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Rulers of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) all liked operas. Some of them, such as Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), were connoisseurs of Peking Opera. At the end of the 18th century, operatic singing in China had developed into several systems. Popular local operas used tunes that included gaoqiang (pitched singing), geyang (prevalent along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze), bangzi (prevalent along the Yellow River valley) and liuzi (which originated in Shandong). To literati at the time, these operas were far inferior to kunqu opera, which is refined and serious. With much disdain, they called these local operas huabu.

The popularity of huabu had something to do with its popular appeal. Huabu plays tell historical stories or folk tales loved by the laboring people. Singing was lucid, lively and intense, and recitations were easy to understand. The ugly ducklings became so popular that many huabu companies competed for turf even in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, the birthplace of kunqu opera.

Peking Opera has its origin in huabu operas. It was not born in Be?ing (Peking). Its predecessor was a huabu opera that was prevalent in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze performed by Anhui troupes in the mid-17th century. Anhui troupes had not been limited to staging Anhui huabu opera. They also performed kunqu opera, Hubei’s hanxi opera and the central plain’s bangzi opera. As a result, these troupes had rich and colorful tunes as well as a wide range of interesting plays. Their actors had developed feats and stunts. Before coming to Beijing, the Auhui huabu opera combined the characteristics of tunes of er huang and xi pi, the former is steady and melancholy, the latter is brisk and lively, er huang and xi pi constitute the core of the tune of Peking Opera. In addition, the Anhui troupes were good at assimilating the performing characteristics of other operas, such as the recitation of jingqiang opera (Peking), the high-pitched arias of qinqiang opera (Shaanxi), the tunes and recitation of hanxi opera (Hubei), and the bodily movements, ways of portrayal and music of kunqu opera (Suzhou). After sixty years of evolution, a unique theatrical variety – Peking Opera – came into being.

In 1790, an Anhui troupe headed by Gao Langting came to Be?ing to participate in performances in celebration of the 80th birthday of Emperor Qianlong. It was soon followed by three other theatrical companies from Anhui – Sixi, Chuntai and Hechun. After doing their job, these Anhui troupes stayed in the capital to offer performances to the local public. By this time, what the Anhui troupes were offering was Peking Opera.

Peking Opera, which had been developed from an assortment of rural shows, had a wide range of audiences. They included not only members of the royal family, officials and scholars, but also merchants, townspeople and handicraftsmen. Peking Opera gradually became a townspeople-oriented performing art. The Qing Dynasty was in a period of social stability and economic prosperity when the Anhui troupes brought Peking Opera to the capital city. At the turn of the 19- 20th centuries when Peking Opera had come to maturity, Be?ing had a thriving handicraft industry and commerce; it was home to some 360 guild houses; and service industries catering to the townspeople were also thriving. At the time, the Qianmen area was not only a commercial center but also had a concentration of theaters, teahouses and restaurants; and the Tianqiao and Bell Tower areas swarmed with street performers as well as peddlers and small traders. These not only provided sources of audience for performances in the theaters but also brought new management methods for the theaters and Peking Opera companies.

After 1860, with mobile performances by opera companies, Peking Opera quickly spread all over the country. Tianjin and the surrounding Hebei and Shandong provinces were where Peking Opera gained popularity at an early date. Areas with a fairly early arrival of Peking Opera included Anhui, Hubei and northeast China. In 1867, Peking Opera spread to Shanghai. At the time, a number of well-known Peking Opera actors went south, making Shanghai a Peking Opera center on a par with Beijing. Peking Opera in Shanghai gradually developed some unique characteristics, leading later to the division of “Beijing School” and “Shanghai School.” By the beginning of the 20th century, Peking Opera was performed in Fujian and Guangdong in the south, Zhejiang in the east, Heilongjiang in the north and Yunnan in the southwest. In the 1940s, Peking Opera had impressive development in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Guangxi.

Portraits of Peking Opera characters played by famous actors of late Qing Dynasty, painted by Shen Rongpu, a well-known portraitist active in the late Qing period.In 1919, Mei Lanfang, a Peking Opera master actor enjoying unrivalled fame then and even today, went to Japan with his theatrical company to stage performances. Peking Opera troupes have since frequently staged performances in foreign countries. And people in the rest of the world regard Peking Opera as the representative of the traditional Chinese theater. Today, Peking Opera has become the premier opera type in China having no rival in terms of the number of plays, performing artists, troupes and audiences as well as influence.

