World Theatre II: 1640-1880: Chinese "opera": kunqu & jingxi and their actors

17th century painting of a private stage in Peking where kunqu might have been performed (left) and a mid-19th century Chinese stage showing the clear influence of Western proscenium scenography (right)

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Historical overview

The Sung Dynasty (906-1279) saw the development of institutions and practices crucial to the emergence of a professional, commercial Chinese theater. An emergent middle class built numerous permanent theaters. The nanxi theatrical style, which developed at this time in South China, made extensive use of regional folk music styles and sophisticated typological systems of characterization. But the strongest evidence appears under the Mongol rulers of China in the late 13th and 14th centuries. This Yuan drama was patronized by the court of Kublai Khan, and many of the plays that are performed in all the forms of Chinese theatre were first written during this time. Chinese theatre artists look back on the Yuan drama as the golden age of Chinese playwriting when the most sophisticated and refined (that is, the most courtly) plays were written. These plays are more literary and have a more linear plot structure than most later Chinese opera and concentrate on a single protagonist who is the only singing character (somewhat like the first Greek tragedies which only had one “actor”). However, unlike the Japanese who revere the golden age of Noh or Westerners who revere Shakespeare, Chinese feel free to change these Yuan plays to adapt them to whatever new forms they want. The words of the playwright are not sacred in China.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the first century of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1910), Chinese theatre drawing from folk traditions and the Yuan drama developed differently in the different provinces. During the 16th and 17th centuries, a very refined form of Chinese Opera known as Kunqu developed in the Northern cities. Kunqu drew from the literary Yuan dramas, developed refined music and became the Chinese national theatre form. But unlike in Japan where refinement brought Noh greater respect, refinement destroyed Kunqu. Chinese audiences demanded something more exciting.

In 1779 (at a point when Kunqu was practically dead) for the Emperor’s seventieth birthday (and again ten years later for his eightieth birthday) troupes of a more popular, more spectacular form called clapper opera came to Peking from the province of Anhui. They were so successful that many of them remained in Peking and spawned a new school of performance that developed into Jingxi (Peking/Beijing Opera), and influenced the development of similar regional operas all over China.

Chinese opera clearly started in more popular venues even though it first became a sensation in the North as part of a courtly celebration. Performances of Chinese opera were and still are given in the streets as well as in lavish theatre buildings. However, probably the most typical place to see Chinese opera is in a teahouse theatre. Similar to our “dinner theatres,” these are places where people go to drink tea, eat, socialize, gamble, and (up through the nineteenth century) smoke opium. Teahouses varied in how exclusive they were, and could house a wide variety of different kinds of theatre from puppet shows to Chinese opera.

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Acting in Chinese Theatre

As we saw in the extracts from the film, Farewell, my Concubine, training of boys for Chinese opera was similarly rough and rigorous as for kathakali performers in India. Boys in acting schools (who typically came from impoverished backgrounds) were treated as property of their teachers. This could certainly be abusive. At the same time, the life of an actor offered the opportunity for fame and success otherwise unimaginable for poor Chinese children with no education.

As in India, young actors training in China would be selected early for their physical qualities and talent to specialize in specific role types. There are four basic character types in Chinese Opera: sheng (male archetype roles such as old men (lao sheng) and warriors (wu sheng), tan/dan (female characters, played in all-male troupes by men), ching/jing (painted face male characters – often kings or mythological figures) and ch’ou (clown characters)

As in India, Chinese actors portray their characters through a complex system of codified gestures (although Chinese acting gestures are generally symbolic rather than a complete sign language like Indian mudras), movements, styles of walking, styles of speaking and singing, costumes and make-up. The most famous of Chinese acting conventions are the hua lien (painted faces). Although painted faces may be quite simple as for the Dan roles (usually just white make-up with blush highlights), they can be quite elaborate for the ching/jing characters, using symbolic lines and highlights and different symbolic colors to indicate character complexity.

In Qing Ding Pearl, the fisherman's daughter is obviously a dan role, famously played by Mei Lanfang, the most celebrated Chinese actor of the twentieth century. The character is a model of the kind of filial piety expected of daughters towards their fathers in Confucian social philosophy. Her father is a typical lao sheng. His friends, the fighters, are most likely wu sheng. The diabolical magistrate is a jing character, and the comic "boxers" are chou clowns, similar to braggart soldier characters in numerous world theatre traditions.