#chinese opera

Another practice! Reference of this pic comes from the peking opera Mu Guiying Takes Command/穆桂英挂帅

sinethetamagazine:

霸王别姬 (Farewell My Concubine). Dir. Chen Kaige. 1993.

Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine (1993), adapted from a novel of the same name by Lilian Lee, is a sweeping epic that follows the relationship between two Peking Opera stars, Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) as they navigate the tumultuous political landscape of 20th century China. Set in Beijing, the film covers a span of 53 years and begins in the 1920s, depicting Dieyi and Xiaolou’s brutal opera training, their eventual rise to fame, and their subsequent struggle to survive and maintain the glory of Peking opera, all against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion,the Chinese Civil War, and the Cultural Revolution.

The name of the film references one of the famous operas that Dieyi and Xiaolou star in, in which Dieyi plays the role of Concubine Yu, who commits suicide out of loyalty to the Chu king, performed by Xiaolou. Dieyi, who is trained as a dan(female) performer, develops an ambiguous gender identity and blurs opera with reality, falling in love with and becoming deeply committed to Xiaolou. Xiaolou does not return his affections and instead marries a prostitute named Juxian, played by the then-rising star actress Gong Li. The film simultaneously depicts the bitter love triangle between Dieyi, Xiaolou, and Juxian, while also weaving personal trauma into a national allegory of the Chinese state.

Farewell My Concubine is considered as a representative work of China’s Fifth Generation film movement. It received international acclaim and won the prestigious Palmes d’Or award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

Marvel superheroes get reimagined as Chinese opera characters by artist Tik Ka

云堇

Cover illustration design for a scientific journal in development, the protective umbrella of human body – T lymphocyte cell in personification, dresses like the martial actor of Chinese opera, wearing a T cell-like cap, he uses his fiery keen eyes to distinguish the four variants of the Corona virus: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The viruses are all depicted as wind and fire wheels from Chinese martial arts, hinting at their extremely fast escape speed.  

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Photo of the Day: Chinese Opera

Photographer caption: This shot was taken in the back of a theater in Penang, Malaysia. This person was practicing expression in front of the mirror.

Photo by Zilong Qin (Sugerland, Texas); Penang, Malaysia

Peony Pavilion.

Hand-pulled screen print on canvas.

This is a scene created according to the Chinese Opera performing style, Peony Pavilion is one of the most classic Chinese operas in the Chinese opera history.

mushroomtale:

In Chinese opera, water sleeves (Chinese: 水袖; pinyin: shuǐxiù) refer to white silk extensions to the cuff of garment sleeves. They are worn by both male and female characters of the higher social class. They are so named because performers can use them to produce movements like the ripples of water.

The handling of water sleeves to express different feelings is a difficult technique which takes years to master.

History

Although long and wide sleeves were used by imperial Chinese politicians for centuries, water sleeves did not appear in Chinese theater until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). They were extensions of the 1-inch cuff in regular dresses, which protected the sleeves from wear and tear. Originally water sleeves were made of cloth, but these were replaced by silk ones in later years.

Technique

Water sleeves are used to express elegance and emotions, whose techniques will require years of rigorous training to master. The most common basic water sleeves skills (Chinese: 水袖功) include the transition sleeve, the aside sleeve, the hiding sleeve, the angry sleeve, the sending-away sleeve, the female greeting sleeve, the male greeting sleeve, the dusting sleeve, the signifying sleeve, the decision sleeve, the sheltering sleeve, the running sleeve, the weeping sleeve, the friendly sleeve, the beginning sleeve, the alerting sleeve, the masculine sleeve, and the ghost sleeve. 

In general, water sleeves can emphasize the movements of the arms and hands, such as pointing to an object. They are also used to cover the face when crying, eating or laughing. When water sleeves are in repose, skillful performers will fold them in accordion pleats on the forearms with a few flicks of the wrists.

Variations

Nowadays, the longest water sleeves are found in Jilin opera, and the shortest in Sichuan opera.

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