中国京剧

Foreword

The Birth and Evolution of Peking Opera

Anhui Troups Moved into Beijing

The Art of Listening， Old-Style Theaters

Old Beijing in Peking Operas Heyday

Theatrical Companies and Old-Style Opera Schools

Theaters， Temple Fairs and Tanghui

The Stage， Props And Orchestra

A Table and Two Chairs

Wen Wu Chang

Performing Art

Four Roles of Sheng， Dan， Jing and Chou

Acting

Singing， Dancing and Acting Skills

"Realms" of Acting

Performers and Performing Schools

Nan Dan， or Men Playing Female Roles

Generations of Famous Actors

Mei Lanfang， Famous Dan Impersonator

Classic Plays

Modern Peking Operas

Conventions of Peking Opera

It Is Not Easy to Appreciate Peking Opera

Peking Opera in the Contemporary Era

Appendix： Chronological Table of the Chinese

Dynasties

Seeing a Peking Opera performance for the first time， a foreigner wouldwonder： why are faces of actors painted red， white， black， yellow or green？Are they masks？ But masks are separate from the face. Facial make-upsin Peking Opera are different from masks. Intrigued， many foreign touristswould go backstage to see actors and actresses remove stage makeupand costume. Next time， they would go there before a performance startsto see how performers do their makeup. Luciano Pararotti， the great tenorof international fame， once had a Peking Opera actor paint on his face themakeup of Xiang Yu， a valiant ancient warrior portrayed in numerous Peking Opera plays.