Today, Chinese opera involves various exaggerated facial make-up styles and elaborate costumes. It came from dances and folk songs to combining art, music, and literature into one performance on stage. As such even the commoners began to understand and enjoy Xiqu.Īs mentioned before, Chinese opera is a type of musical theater that’s an amalgamation of various art forms that evolved over many centuries. During the Yuan dynasty, performers singing or speaking in the Chinese vernacular tongues became more popular. Given that the opera was in classical Chinese, it was initially only performed for the emperor’s entertainment and the royal court. This was around the time the earliest known Chinese opera troupe. The dancing singing woman was a story of a woman beaten by her alcoholic husband.īy the Tang dynasty, these dramas became more complex with more dramatic twists and now involving at least four performers.
Other song and dance dramas at the time included Botou, the story of a grieving son who sought to avenge his father’s death by seeking the tiger that killed him. In the Northern Qi dynasty for example the song and dance dram included masked dance and was called the King of Lanling, performed in honor of Gao Changgong who went to battle wearing a mask.
During the six dynasties, more various songs and dances came up. It was a simple comic drama involving only two performers, the corrupt officer Canjun and the jester who ridiculed him called Green Hawk. The earliest form of Xiqu was Canjun opera. It however also carried Chinese culture and traditions since the performances were derived from Chinese legends and folklore. For the most part, Chinese Opera was performed for entertainment purposes. What started as a simple song and dance performance has slowly evolved.
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