerfully depicted in Chen Kaige's film, Farewell My Concubine.

Sheng Roles ¥Í

The sheng are always male characters who represent scholars, statesmen, warriors and so forth. They have no painted make-up and, with the exception of the conventional young man (xiao sheng ¤p¥Í), they wear beards. Sheng are further divided into military roles (wu sheng ªZ¥Í), if the part requires stage fighting and acrobatics, and civil roles (wen sheng ¤å¥Í), if the part requires singing and acting only.

Dan Roles ¥¹

The dan actors play all of the women's roles, which, until recently, were played by men. The task of the male dan actor is to interpret feminine character and behavior for audiences to whom symbolism presents no difficulty. The technique of the dan must not only fulfill the requirements of stage practice, but also has to create the impression that it is a woman who is acting. To achieve this the actor has to appear more feminine than any woman, not by caricature, but by the actor's skill in conveying the essential points that typify women in the eyes of the audience. Women had performed on stage in Chinese theatre since the twelfth century. It was not until the late eighteenth century that women were banned from the stage, allowed to return again only in the early twentieth century. Today all dan roles are played by women. The zhengdan ¥¿¥¹ roles symbolize the upright and faithful wife or devoted daughter, requiring grace and elegance. The huadan ªá¥¹ is often a woman of questionable character; a coquette full of charm and seduction. The wudan ªZ¥¹ roles represent feminine and elegant maidens skilled in fighting, horseback riding and what might be considered masculine skills. The guimen dan »Óªù¥¹ represents the young, unmarried girl, the cai dan ±m¥¹ the wicked maidservant, and the lao dan ¦Ñ¥¹ the old woman.

Jing roles ²b

A particularly striking feature of Beijing opera is the practice of painting the face and forehead with bold, colorful patterns. These are the jing roles, or the brave warriors, swashbuckling bandits, upright judges, and occasionally the gods and supernatural beings. In addition to their bold make-up, the jing actor wears multi-layered costumes with padded shoulders to give bulk, and high soled boots to increase their height. These roles require skill in fighting and gymnastics, and a powerful voice capable of protracted enunciation of tremendous volume.

Chou Roles ¤¡

The chou is the clown or comic of opera stage. He is not necessarily a fool, but often a serious or evil character. This is the only role that consistently uses colloquial speech. He is at liberty to improvise, and the spontaneity of his performance is part of his technique. The chou actors make-up is always characterized by a white patch around the eyes and nose.

Costumes

Color plays an important part in the symbolism of stage costume. Different colors indicate different rank and status as well as the general character of the wearer, and the rules are unvarying in their application. Good characters of high rank wear red, men of high virtue wear green, the Emperor wears yellow and very old or very young people wear white. Black denotes men of fierce or aggressive character, but it can also indicate simple and informal everyday attire. For women black shows virtue and modesty under conditions of adversity. Pink and turquoise is worn to represent youth and sometimes old age, blue indicates high rank irrespective of personal integrity, and dark crimson is worn by usurpers to a throne or barbarian generals.

The Technique of the Actor

Costumes, make-up, and stage properties identify the character and his or her role in the opera. Yet another, and subtle, component in an actor's repertoire is the stylized gesture, used to express particular sentiments. There are hundreds of symbolic gestures using the sleeves, hands, fingers, feet and legs. For the opera connoisseur it is the execution of these movements that mark the distinction of greatness for the actor. For example, when a zhengdan actor flings the two sleeves in one direction while facing the other, this symbolizes making a decision or anger. The dan actor expresses embarrassment by holding open the hands with the palms upturned and the four fingers held together with the thumb bent on the middle finger; the sheng actor holds his thumb straight. When the sheng actor is lost in thought, he holds his beard at about the middle of its length in the first and second fingers, and moves his hand down a short distance with a stroking motion while his eyes move round and round.