(Eleez and I wearing the 京 剧 masks we made. Photo cred: the author)

Chinese Culture Club: Peking Opera (京 剧)

This Tuesday for Chinese Culture Club, we indulged in the traditional Chinese art of Peking Opera. We started this topic off last session by looking into the history of Peking Opera. This was something which I found to be very interesting, as it was something I’d heard about briefly but never explored.

This topic was very vibrant, and when watching the videos about traditional Peking Opera actors I was lost in the music and songs. After this session I had gone home and watched some more videos about Peking Opera.

Then, this weeks session consisted primarily on making the masks used in Peking Opera itself. We were given a blank mask and were allowed to design it however we wanted in the Peking Opera style. I chose to color my mask mainly red (红色), which represents courage and loyalty.

Then I added in some blue to emphasize on the fierceness. I had many curves and dots to my to my mask. I believe that I was able to come up with a mask that I was rather proud of!

Other color symbolicness:

• Black – roughness, fierceness.
• Yellow – ambition, level-headedness.
• Purple – sophistication, level-headedness.
• Blue – stauchness, astuteness.
• White – sinisterness, suspiciousness.

Learning outcomes:

• LO2 – Challenge and skills 
  • I think that it was a bit of a challenge to make sure that I was following the conventional Peking Opera Mask. Furthermore, I wanted to make sure that my mask was as symmetrical as possible – which was a bit of a challenge to do. However, I think that I was able to achieve this to a good extent.
  • I believe that this was a very artistically-inclined activity to do. Therefore, I think that I was able to apply certain patterns and colors which I had refined previously. It was a great way to practise my artistic kills.