Archive for category Chinese Traditional Art
The Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar
Posted by sharon in Chinese Traditional Art on August 17, 2010
The Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar, also known as Siyi in Chinese, is a term refers to the four main accomplishments for a qualified Chinese scholar. In Chinese, they are called Qin, Qi, Shu and Hua, also called Zither, Go Game, Calligraphy and Painting in English. In Chinese culture, reason, expression and dexterity are rated hihly when judge an educated man. Therefroe, the Four Arts also becomes a platform for scholars to compete against each other. Throughout the history, each educated person strvied to excel in the Four Art Forms.
The concept of Four Arts has a very long history and the earliest written record for putting the four together is Zhang Yanyuan’s Fashu Yaolu in the Tang Dynasty (618–906). As “the four arts”, the concept was first found in the Xianqing ouqi by Li Yu (1610 – 1680).
Roles in Peking Opera
Posted by sharon in Folk Music&Dance on August 12, 2010
Peking Opera is a comprehensive art form which combines music, singing, speaking, pantomime, acrobatics and martial arts. Regarded as the quintessence of China, it has been one of the cultural treasures in China since ancient times. According to the sex, age, social status, and profession, the roles in the opera are classified into four main types: Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou.
Sheng is the main male role in Peking Opera and is composed of Lao Sheng, Xiao Sheng and Wu Sheng. Among them, Lao Sheng, refers to the bearded middle-aged man with a mature character. Xiao Sheng represents a young man without a beard, usually a young scholar or lover role. Wu Sheng is a martial character that appears in battle scenes.
Dan is the female role in Peking Opera and consists of Zheng Dan, Hua Dan, Lao Dan, and Wu Dan. Zheng Dan, also called ‘Qingyi’, refers to the young lady of good quality and character, usually noblewoman. Hua Dan refers to the little girls. Lao Dan refers to the senior woman and Wu Dan is the female with martial skills, equivalent to the Wu Sheng.
Jing, also called “painted face”, is a male role. His voice is loud and clear, and the movements are exaggerated. The different colors on the faces represent different characteristics.
Red face – Loyalty and justice
Black face – Honest and brave
White face – Crafty
Yellow face – Brutal
Blue face – Bold and powerful
Chou, also called “small painted face”, is a male clown role. The role’s eyes and nose are covered with a white patch. And the Chou usually plays secondary role in Peking Opera.
The history of the four main role type can date back to the period of Tang Dynasty (618~907). They four formed their own characteristics during the period of Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368). Later, these four roles reached their maturity in Qing Dynasty (1636~1911).
Sheng
Posted by sharon in Music Instrument on July 28, 2010
Sheng has been one of the Chinese traditional musical instruments and earliest free reed instrument in China. Sheng is the only instrument which can blow harmony in Chinese traditional wind instruments. It is one of the wind instruments with crisp pronunciation, soft sound, etc.
Sheng contains three parts: reed, Sheng Miao (different lengths bamboo on Sheng’s body) and Sheng Dou (connect the mouthpiece on the bottom). Sheng was made of bamboo in ancient times, while it is mostly made of copper nowadays.
The history of Sheng can date back to 3000 years ago. It was quite popular during the period of Spring and Autumn Warring States (770BC~221BC). Later, Sheng reached the Persian through the Silk Road, and then it was introduced to the Europe.
There are lots of moving legends about the origin of Sheng, the most famous one goes that, in Miao (one of the ethnic minorities in China) cottage, there was a very beautiful girl named Bang Que. One day, she met a monster when she was out, when she felt hopeless a hunter appeared and saved her. However, after that, he ran after the monster and then disappeared. Bang was very upset. In order to help her, Bang’s father invented the Sheng. He then taught the young people to play it and before long, most young people could play the Sheng. When the Sheng competition was held, most young men came to attend it, including the young hunter. Bang recognized him at a glance, and then they fell in love with each other and soon got married.
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