Wushu in Traditional Chinese Operas Thirty-two Chan
Chinese traditional opera often uses singing, acting, speaking and fighting as unique forms of artistic performance. In modern local operas, wushu, a Chinese martial art closely related to movements of attack and defense as disciplines has been incorporated in theatrical performances to portray different moods of characters through exaggerated movements. In artistic performances, the 18 kinds of wushu weapons (sword, spear, knife…) among others in ancient China are used in battle scenes to enhance the dramatic effect required by the plot.
After years of constant development and refinement, Peking Opera performers usually include wusheng (actor playing a martial role), wudan (actress playing a martial role), wujing (painted-face actor playing a martial role) and wuchou (acrobatic clown).
Many opera players have mastered effective wushu skills, with some even reaching the highest attainments in wushu. For example, Tan Xinpei, reputed as the “king of performers” in Peking Opera for his superb skill that assimilated the special techniques of all schools, was originally an armed escort. When he acted as Shi Xiu (hero from Outlaws of the Marsh) in the opera Cuiping Mountain, he performed Liuhe swordplay using a real sword, with astonishingly superb skill that often inspired deafening cheering from theater-going crowds. Gai Jiaotian, a famous wusheng actor, was not only a spellbinding performer of acrobatic fighting on the stage, but also a wushu master. He not only knew how to perform with weapons as well as barehanded fighting, but could also turn the best wushu into a skillful stage art, to form a unique school of theatrical fighting of his own. The swordsmanship display performed by Mei Lanfang, the world-renowned Peking Opera master, in Farewell My Concubine , was a good fusion of the charms of the movements of xingyi (form and will) and quan (a form of Chinese kungfu), which is based on the fighting movements of 12 animals, and taiji swordplay in wushu. Cheng Yanqiu, whose name has gone down in Chinese performing-arts history, successfully blended wushu techniques into theatrical acting, and created unique dance steps in his graceful water sleeve dance, passing on a valuable artistic heritage to later generations.
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