The carriers of folk art are folk social customs. The original philosophy and visual image based on folk art is the product of the Chinese community and has become ingrown in people’s social life. Its all time theme of life and propagation meets the needs in different aspects of life, displaying its beauty in a variety of colorful ways. The “red egg” from the maternal family sent on the first full month of a new born, with papercut “evergreen tree” pasted on it, a folk custom along the Yangtze River.

What is the theme of human birth? First it is to know where life comes from; and then to wish that the newborn grows up healthy and strong. Human life comes from mother’s body of the universe, which the Chinese believe is as primeval as pigeon eggs, and from mother’s body of totem animals. Therefore, it is customary to give chicken eggs, which are known as the “red egg” in Hunan in the Yangtze River valley. People also paste paper-cut “The tree of life” in bright red color on the red eggs as good-wish for the newborn. In the Yellow River basin where flour is a staple food, people make steamed bread, symbolizing the domed universe. Inside the bread are red beans implying that a new life has been conceived; “Wonton” steamed bread are made with two curly twists, implying the unification of yin-yang that creates life on earth. In Shanxi and Shaanxi, birth bread is called “Wonton,” or “Grain twist.”

Human life comes from mother ’s body of totem animals, god of propagation. In areas where people worship legendary animals or totem animals like the turtle, the snake, the fish and the frog; and in places where supernatural power becomes personalized in “Baby with coiled hair;” birth presents from the maternal family are pillow case with patterns of a paired fish (yin-yang), or a paired turtles and a paired frogs. There are also embroidery patterns of “Crawling baby with coiled hair” (this is very similar to the design on the porcelain pillow from northern China in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.) It is interesting to note that a diamond shaped symbol like a female uterus is placed in the center among the animals, implying that the new baby comes from mother’s body of legendary animals or god of propagation.

In areas where people worship tiger, the gifts are “Wonton” steamed bread painted with patterns like a snake with a tiger head (the sky) and a fish tail (the earth); with the entire living world on its back. At birth, one month anniversary, and the first birthday, the baby sleeps on a “tiger head” pillow; wearing a tiger cap and a pair of tiger head shoes and a tiger head undergarment. He looks just like a descendant of the tiger totem family. In areas where people worship sheep, it is popular to make “floury sheep” bread. In Hebei and Shanxi area, it is two sheep sharing a common head; or sheep head with fish tail; implying the unity of yin-yang; or a herd of three sheep to mark a new beginning of life. Each year, the “Sheep Day” festival in Hebei Ci County at the end of wheat harvest season draws large crowds. Relatives from the maternal family make big baskets of “floury sheep” bread for their daughter’s babies. Those who live far away come on bikes or tractors. A large herd of floury sheep are displayed in front of the baby. The presentation usually includes a big round wanton jujubes sandwich bread in the center, symbolizing the universe, surrounded by a paired sheep with one head (yin-yang sheep) and a huge herd of baby sheep. The first three years after the baby is born are given big sheep, second and third year are large-to-medium and medium in size, and the subsequent years will be small sheep until he/she gets married. Floury flower dragon with a tiger head and a fish tail, carrying all living things in the universe on its back (Houma, Shanxi).

In today’s folk custom, the 12 animals of earthly branches that differentiate the year of birth still hold a wide-spread popularity. People take it seriously about the nature of the animal for the year they were born, and often wear a jade adornment of their own animal on birthdays. This too is an extension of the totem animal culture from primitive society to modern life. The same is true with the concept of the “descendant of dragon” in China.

