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Dan Role
''Dan'' is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera, often referring to leading roles. They may be played by male or female actors. In the early years of Peking opera, all roles were played by men, but this practice is no longer common in any Chinese opera genre. Male ''dan'' actors Male actors who specialize in playing ''dan'' are referred to as ''nándàn'' (男旦); the practice arose during the Qing dynasty due to imperial prohibitions against women performing on stage, considered detrimental to public morality. This practice of female impersonation by male actors was led by Mei Lanfang, one of the most famous dan performers. In the early years of Peking opera, all roles were played by men. Wei Changsheng, a male performer in the Qing court, developed the , or "false foot" technique, to simulate the bound feet of women and the characteristic gait that resulted from the practice. In the late Qing dynasty and the early republic, the performance of actresses beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more than a thousand years, reaching its mature form in the 13th century, during the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD). Early forms of Chinese theater are simple; however, over time, various art forms such as music, song and dance, martial arts, acrobatics, costume and make-up art, as well as literary art forms were incorporated to form traditional Chinese opera. Performers had to practice for many years to gain an understanding of the roles. Exaggerated features and colors made it easier for the audience to identify the roles portrayed by the performers. There are over a hundred regional branches of traditional Chinese opera today. In the 20th century, the Peking opera emerged in popularity and has come to be known as the "national theatre" of China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Dezhu
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usually made of sections that are repeated or performed with variation later. A song without instruments is said to be a cappella. Written words created specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in the classical tradition, it is called an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs composed in a simple style that are learned informally by ear are often referred to as folk songs. Songs composed for the mass market, designed to be sung by professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows, are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romance Of The Western Chamber
''Romance of the Western Chamber'' (), also translated as ''The Story of the Western Wing'', ''The West Chamber'', ''Romance of the Western Bower'' and similar titles, is one of the most famous China, Chinese dramatic works. It was written by the Yuan dynasty playwright Wang Shifu (王實甫), and set during the Tang dynasty. Known as "China's most popular love comedy," it is the story of a young couple consummating their love without parental approval, and has been seen both as a "lover's bible" and "potentially lethal," as readers were in danger of pining away under its influence. It is based on Yuan Zhen's short story ''Yingying's Biography''. Contents of the play ] Play I, Burning Incense and Worshiping the Moon Play II, Icy Strings Spell Out Grief Play III, Feelings Transmitted by Lines of Poetry Play IV, A Clandestine Meeting of Rain and Clouds Play V, A Reunion Ordained by Heaven Plot The play has twenty-one acts in five parts. It tells the story of a secret love a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hongniang
Hongniang, or Scarlet, is a fictional character from '' Yingying's Biography'', a Chinese story by Yuan Zhen (779–831), and ''Romance of the Western Chamber'', a Chinese play by Wang Shifu Wang Shifu () (1250-1337?), courtesy name of Wang Dexin (), was a Chinese dramatist and playwright of the Yuan dynasty. He is a representative of “Wencaipai” (Literal talent group) in Chinese opera literature. He was born in Dadu (present-day B ... (1250–1337?). She is the maidservant of Cui Yingying. The character of Hongniang became increasingly important from Yuan Zhen's story to Wang Shifu's play and later versions, eventually becoming the protagonist in the one-act play ''Hongniang''. In Wang Shifu's play, Hongniang plays a key role as a witty, cunning, and righteous character who facilitates the love affair between Cui Yingying and Scholar Zhang (Zhang Gong). Hongniang has entered modern Chinese vocabulary as a synonym for a (female) matchmaker. References Fictional Tang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Girls
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. ''daughter'' or ''girlfriend'' regardless of age, the first meaning is the most common one. The treatment and status of girls in any society is usually closely related to the status of women in that culture. In cultures where women have or had a low social position, girls may be unwanted by their parents, and society may invest less in girls. The difference in girls' and boys' upbringing ranges from slight to completely different. Mixing of the sexes may vary by age, and from totally mixed to total sex segregation. Etymology The English word ''girl'' first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon word ' (also spelled ' or '). The Anglo-Saxon word ' meaning ''dress'' or ''clothing item'' also seems to have been used as a metonym in some s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skirts
