Role Type of Peking Opera 《China & the World Cultural Exchange》 2001年04期 By Denise HenrySome people are intimidated by the traditional theater, particularly if, like most of us, they are less than fluent in classical Chinese. However, one of the great things about such stylized forms of theater as Peking Opera is that the plots and characters can be understood even without benefit of language. If you have a basic familiarity with some of the established forms of the opera, you can follow the plot and understand the characters even of plays about which you know Peking Opera without understanding the language is something like what happens when you read a book, but in reverse. When you read, you have only the words, but you form in your mind a picture of the characters, the settings, the appearance and bearing of the people in the story. When you watch an opera, with a bit of knowledge you can easily identify the basic traits of each character just by the picture he or she presents on the stage. From there, it is not so difficult to tell who is kind and who is cruel, who is cheerful and who is despondent, who is courageous and who is cowardly. The more you learn about the conventions, the more you understand, so that Peking Opera becomes a sort of interactive medium in which you, as a member of the audience, have a very important basic element of many regional forms ofChinese opera, as well as Peking Opera, is the division of role types. There are four major types: sheng, dan, jing and chou, each of which is further divided into several subtypes. In this and the next issue of China & the World Cultural Exchange, we’ll take a closer look at these role ShengSheng are always male characters. They represent scholars, statesmen, warriors, faithful retainers, and peasants. The laosheng, or mature man, always wears a beard and displays the intrinsic dignity of his age and status in his movements, speech and song. Even characters who are from the poorer classes always maintain a special poise and dignified bearing. Their singing is perfectly synchronized with accompanying gestures and pantomime. A widening of the eyes, the pointing of a finger, the folding back of a long silk sleeve are all flawlessly timed with the music and thus the emotion of the actor who plays the laosheng must, above all, possess an excellent singing voice, which has a rich, almost baritone quality. Two main vocal styles are employed. One is known as tangyin, or “chest sound”, generally broad, loud and clear. The other is called yunzheyue, or “clouds enshrouding the moon.” It has been described as an experience for the ears that equates to looking at scenery in the moonlight---some bright and some dark--- producing a rather dim and hazy beauty. This style is slightly throaty and husky, and can be highly speech of the laosheng is most often delivered in a heightened or rhymed style. Thus, even when speaking his voice has a very strong musical quality. This style makes extensive use of special pronunciations and has greater extremes in pitch than colloquial speech, with sliding connectives used to move from one pitch to addition to combat, the wusheng performs a variety of gravity-defying acrobatic feats that can have the audience believing that the actor’s bones are made of rubber and his tendons of pure el as tic. The y inc elude fro not al an d rev ere se handsprings, cartwheels and leaps into the air landing in vertical splits. As if all this were not amazing enough, for many roles the actor wears a full set of costume armor, complete four battle pennons suspended from short poles attached to his back and tall, platform-soled arts and acrobatics are the most important skills of a wusheng actor, yet he must also master specific styles of singing and speech. The distinctive vocal styles of the wusheng help to convey his masculinity and strength, with an abrupt, almost militant quality. In many plays, the actor deliver s h is lines o r sing s a s he is simultaneously executing a series of acrobatic movements. This means he must maintain strict control of his breathing while engaging in extremely strenuous exercise.