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Miss
Li: Shall we go
to the theatre this evening, Mr.White?
Mr.White:
Fine. I’ll exactly put
myself in
your hand.
L: Thanks.
What about seeing Beijing Opera? It’s a must
if you really want to know about China.
W:
Good. I do want to see something typically Chinese. But I know nothing
about Beijing Opera. Could you please tell me something about it?
L: With pleasure. Beijing opera is an integrated
performing art on the Chinese stage. It was formed about 200 years
ago. Besides facial
make-up and costume. It has four areas of performance:
singing, dialogue, acting, and acrobatic combat. The singing styles
are divided
into “Xi Pi’’ and “Er Huang”. The actors and actresses
are also different from one another according to the characters they
play. And it mainly has four types of roles. And costume.
W:
Which four, Miss Li? I’m eager to know.
L:
They are the male lead (Sheng), the female lead (Dan), the painted
face (Jing), and the clown (Chou). The male lead plays
the role of an ordinary man; the female lead plays
that of a woman; the painted face represents men with distinctly different
looks and characters, and the clown represents humorous or evil men.
W: Oh, I see. Thank you for
telling me so much about Beijing Opera. I can’t wait to see it. Where
can we see it, Miss Li?
L: Beijing Opera
is performed at the National theater every night these days. We can
enjoy it there.
W: Must we
book the tickets?
L: Yes, but I’ve booked
the tickets.
W: That’s great.
Let’s go.
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Beijing
Opera