A ball flower paper-cut “Baby with coiled hair” is very popular among the folks on the loess plateau along the Yellow River basin. In the center of the ball is this baby with coiled hair, who is patron saint and god of propagation on loess plateau. Wearing a hair style with double coils upward to the sky, and holding a pair of fish in both arms, she assumes a squatting posture as if giving birth. The lower part of her body is a pair of scissors pointing downward to imply the nature of male or yang, which, corresponding with her hair coils implies that she is hermaphroditic god of the universe. Scissors is yang by nature, a sharp tool that keeps away evil spirits and disasters. As a folk proverb goes: “Awl and scissors drive away the five poisonous creatures.” Some folk art works make the eyes of god as the sun. The two breasts are the two eyes of a cicada, a legendary animal of propagation, to symbolize a continued and never ending posterity. On each side are symbols of “Sheng” (A music instrument, hegemony of “birth” in Chinese), or lotus flowers. “Sheng” is “birth” and lotus is a proliferous symbol with male nature. A local folk proverb goes: “When lotus and sweet osmanthus growing out of a bucket, we have sons, daughters and nephews; when golden cicada blowing ‘Sheng,’ family posterity never ends.” “A ripe persimmon bears eight precious ‘Sheng (kids),’ and a lotus plants the seeds.” In this art work, god of the universe holds yin and yang two fish, one in each hand, with their tails connecting in a continuous letter “Wan” without breaking up, implying a never ending prosperity and continued posterity. In the lower part of the picture are two geometry symbols of Ruyi (good luck), and a legendary rabbit holding grass in the mouth. Rabbit, hegemony of “spit kids”, is god of proliferation. Two rabbits with double Ruyi have the meaning of giving birth to precious sons one after another. A wedding song used by the people of the loess plateau has “double walnuts and double jujubes, double sons and daughters chasing around. A good son is expected to grow up wearing cap and blue gown (to become an official); and a daughter is to be capable with her hands.” With the art of paper-cut, “every cut has a meaning of its own” said the grandmother who made this art work of multi-lateral, collective symbols and cultural codes with the theme of life and propagation. If a paper-cut for window decoration could be a tourist book of northern Shaanxi, “Baby with coiled hair” would be an orchestra of the paper-cut art. It is actually a transformed version of “Double fish with human faces” on 600-year-old painted pottery from the Yangshao culture of Xi’an.

Paper-cut “paired fish dolls” from the loess plateau of Gansu Province has two yin-yang fish one on each side. It shares the same cultural implication and art form as “Yinyang fish,” and “Baby with coiled hair.” In Luochuan, Shaanxi Province, it is in the form of a paired snake with coiled hair, and paired dragon with coiled hair. In Chinese folk art, fish, snake (dragon) and baby girl are related and interchangeable.

Paired of fish with human faces on painted pottery from Banpo –In Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu area, a similar image as “Baby with coiled hair” is the “Paired fish with human faces” on painted pottery from Yangshao culture of 6000 years ago unearthed in Banpo of Shaanxi. People tend to connect this with the fishing and hunting life style of primitive society. As some argued, the sketches on each side were symbols of a fish net. The painting showed only the heads, the interpretation went on as: two fish nets were set open, and two people were in the water. Their feet being in the water were left out. It was implied that their hands were busy catching fish under the water. By closing in from two opposite sides, they made the fish running into the net. Their half closed eyes were a sub-conscious facial look when focused on catching fish. (Quote from My humble opinion on a few painted potteries. Central China Culture Relics 1987-1). In my opinion, the creators of the art work in primitive society always tried to convey the original Chinese philosophy through cultural symbols and codes that were accepted by the community. Without the knowledge of original Chinese philosophy, it would be impossible to decode their symbols, nor to interpret Chinese archaeology art or folk art. Take fish for example, the paired fish created in the art work was not the fish in their natural being. It was yin-yang fish symbols. The two fish on painted pottery rotating towards opposite direction were yin-yang fish revolving around the sky, a conceptual symbol of perpetual life.

Paired fish with human faces in folk art – Corresponding with paper-cut “Yinyang fish” and “Baby with coiled hair,” “Paired fish with human face” on painted pottery symbolizes the first ancestor, god of the universe. Looking at this image, god has one eye open (from the human face on painted pottery unearthed at Jiang Village), and the other eye closed (from the human face on painted pottery unearthed at Banpo). Apparently, they are not the natural but conceptual eyes. With god of the universe, the open eye is the sun, the day and yang; the closed eye is the moon, the night, and yin. It is common practice in Chinese folk art to liken eye to the sun and the moon. In folk art painting created by the wives in northern Shaanxi, all human faces are round-eyed, same as the eyes of the tiger. Their eye balls are always in the center of the white unsheltered by eye lids. It is believed that a closed eye is the moon and an open eye is the sun. Therefore, eyes should be painted bright and shining. To me, that might also be a cultural comprehension from the primitive clans.

