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Dan (Chinese Opera)
''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 performer. 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 becam ... [...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). Early forms of Chinese theater are simple, but 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. 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 known as the "national theatre" of China, but other genres like Yue ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Dezhu
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition and variation of sections. 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 classical music it is 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 that are composed for professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows to the mass market are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are often composed by professional songwriters, composers, and lyricists. Art songs are composed by trained classical compo ... [...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 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. 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 affair between Zhang Sheng (张生), a young scholar, and Cui Yingying, ... [...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 (), courtesy name of Wang Dexin (1250-1337?), was a successful Chinese 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 Beijin ... (1250–1337?). She is the maidservant of Cui Yingying. In Yuan Zhen's story, she doesn't play an important role, but in Wang Shifu's play, Hongniang figures prominently. Intelligent, sympathetic, loyal, and highly enthusiastic, it is Hongniang who made Cui Yingying and Scholar Zhang (Zhang Gong) fall in love, and it is she who made their marriage happen. Hongniang has entered modern Chinese vocabulary as a synonym for a (female) matchmaker. Fictional Tang dynasty people {{China-lit-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Girls
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. and is sometimes used as a synonym for ''daughter'', or '' girlfriend''. In certain contexts, the usage of ''girl'' for a woman may be derogatory. ''Girl'' may also be a term of endearment used by an adult, usually a woman, to designate adult female friends. ''Girl'' also appears in portmanteaus (compound words) like '' showgirl'', ''cowgirl'', and '' schoolgirl''. 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 a low societal position, girls may be unwanted by their parents, and the state may invest less in services for girls. Girls' upbringing ranges from being relatively the same as that of boys to ... [...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 darts, gores, pleats, or panels. Modern skirts are usually made of light to mid-weight fabrics, such as denim, jersey, worsted, or poplin. Skirts of thin or clingy fabrics are often worn with 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 sometimes England. Fashion designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Kenzo and Marc Jacobs have also shown men's skirts. Transgressing social codes, Gaultier frequently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Female
Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete 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. Female characteristics vary between different species with some species having pronounced secondary female sex characteristics, such as the presence of pronounced mammary glands in mammals. In humans, the word ''female'' can also be used to refer to gender in the social sense of gender role or gender identity. Etymology and usage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue-green Distinction In Language
Blue-green is the color that is between green and blue. It belongs to the cyan family of colors. Variations Cyan (aqua) Cyan, also called aqua, 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, a representation of the color of the semi-precious stone turquoise. The first recorded use of ''turquoise'' as a color name in English was in 1573. The color "turquoise" is a light tone of blue-green. Green-blue Green-blue was a Crayola crayon color from 1958 to 1990. Bondi Blue Bondi blue is a color bel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus 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 government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. Most blues contain a slight mixture of other colours; 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. An optical effect called Tyndall effect explains 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 times. The semi-precious stone lapis lazuli was used in ancient Egypt for jewellery and ornament and later, in the Renaissance, to make the pigment ultramarine, the most expensive of all pigments. ... [...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, while red ... [...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 Chinese legend commonly played out in Chinese opera theatres. The story takes place in the Tang dynasty, supposedly during Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (9th century)'s reign, but is otherwise completely fictional. The story is known in the west as ''Lady Precious Stream'' ("Precious Stream" is a loose translation of the female protagonist's given name, Baochuan), which was adapted to western theatre by Hsiung Shih-I. 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 also later performed on Broadway at the Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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