+ Reiko & Chinese Opera +

Hi hi~ Today in Reiko's blog entry, I am going to share with your about Chinese Opera!!

I have zero knowledge about Chinese Opera before I took a module on it.

But after that module, and a few opera watching trips, I am going to share about my limited/brief/beginner guide to watching Chinese Opera. Enjoy! (:

Firstly, the term "Chinese" in Chinese Opera, actually means Chinese style opera in any type of Chinese dialects etc. Basically, I am referring to Traditional type, Chinese Style Opera.

Chinese Opera originally is a really popular type of performance, and it's meant for the wide audience, man, women, young or old, educated or uneducated. The only difference is probably in the type of script performed, and the place where it is carried out. There are many different places where Chinese opera can be acted out. It could be beside temples, in the house of literati, in teahouse, or wine house, or during funeral, or in birthdays.....

It is damn popular in the past, and there are even like huge huge huge places called 瓦舍 that is like an entertainment house that houses thousands of ppl! And the ppl's night life then is definitely more high than now can. I am referring to Ming dynasty, when these 瓦舍 actually open till the next morning. It charges though. But the popularity is due to the fact that inside these places, there are different sorts of entertainment!!!! Wide variety! There are different food, story telling, performance, different opera troupes promoting and attracting audiences. Sounds damn nice right, the concept.

Ok, now another concept which my teacher wants to break break break break in our mind. That is regarding the setting of watching opera. The concept of watching opera at a grand place, wearing former clothes, and keeping quiet, focusing on the performance, is actually a western kind of culture. Opera watching does not orgin from such places. Ppl talk, and can leave or rejoin the audience, there are goodies selling around the performing area, there are statues of gods for worship, if it is a performance host by the temple. Thus it is actually damn traditional and authentic to see those outdoor Chi opera performance, for this form of performing actually can be traced back to Ming dynasty!! Imagine if you see opera performance like this now, it is actually similar to back in the past! How cool!

日本人岡田玉山畫的《唐土名勝圖會》中的清代廣和查樓演劇圖

Source of picture: big5.hwjyw.com/.../200708/t20070830_5477.shtml

The next part would be about me watching part of a Hainanese Opera at my house area. This hainan opera group has been here since this place is a Kampong area. (According to my dad. haha..) And since young, I see this style of setting up opera stage(every 7th lunar month), and the way they place the chairs and stuff. And this style has not changed much, except perhaps, now there is modern sound system. But mostly, everything is really really traditional.

I am not going to be wordy, coz what I know is really limited. haha.. Anyway, I feel bit paiseh, coz I went alone, and even though I am hainanese, I duno the dialect that well, so it feels bit uptight at first, but I decided to relax and try to interpret. haha..

You dun need to know the language!: I was very attentive, as in my ears are listening to the conversations around me. haha.. Dun think that old ladies noe what they are watching. Ppl of other dialect may not know what the opera is talking about, and I asked 2 hainanese ppl, and they either reject to tell me the "secret", or it is true the exact words are not known.

Therefore, Opera performance is about
- listening to the music while it is being sung (Like foreign language Musical) - Watching the facial expression, eyes movement, hands gesture, i.e body language of the performers. to understand the storyline.
I once watched this movie about training kids to sing opera. Those kids needa memorise the lyrics of the opera. Very very horrible training. But from this we can see that ordinary ppl enjoy watching opera, is not about focusing on the lyrics, coz really the lyrics are damn chim. Only the short conversations and body language can directly tell you the story.

It's just like Korean and Japanese song. We dun really noe what they are singing, but try to understand the atmosphere, and "music story" through the MV. I believe it is such.

In my opinion, Chinese opera is like appreciating the colours, the music, the dance, the funny short conversations, the body gestures, the facial expressions, the audience (sorta like friends/clan/group gathering), and the lively/happy atmosphere..

The backstage

The scholar and the royalties

The Empress or Concubine (Not really sure. hehe..)

The mother and daughter in law goes on trip to find her son, who had become top scholar yet had forgotten about gratitude! Left his original wife and married to someone else..

The Mother and the daughter in law..

I didnt finish watching the entire thing. haha.. According to the uncle, the original script is very long, and this show extracts the important parts. I believe so. In a full 剧本，there is over 40-50 rounds/parts. That's really alot to act. So I believe that is why only selections are being performed, to cater to the needs of the performance, and the audience's nature. Look at the current idol drama, there are mostly around 20 episodes. Too many, ppl may find it too difficult to have the patience to finish all, unless it is really good. And I believe the original script having so many parts is probably due to the vibrant and popular opera watching culture in the past?


The above are some of my opinions and understanding. I may be wrong! Please correct me if I am not right. :)

Thats all for now! Back to study!!

*Reiko*