Opera Trivia | Master the “Liyuan Slang” and Instantly Become an Opera Connoisseur (Part 3)

On stage, one asks; offstage, one answers; those who do not take the stage are said to be “setting up a frame.” As for “da tuch’er,” it refers to the punishment meted out when a junior jokingly converses with an elder—so named because the punished person’s cheeks become puffed out, and they are struck with the palm of the hand.

Opera Trivia | Master the “Liyuan Slang” and Instantly Become an Opera Expert (Part 2)

When the performance has not yet ended but most of the audience has already departed, this is called “leaving the stage.” “Opening the gates” refers to the moment when the play concludes and the audience disperses. “Hanging a seat” means being able to reserve a special seat.

Opera Appreciation | The Exquisitely Beautiful and Timeless Lines from “The Peony Pavilion”

Upon its publication, “The Peony Pavilion” was so widely read that “every household recited it by heart, to the point of driving the price of “The West Chamber” down.” From then on, Chinese romantic literature would never again produce a work that could surpass it. The play is written in elegant prose and exudes lyrical beauty; after finishing “The Peony Pavilion,” one cannot help but feel a lingering fragrance on the lips, with an aftertaste that seems to go on forever.

Event News | Highlights from the “Welcoming Fortune and Prosperity” New Year Community Education Event

The custom of pasting the character “fu” (meaning “good fortune”) during the New Year is a time-honored tradition in Chinese folk culture. As early as three thousand years ago, inscriptions on Shang and Zhou bronze vessels already featured the character “fu” in various forms. Over time, with the emergence of scripts such as ancient seal script, small seal script, clerical script, cursive script, regular script, and running script, the calligraphic styles of “fu” grew ever more diverse and increasingly artistic. Whether today or in the past, the character “fu” has always embodied people’s yearning for a happy life and their hopes for a bright future.

Opera | “To devote oneself wholeheartedly to mastering a particular school of singing is the most misguided thing one can do.”

Nowadays, no matter which role a performer takes, they are expected to adhere to a distinct “school” or “style”: those who sing sheng roles either follow the Tan School, the Yu School, the Ma School, or else the Yan School and the Gao School; wusheng actors invariably claim the Yang School; qingyi actresses must invoke the Mei School, the Cheng School, or the Shang School; huadan actresses invariably cite the Xun School or the Xiao School; and laodan performers invariably profess the Gong School…

Opera | Twelve Types of Postures in Mei Lanfang’s Dan-Role Performances

The art of Mei Lanfang has already been briefly outlined in the preceding chapter, yet this sketch captures only the general outline and falls far short of doing it justice. For no matter what kind of singing one seeks to describe, even a musical score cannot fully convey its subtleties; such beauty can only be apprehended through the ear. To attempt to render it in words alone would prove futile, so there is little need to dwell on minutiae. This chapter will offer a more detailed exposition of his various gestures and postures, illustrated with photographs to facilitate understanding; nevertheless, it too confines itself to a broad overview. As for whether his movements are vigorous or graceful, angular or rounded, and whether they precisely accord with the rhythm and melody—such nuances can scarcely be captured by still photographs; indeed, only moving pictures could do them full justice. Thus, this section serves merely to present his established poses in rudimentary form.