Peking Opera has entertained audiences for more than 200 years with its elaborate costumes, ear-splitting arias, dazzling martial arts and musical dialogue. Most Peking Operas are unintelligible to the untrained viewer, but they are usually based on folk tales, famous novels and fairy tales and are a pleasure to watch if you know the basic story. The theatre has subtitle message so even if you don't know the story you can still follow along. Characters are classified into three basic categories: the male roles, called "sheng,' female roles or "dan ," and clown or "chou." The nature of each character is shown through the different colours of the facial makeup. For instance, red usually means evil or sly, and black and white face makeup denotes authority.

In the early days of the 20th century, millions went to the opera house--more like a teahouse or a variety theatre--and largely through the acting genius of the late Mei Lanfang (1894 1961), Peking Opera even influenced
Western artists such as Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) in England and playwright Bertold Brecht (1889-1977) in Germany.

The orchestra in Beijing Opera consists of wind and string instruments as well as percussion instruments. Jinghu, a small two-stringed bowed instrument, play a main part.I n the more than one hundred years that have passed many famous singing actors, drum masters and Jinghu masters contributed a lot to the development of Beijing Opera.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Beijing Opera
troupes have performed aborad many times. They caused a sensation in the world and were warmly welcomed by the audiences.