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Lady in the Wei & Jin Dynasty wearing a long robe with wide sleeves and overlapping hems. In China’s political history, the Wei and Jin Period was a period of volatility, which spanned over 200 years. Frequent changes in political power and incessant wars added to the suffering of the people, who were already devastated by natural disasters and plagues. The once dominant laws and orders collapsed. So did the once unchallenged power of Confucianism. At the meantime, the philosophy of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi became popular; Buddhist scripture was translated; Daoism developed; and humanitarian ideology emerged among the aristocrats. The aristocratic descendants aspired individualism and led the trend in all aspects of social life. This rank of “cultural elite” was engaged in making friends, making social commentaries and controlling public opinions. Their behavior posed a threat to the conservative and the imperial power, which tried to crush them by force. It is not unfitting to say that the life threatening danger and distress was unsurpassed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. However, another typical image of the Wei and Jin literati was on that indulgence in drinking, merry making, and talking of metaphysics. The treacherous nature of politics forced these scholars to seek comfort and relief in these aspects. Facing the hypocrisy and constraint of traditional orders, they preferred a life of truth and freedom. They sought the carefree lifestyle, the maintenance of good health or indulgence in earthly pleasures. These aristocrats changed significantly in aesthetic taste and behavior, intentionally breaking away from traditional morality in their daily life. Some dressed themselves in free and casual elegance while the rest went to both extremes, sloppy or meticulous.

In this period, people were divided into nine classes by their ranks in court or their property. A clear-cut line was drawn to separate these classes, who may never marry each other. Not only the rich used every opportunity of weddings and funerals to show off their wealth, but the commoners also followed suit. There was a story in Shi-shuo Hsin-yu (A New Account of Tales of the World) that a scholar Ruan Ji (210-263) and his niece Ruan Xian, lived south of the road while some better-off Ruans lived north of the road. Every year on July the 7^th of the lunar calendar, the northern Ruans took out their clothing to be aired under the sun, showing off their silks and brocades. In response to this Ruan Ji took out his shoddy underwear made of coarse homespun cloth and sunned it on a bamboo pole. This behavior itself was sarcasm against the showing off and the Confucian formalities with clothes.

The “Seven Gentlemen of the Bamboo Forest” refers to the seven gentlemen of the Wei and Jin Period, including Ruan Ji and Ruan Xian. Today we can still see on wall paintings how they once dressed – the front of the garment dragging to the floor, exposing the chest, arms, shins and feet. This is a rare scene among the literati of the Chinese feudal society, because only the lower class exposed their arms and legs. Moreover, their characters were no less defiant than their clothes. In paintings, Liu Ling, Ji Kang and Wang Rong of the “seven gentlemen” had their hair done in children’s buns, cynical of all the tradition and customs of the world. As far as Chinese folk garments are concerned, the taste of the literati significantly expanded the aesthetics of ancient China. The Chinese classical sense of beauty started out as something quite simple: soft hands and supple skin, sweet smile and beautiful eyes formed the ideal beauty of the Spring and Autumn Period, praising the unpretentious and natural beauty. By the Wei and Jin Period, descriptions of female beauty moved on to include the hairstyle, the dresses and the ornaments. The more sophisticated aesthetics of the Wei and Jin Period brought about great progress in dress and ornaments. 

In the Wei and Jin Period, especially during the Eastern Jin Period (317-420), the aristocratic women went after an uninhibited life style along with the collapse of the Eastern Han feudal ethical code. These women looked down upon the role society imposed on them, and immersed themselves in socializing, sightseeing, and studies of art, literature and metaphysics, completely defying the feudalistic “virtues” of women. This carefree life style brought about the development of women’s garments in the direction of extravagant and ornate beauty. Wide sleeves and long robes, flying ribbons and floating skirts, elegant and majestic hair ornaments – all these became the trend of Wei and Jin garments.