Sichuan Opera
Sichuan Opera
As a renowned local opera mainly prevailing in Southwestern China's Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces, Sichuan Opera is characterized by unique solos, refined acting, rich percussion, and talented comedians, whose skills are unparalleled in the world. The opera's application to be enlisted as an Intangible World Heritage is currently pending.
Sichuan Opera features vivid, humorous narration, singing, and acrobatics. It also boasts a system of stylized movements and its acting is both exquisite and lively. Sichuan Opera performances are always full of wit, humor, lively dialogues, and pronounced local flavors. To portray special characters, the opera incorporates a series of stunts, including the famous "face-changing." In Chinese opera, facial makeup is usually painted, but in Sichuan Opera, the performer can change his or her facial makeup in the snap of a finger right on stage.
Changing Faces & Spitting Fire
Changing faces & Spitting Fire are derived from Old West Shu Country and well known all over the world.
Changing faces is a performance art technique of high-speed changing of face masks. Instead of using painted on face makeup, Sichuan opera performers change their "makeup" suddenly on the stage. Well, it's not really makeup, it's masks. They change their masks so quickly that the audience barely notices it...Spit fire is pretty obvious. The performers spit fire. There's no other way to describe it. They don't eat fire like American carnival acts, they spit it like dragons. It's startling even when you know it's coming. In the picture I took, it looks like the performer's head is on fire and you can't see his head for the flames
Stick-puppet Puppet show
Stick-puppet Puppet show is rooted from the Han Dynasty(202BC-204DC). It is a way of performing, which the puppet and performer are all on the stage. Wood-head Show in Sichuan Province and Pleading Puppet Show are most famous, and they were used as to fete the ancestors at ancient times, when they had the style of sobriety and solemn. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) they became to be puppet show, and spreaded in the folk to be a cheerful folk acrobatics. Stick-puppet Show is specialized at both its exquisite model and difficult performing skills. Nowadays, there are few people who can perform the show.
Rolling Light
Rolling Light is a classic clown play of Sichuan Opera. It involves doing complex physical comedy while balancing a flaming bowl on one's head. It is about husband and wife arguing over the husband's gambling. The wife kept giving the husband progressively weirder and more dangerous stunts to perform.But the rolling light guy could move his body in a few thousand ways and yet not knock that flaming bowl off his head. He looked like he was made of rubber.
Remark:
Sichuan Opera is always be shown in teahouse in the evening.As you drinking tea,you can see the Opera.You can still have massage ,ear cleaning ...as well.
showing time : Daily tour, 20:00--21:30