A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fitted to the body at the waist or hips and fuller below, with the fullness introduced by means of Dart (sewing), darts, Gore (fabrics), gores, pleats, or panels. Modern skirts are usually made of light to mid-weight Textile, fabrics, such as denim, Jersey (fabric), jersey, worsted, or poplin. Skirts of thin or clingy fabrics are often worn with Slip (clothing), slips to make the material of the skirt drape better and for modesty. In modern times, skirts are very commonly worn by women and girls. Some exceptions include the izaar, worn by many Muslim cultures, and the kilt, a traditional men's garment in Scotland, Ireland, and England. The hemline of skirts can vary from Microskirt, micro to floor-length and can vary according to Culture, cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Female
An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and males are results of the anisogamous reproduction system, wherein gametes are of different sizes (unlike isogamy where they are the same size). The exact mechanism of female gamete evolution remains unknown. In species that have males and females, sex-determination may be based on either sex chromosomes, or environmental conditions. Most female mammals, including female humans, have two X chromosomes. Characteristics of organisms with a female sex vary between different species, having different female reproductive systems, with some species showing characteristics secondary to the reproductive system, as with mammary glands in mammals. In humans, the word ''female'' can also be used to refer to gender in the social sense of gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue-green Distinction In Language
Blue-green is the color between blue and green. It belongs to the cyan family. Variations Cyan Cyan is the blue-green color that is between blue and green on a modern RGB color wheel. The modern RGB color wheel replaced the traditional old-fashioned RYB color wheel because it is possible to display much brighter and more saturated colors using the primary and secondary colors of the RGB color wheel. In the terminology of color theory, RGB color space has a much larger color gamut than RYB color space. The first recorded use of ''cyan'' as a color name in English was in 1879. Turquoise The color turquoise is that of the semi-precious stone turquoise, which is a light tone of blue-green. Its first recorded use as a color name in English is from 1573. Green-blue Green-blue is a Crayola crayon color from 1958 to 1990. Bondi blue Bondi blue belongs to the cyan family of blues. It is very similar to the Crayola crayon color "blue-green". Apple, Inc. ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', pp. 105–26. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus the Age of Enlightenment, and night versus day. Since the Middle Ages, black has been the symbolic color of solemnity and authority, and for this reason it is still commonly worn by judges and magistrates. Black was one of the first colors used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings. It was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as the color of the underworld. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches, and magic. In the 14th century, it was worn by royalty, clergy, judges, and governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spectrum, spectrum of visible light. The term ''blue'' generally describes colours perceived by humans observing light with a dominant wavelength that's between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. Most blues contain a slight mixture of other colours; Azure (color), azure contains some green, while ultramarine contains some violet. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering#Cause of the blue colour of the sky, Rayleigh scattering. An optical effect called the Tyndall effect explains Eye color#Blue, blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called aerial perspective. Blue has been an important colour in art and decoration since ancient t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combination of yellow and cyan; in the RGB color model, used on television and computer screens, it is one of the additive primary colors, along with red and blue, which are mixed in different combinations to create all other colors. By far the largest contributor to green in nature is chlorophyll, the chemical by which plants photosynthesize and convert sunlight into chemical energy. Many creatures have adapted to their green environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage. Several minerals have a green color, including the emerald, which is colored green by its chromium content. During post-classical and early modern Europe, green was the color commonly associated with wealth, merchants, bankers, and the gentry, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xue Pinggui And Wang Baochuan
''Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui'' (), also known by many other names such as ''The Red-Maned Stallion'', ''Wujiapo'', ''Returning to the Cave'', and ''The Story of the Colourful Tower'', is a legend commonly performed in Chinese opera theatres. The story is set in the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong in the 9th century CE. The story is known in the West as ''Lady Precious Stream'' ("Precious Stream" being a loose translation of the female protagonist's given name, Baochuan), as it was adapted for the British stage by Hsiung Shih-I, a Chinese academic living in England. It was performed at the Little Theatre in John Street, London, by the People's National Theatre, directed by Nancy Price and Hsiung, and ran for 1,000 nights. The play was later performed on Broadway at the Booth Theatre in New York, produced by Morris Gest Morris Gest (also Maurice Guest, March 15, 1875 – May 16, 1942) was an American theatrical producer of the early 20th century. Early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
