Sichuan Province is famous not only for lovely giant pandas, but also for its exotic wild beauty and absolutely unique lifestyle. Locals love food and tea. Both Sichuan food and tea are irresistible to either natives or strangers. Most of tourists enjoyed the delicious Sichuan food and the tea with delicate jasmine flavour, when they traveled to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. They were also impressed with the breathtaking face-changing and fire-spitting show performed in some tea houses. Both the face-changing and fire-spitting are traditional performances of Sichuan Opera.
According to a rough estimate, there are over 360 traditional dramatic forms in China. Sichuan Opera is one of them. As a regional school of drama, it can be traced back the Tang Dynasty(618-907). At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911), a large number of people were forced to migrate to Sichuan from neighbouring provinces by governors. At the same time, some special singing styles and tunes from the neighbouring provinces were introduced into Sichuan Opera. Accompanied with different musical instruments, the singing styles are different from each other. At present, Sichuan Opera has five singing styles, namely Gaoqiang, Kunshan, Pi-Huang, Tanxi and Dengxi. Gaoqiang is a bright-toned singing style. Solo singers often sing at a high pitch without accompaniment. Kunshan is also known as Kunqu. It is a type of tunes that sounds gentle. The tunes are played with bamboo flutes and sung by the singers with fluent and clear words. Both Pi-Huang and Tanxi are singing styles accompanied with Huqin. Huqin is a traditional musical instrument with two or three strings, played with a bow. Dengxi refers to comic operas which are native to Sichuan. The naturalness of dialogues makes the plays true to life. One of the comedies is called the Rolling Lamp.
There are many plays in Sichuan Opera. The plays are based on either real-life incidents or legends. According to the sex and personality, the roles of the plays can be divided into four types, namely, Sheng(males), Dan(females), Jing(males with outstanding features) and Chou(comic actors). Sheng refers to male actors and their roles which include Zhengsheng(middle-age and old men), Xiaosheng(young men) and Wusheng(men skilled at kung fu). Zhengsheng means honourable men in English. Actresses and their roles are called Dan. The roles of Dan can be subdivided into four subgroups, namely Old-Dan, Qingyi(refined young and middle-age women), Hua-Dan(girls or young women) and Wudan(women skilled at kung fu). Both Jing and Chou are roles wearing painted masks. The masks are painted according to individual personalities of the characters. For example, the black mask represents honesty and scrupulousness, while the white mask symbolizes deceitfulness and wickedness.
Sichuan Opera is a combination of dramas, comedies and acrobatics. Its highlights are the face-changing, the fire-spitting and the comedy of Rolling-lamp.
The face-changing refers to painted masks changing. It has been designated as a key national intangible cultural heritage under protection. Only few masters know how to change their masks in a magically quick succession. As they flourish their hands or twist their head, their masks change. The masters can change their masks fifteen times in twenty seconds. The secret of the amazing magic has not been revealed.
The fire-spitting is an acrobatic feat of Sichuan Opera. Performers hold a lighter in front of their mouths, and then spit out kerosene(or paraffin). The performance is extremely breathtaking.
The comedy of Rolling-lamp is a funny sketch. It combines drama with acrobatic feats. The sketch tells an interesting little story. A husband loved playing Mahjong, and always lost money. One day, he played Mahjong and lost again. When he went home, his wife crucified him. The sketch shows how a local henpecked man is punished by his wife.
Author: Tina Luo
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