In Chinese opera, you can tell the good guys and gals from the bad ones by their face paint
A unique feature of Chinese opera is the painting of actors' faces. With the exception of female characters and scholars, most performers appear with painted faces which evolved from masks and reveal character at a glance.
Face painting ranges from the daub of white across the nose of a clown to the multi-colored all-encompassing make-up of a warrior. The tradition of such make-up has been handed down through the centuries. It probably originated in primitive mask dances.
Most painted-face roles are given to the Ching, who are major supporting actors and sometimes heroes. Ching are muscular, skilled in fighting and often in acrobatics. Frequently they are generals.
Color is a clue to character. A scarlet face indicates integrity and dignity. Such a deified warrior as General Kuan Yu has a red face. Black denotes strength and honesty. White is the color of treachery no matter how powerful the personage. Other faces combine colors — chiefly white, black, red and blue.
A face painted with a few simple strokes indicates good character. Complicated and grotesque patterns reveal a villain. The audience knows at a glance the goodness, badness or mixed qualities of a character portrayed by a Ching with facial paint job.
Face paintings are grouped in several categories. The "old warrior" face has a white patch above the eyebrows in contrast to red, purple or black on the lower part of the face. This make-up symbolizes bluntness and courage. The "three tiles" divides the face into three parts. A white-powdered face with splashes of black at the eyes and mouth suggests a villain. The "perfect face" is totally black or red and stands for loyalty and integrity. The "broken face" of mixed colors in irregular patterns is worn by bad guys.
Realism may be used instead of symbolism. The Monkey King has a simian face. The crab monster has the face of that undersea denizen. The dragon monarch's face is that of a white dragon head against a black background. Ivory tusks and a trunk make the elephant monster easy to recognize. The "nine-headed bird" has a face with nine pairs of painted eyes. Other mythological characters are distinguished by extra eyes or identifying designs.
Painted faces tend to look bigger than they are. Actors used to shave off the hair above the forehead and paint part of the head. These days a white cloth is placed over the front part of the head and painted.
Ladies and scholarly gentlemen do not have painted faces. But they must spend almost as much time making up. The heavy make-up of young women recalls that until recently their roles were taken by female impersonators. White is applied first. Eyebrows then are drawn thin, long and dark. Rose-colored rouge is lavishly applied to the cheeks. Eyelashes are darkened and lips broadly and thickly reddened. Impersonators wore wigs. Females playing themselves will have to do the same if they have' short hair. Lengthy tresses are the rule except for old women.
Young men, who often portray poor scholars, are made up in the same way as women but with a lighter touch and less flat white. Sometimes the roles of young men are taken by actresses.
Mature men have long beards which usually cover the mouth as well as the chin. This reflects the ancient taboo against shaving. Young men are beardless.
Make-up is an integral part of Chinese opera art. Performers usually apply their own, although some complicated make-up will require assistance. Everybody in the Chinese theater understands the importance and symbolism of painted faces.
Chinese opera gestures and acting tend to follow conventionalized patterns. Mime is more important than in Western drama. A performer never weeps, for example. To convey sorrow or the act of crying, he raises sleeve to face to wipe away the tears that may be imagined there.
There are countless acting conventions in Chinese opera. Some gestures arise out of deliberate dramatic exaggeration. Others are attributable to the nearly total absence of stage properties. How better to indicate stairs which are not there than to climb them?
The Chinese stage is virtually empty. Buildings have no doors or windows. Bringing the hands together at arm's length denotes the closing of an imaginary door. The ingenue who plays the maid may shut out her pursuing young master with this gesture. To open a door, the actor moves palms away from each other in the outstretched hands position. He crosses an imaginary threshold with a little hop. When he walks with hands outstretched and groping, he is in the darkness and cannot see his way.
Performers express their sentiments more by manual gestures and the movements of their long sleeves than by facial expressions. An authority enumerates 107 hand movements to represent emotional responses. Great sorrow is shown by shaking the head and waving hands and arms. Happiness is indicated by raising the hands chest high, palms down, and flicking the sleeves outward. Anger is represented by falling back as though stunned and flinging out the sleeves below waist level.
Many of the plays include cavalry battles. Not a horse is in sight. Mounted warriors carry a tasseled stick. If used as a whip, the stick shows the horse is galloping. If the rider throws the stick down or hands it to an aide, he is dismounting. An actor walking between a pair of yellow flags decorated with embroidered wheels is riding in a carriage. Nonexistent boats are propelled by motions of rowing or paddling.
An actress uses many subtle gestures of the hands. Shyness is indicated by bringing thumb and middle fingers together in a curve while pointing the index finger upwards and hiding the face behind her sleeves. She curtsies by putting one hand over the other on the left side of her body a little below the waist and moving them gently while bending her body slightly. She has neither kiss nor embrace for her young man, however ardent may be her love. A married couple express affection by holding out their arms and touching hands under concealment of the long sleeves. An unmarried woman resorts to deft finger gestures and coquettish glances to convey her love.
Gait also reveals role and character. A lady of nobility walks with grace and dignity, while a flirtatious girl sways and undulates. Fighters stalk each other. Scholars walk soberly. Clowns scurry and crawl. The thick-soled shoes of officials and generals add to their height and dignity.
Battles have their own rules. A warrior destined to ignominious defeat is courageous and confident before the battle. He charges into the fray and, even in the way of the TV villain, has the upper hand in the early going. Then the tide begins to turn. When defeat comes, the loser may roll across the stage, throw away his weapons and headdress, and take to his heels.
Warriors with twin pheasant plumes attached to their headdresses must acquire the special technique of manipulating them. To represent anger, the performer swings his head around and around so the feathers make a wide circle. If the head is bent so the feathers flick the ground, then are quickly flung back over the head, surprise or thoughtfulness is indicated.
As one authority comments, "The actor's technique is the crux of the whole entertainment." The audience is conversant with all the conventions and symbolism of the role. These must not deviate from the past — and yet it is still the magical quality of a great performer that makes them different.